Pal's Sudden Service, normally called Pal's for short, is a regional

fast food Fast food is a type of mass-produced food designed for commercial resale, with a strong priority placed on speed of service. It is a commercial term, limited to food sold in a restaurant or store with frozen, preheated or precooked ingredien ...

restaurant chain A chain store or retail chain is a retail outlet in which several locations share a brand, central management and standardized business practices. They have come to dominate the retail and dining markets and many service categories, in many pa ...

located in northeast

Tennessee Tennessee ( , ), officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked state in the Southeastern region of the United States. Tennessee is the 36th-largest by area and the 15th-most populous of the 50 states. It is bordered by Kentucky to th ...

and

southwestern The points of the compass are a set of horizontal, radially arrayed compass directions (or azimuths) used in navigation and cartography. A compass rose is primarily composed of four cardinal directions—north, east, south, and west—each sepa ...

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth ar ...

, with stores concentrated in the

Tri-Cities, Tennessee The Tri-Cities is the region comprising the cities of Kingsport, Johnson City, and Bristol and the surrounding smaller towns and communities in Northeast Tennessee and Southwest Virginia. All three cities are located in Northeast Tennessee, ...

metro region. The first Pal's opened in 1956 in

Kingsport, Tennessee Kingsport is a city in Sullivan and Hawkins counties in the U.S. state of Tennessee. As of the 2020 census, its population was 55,442. Lying along the Holston River, Kingsport is commonly included in what is known as the Mountain Empire, w ...

a year after the founder of Pal's, Fred "Pal" Barger, attended a National Restaurant Convention in Chicago and met

Ray Kroc Raymond Albert Kroc (October 5, 1902 – January 14, 1984) was an American businessman. He purchased the fast food company McDonald's in 1961 and was its CEO from 1967 to 1973. Kroc is credited with the global expansion of McDonald's, turnin ...

and Fred Turner, observing the construction and equipment they used for the first

McDonald's McDonald's Corporation is an American Multinational corporation, multinational fast food chain store, chain, founded in 1940 as a restaurant operated by Richard and Maurice McDonald, in San Bernardino, California, United States. They rechri ...

restaurant. Pal's CEO is Thom Crosby. In 2020, the company had 30 locations. In 2001, Pal's won the

Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award The Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award recognizes U.S. organizations in the business, health care, education, and nonprofit sectors for performance excellence. The Baldrige Award is the highest formal recognition of the performance excellen ...

, becoming the first restaurant company to receive the award.

Organizational culture

The organization is often studied by competition and used as a case study for Industrial/Organizational Psychologists. This is per the company's unique organizational culture, with training that includes pop quizzes and over 200 hours of training for employees, which results in significantly low turnover for the industry.

Aesthetics

Pal's drive-throughs are recognized by their

novelty architecture Novelty architecture, also called programmatic architecture or mimetic architecture, is a type of architecture in which buildings and other structures are given unusual shapes for purposes such as advertising or to copy other famous buildings w ...

in the form of large replicas of food items placed on the roof. Added in 1985, these were designed by California artists Karen and Tony Barone. In addition to the novelty architecture, the buildings are typically painted a bright, cyan blue color, which adds to the visual distinction.

Company history

*1956 - First Pal’s opened Kingsport #01 *1960 - Lynn Garden Drive Pal's .... this was 2nd Pal's....... still open in 2020 *1967 - Brook's Circle Pal's #03(a different building & location than Pal's #12) The earliest drive thru called Circle Burger. *1985 - First box/tier design drive thrus open in Kingsport. Pal's #03 in Colonial Heights. *1987 Pal’s invents the “Big Tea.” *1990 - Pal's #05 opened in Johnson City near ETSU *1991 - Greeneville #06 and Gate City #07 *1992 - Pal's Johnson City Mall #08 and Elizabethton #09 *1993 - Pal's #10 Volunteer Parkway *1994 - Pal's #11 Bristol Highway *1995 - Pal's Brook's Circle #12 and Rogersville #13 *1997 - Pal's Morristown #14 Pals Celebrates the 10th year of the “Big Tea” *1998 - Pal's #15 in Church Hill and Big Breakfast Introduced *1999 - Pal's opens in Bristol at Exit 7 #16 *2001 - Pal's Wins Baldrige National Quality Award *2002 - President Bush presents Pal's the Baldrige Award *2003 - Two new Pal's, Gray #18 and Blountville #19. *2006 - Pal's opens in Jonesborough Pal's #20. *2007 - Pal's celebrates the 20th year of the "Big Tea" *2008 - Pal's opens in Lebanon, Virginia #21 *2008 - Founder Pal Barger is on board the

MS Nautica MS ''Nautica'' is a cruise ship, built for Renaissance Cruises as part of their . ''Nautica'' is now owned and operated by Oceania Cruises, where she is part of their Regatta Class. She was built in 2000 by the Chantiers de l'Atlantique shipyar ...

when it is attacked by

pirates Piracy is an act of robbery or criminal violence by ship or boat-borne attackers upon another ship or a coastal area, typically with the goal of stealing cargo and other valuable goods. Those who conduct acts of piracy are called pirates, v ...

in the

Gulf of Aden The Gulf of Aden ( ar, خليج عدن, so, Gacanka Cadmeed 𐒅𐒖𐒐𐒕𐒌 𐒋𐒖𐒆𐒗𐒒) is a deepwater gulf of the Indian Ocean between Yemen to the north, the Arabian Sea to the east, Djibouti to the west, and the Guardafui Channe ...

.Pal's founder aboard cruise liner targeted by pirates
/ref> *2009 - Pal's opens in Greeneville #22 *2009 - Pal's introduces Razzie Tea *2009 - Neon sign at Pal's #2 taken down due to high costs of operation *2010 - Pal's opens in Norton, Virginia. #23 It has the biggest opening in Pal's history. *2012 - Pal's introduces new 3D website http://www.palsweb.com Pal's #24 Boone's Creek opened. *2013 - Pal's opened Pal's #25 Jefferson City and Pal's #26 Erwin, Tennessee locations. *2015 - Pal's opened Pal's #27 Bristol, Tennessee & Pal's #28 Morristown East *2016 - Pal's opened Pal's #29 Sunset Drive, Johnson City *2017 - Pal’s celebrates the 30th year of the “Big Tea” *2019 - Pal’s Celebrates 10th year of “Razzie Tea.” *2020 - Pal’s opened store #30 in Abingdon *2020 - Area celebrates the 90th Birthday of founder Pal Barger. *2020 - Founder Pal Barger passed away on 10/29

References

{{Reflist

External links

Official website
Regional restaurant chains in the United States Fast-food hamburger restaurants Companies based in Tennessee Kingsport, Tennessee Restaurants in Tennessee Restaurants in Virginia Restaurants established in 1956 1956 establishments in Tennessee