Druther's - Burger Queen

Druther's traces our history back to 1956, when Harold and Helen Kite founded the first Burger Queen restaurant in Winter Haven, Florida. In 1961, business partners George Clark and Mick Gannon bought franchise rights and permission to expand the chain to Kentucky, with Kite joining as partner. The first Kentucky location opened in Louisville on September 23, 1963. In 1972, we introduced our mascot, "Queenie Bee," notably portrayed by Joyce Murphy and Sue Bandy. Burger Queen executives Tom Hensley and Robert Gatewood became involved in the late 1970s and acquired Burger Queen from Kite and Clark. In 1981, Burger Queen announced we were changing our name to Druther's, with help from Lippincott and Grey Advertising, a play on the word "druthers." Our mascot became "Andy Dandytale" and slogan was "I'd Ruther Go to Druther's Restaurant." At the time of the announcement, we operated over 200 company-owned and franchised locations in the United States, as well as locations abroad in England, Canada, Taiwan and the United Arab Emirates. Our locations in the United Kingdom were branded Huckleberry's. In 1990, Druther's became a six state Dairy Queen territory operator, converting most locations to the Dairy Queen brand by 1991. We became a multi-unit franchise operator after selling most locations in 1996 for the sole purpose of creating Dairy Queen Corporate Stores, which our former President Tom Hensley, then later Mike Kull, along with other Burger Queen and Druther's executives, would run out of Louisville, Kentucky. The DQ Corporate Stores Division was dissolved in 2011. The last operating Druther's Restaurant, now completely independent, is in Campbellsville, Kentucky. Two independent Burger Queens remain in Taiwan. Druther's, led by Robert Gatewood and Brian Easley, is proud to currently partner with and invest in businesses and real estate ventures, including Dairy Queen Restaurants, etc.