Brad and John - Mornings on KISM
dicks burgers
Tomorrow is gonna be a fun event. You know, Yagers is a, they're like an institution here in Bellingham, been around for over 100 years and they do this day long sale every year around Christmas. And we're gonna be broadcasting out there. I'll be there from three until five tomorrow. But before I get there, something way, way bigger than KISM is gonna happen there. Dick's driving is gonna be there with their truck and they're gonna be doing burgers from noon until three or I guess until supplies last. And on the phone with this, Brad, we have some, we have royalty, we have burger royalty. - Sound the trumpets. - On the phone with this. Danny was from the Spady family and if we want one and we do want one here in Bellingham, this is our opportunity to twist her arm because she's like in the construction in the real estate end of it. - Oh. - All right, Danny, I assume that you guys are coming in and you're just gonna start digging a hole tomorrow, right? We're gonna get that. We're finally gonna get our Dick's drive in built in Bellingham tomorrow, right? Ribbon cutting tomorrow, right? - Well, if I had it my way, that would be true. But as soon as we possibly can, we will make our way up to Bellingham. - Yeah, bring that golden shovel. Where was the most recent location that Dick's added? - The most recent location we opened was in 2023 down in Federal Way, but we just broke ground on our 10th location in South Everett. We're really excited about it. - Now, I think, now Danny is, she's got a rooting interest in Bellingham and this corner of the state here 'cause she does have, she has some roots here and be going to Western and things like that. So you love this area. I know you would love to see one here. So did you ever see the pictures or video from the event they did, you guys did, at the waterfront here in Bellingham? - I was there. - Oh, you were. - I was there. I was on crowd control. So my cousin Jasmine, who is the current CEO, her and I were walking the line just letting people know, "Hey, you might not get a burger." And just letting them know that supplies might run out, but people were adamant on staying in line, they're like, "Oh, we don't care. "We're gonna stay here. "We're gonna try to get some food." So we were handing out some burger bucks and we were handing out T-shirts and we were doing the best we can to make the crowd happy, but oh my gosh, that line was insane. So the demand is definitely there. - It could only be caught by somebody sent this drone footage of it. It was insane how long that line was. - Is there a limit on days like that when the truck comes to town, like two burgers apiece or something? - We try to ask people to only order six burgers when events get really busy like that. So that's kind of the cap that we tend to put on it. But on smaller private events, people can go crazy when there's less of a crowd. - My in-laws have some friends that come up, but they used to live up here, but they moved to San Diego. And whenever they come up here, they will go to one of the dicks and get like 40 cheeseburgers or something and pack 'em and take 'em home like frozen and stuff and get 'em home and put 'em just so they can have 'em in their house. And then they'll put 'em in like a waffle iron or something and heat 'em back up. - Yes, that's the trick to the trade. And actually my family, I grew up doing that as well because my dad grew up in Seattle in the Luksamamish area, but he moved us up to Skagit actually in 2000. We've been living in both since then or they've had their property in both since then. And so it was really rare for us whenever we went to Seattle and that kind of made it special 'cause it was a rare occasion. So we would do the same thing. We would get a couple dozen. You throw it in the freezer, throw it in the microwave or in your family's case, the waffle iron. And it was perfect, that's kind of just what we did. - So who in your family started this Danny and when? - So my grandpa Dick and his two partners at the time started it back in 1954. They opened their first location off of 45th and Wallingford. - And when people ask you what is the magic to all this? Why do people go crazy for these? What is it? What do you say? - You know, it was, so back in 1954, America was, it was changing. People were on the move, freeways were being built and people were kind of getting tired from having to go in and sit down and eat. And it was also really expensive. So they kind of craved something a little less expensive. So at the time, Dick's was fresh, the service was speedy and the bill was a little bit more affordable, but no, the iconic part of it is as life has changed throughout the last 70 years. Our customers can count on us for being, you know, consistent and serving those timeless memories, if you will. So, you know, once people first went there with their parents, they can now take their kids and their grandkids and experience the same exact thing, the same exact food, pretty much the same menu. - And almost the same price. - Yeah, we try our best, but it brings them back to that nostalgic feeling of when they first had that. So, and of course it helps when, you know, Thermix Law is thrown into it and Macklemore does a music video on top of one of our restaurants. So all of that combined kind of adds to the iconic aspect of the restaurant. - And it doesn't hurt that you stay open till two in the morning either. - Some of those lines late at night are crazy. - Oh, and I can vouch for that. Yeah, I worked there as a crew member back when I was a freshman at UW and I had a, my shift were Thursday nights and Saturday nights and Sunday morning. And Saturday night was, oh, it was fun. It was really fun. - This is the voice of Danny Spadey from the Spadey family, Dick's driving, Dick's bringing the truck up to Bellingham tomorrow. - I have two plain cheese, please. - Tomorrow between noon and three at Yeagers, sporting goods, we'll be broadcasting there from three until five, they have their big all day event at Yeagers. They're all day sale. So do you know where is the, are you gonna, are you starting to go north? You're gonna go more north now? I think you said the last one was to the south. I assume there are more plans to expand, right? - Absolutely. You know, we understand that there's demand all around and our goal is to serve our customers where they are. And the food truck definitely helps with that. You know, we tried to foster my grandfather's passion for progress and innovation. So we wanted to find a way to reach our customers from where they are and COVID kind of helped feed that process along and the food truck has been very, very fun to serve our customers in different places, both at public and private events. - All right, Danny, well, we will see Dix tomorrow at Yeagers, sporting goods between noon and three. Yeah, if you can ask him to hang on to a burger or two, you know, we'll get, I'll be getting in there with the KISM van around 2.30 or so. I imagine that line is gonna be crazy. So I know you, maybe-- - Save John a spot, somebody in line. - Maybe you won't be able to serve everybody, but you'll try to serve as many as you can tomorrow. Danny, thank you very much, and it was very nice talking to you. - Absolutely, you guys have a great day.
The Dick's truck will be in Bellingham on Thursday, so we talked to Dani Spady of the legendary hamburger family and asked her about the truck, the future and the history of the company!