When buying a house, it's all about location, location, location. For Chris Henry of Forest Lake, White Castle also played a role.
"My husband does not know this (but he will now) that the fact there was a White Castle in Forest Lake was a determining factor in my location, location, location," Henry wrote in the essay that made her one of the newest members of the White Castle Cravers Hall of Fame.
She was among 11 slider fans who traveled to Columbus, Ohio, this week to receive the honor. In addition to the trip to White Castle headquarters, Henry and her fellow inductees received a plaque. Their stories will be featured on slider boxes later this year.
Henry's winning essay chronicled her "White Castle Stages of Life," starting with early memories of her newly single mom and a friend piling kids in the car and pulling up to the iconic Lake Street location — "the oddest-looking house, a small little castle-like house" — and ordering 30 burgers for two adults and a few kids. "From there I was hooked," she said.
She continued to share her White Castle memories through each stage of her life, from being able to afford her own meals as a teen and young adult and satisfying after-hours cravings to introducing sliders to visiting colleagues, scratching the mirror on a new car in the White Castle drive-thru and now treating her parents, who live an hour away, to the occasional meal. She's also preparing for the day she can't drive, with plans to use delivery services and employ kids and grandkids.
Reading through the winning essays is heartwarming, even if you're not a Craver, and underscores the role food plays in shaping memories.
"We hear something new every time, and it means so much to know how people connect with our family business through some of the most memorable moments in their lives," said Jamie Richardson, vice president at White Castle.
Established in 2001, the Cravers Hall of Fame now has 283 members, including 15 other Minnesotans. If you think you're deserving, nominations for the class of 2023 are now open.
