Milo's Hamburgers
Milo's Hamburgers, known colloquially simply as Milo's, is a Birmingham fast food chain founded by Milo Carlton as Milo's Hamburger Shop in 1946. The chain is best known for its secret-recipe hamburger sauce, and for its Milo's Famous Sweet Tea.
History
Milo Carlton got his start in the restaurant business by working for one of his brothers at a restaurant called Dipsey Doodle in 1939. The following year, Carlton joined the National Guard and was mobilized in 1941. He was assigned to the Food Service Division and served through World War II, being discharged in 1945.
On April 16, 1946, Carlton, with his wife Bea, opened the original Milo's Hamburger Shop at 31st Street and 12th Avenue North in Norwood. The restaurant remained there until the construction of I-20/I-59 forced it to move to 2820 10th Avenue North in 1963.
The restaurant's famous hamburger sauce did not exist when the business started. Carlton experimented with it, taking his customers' advice to improve it. According to Carlton, "when they started telling me to put alot [sic] of that sauce on their burgers I knew I had it just right."1. Another tradition is putting an extra "plug", or cut piece of beef patty on top of each burger. The practice dates to when the hand-shaped patties were prone to losing their edges during cooking, and has been preserved as a signature of a Milo's hamburger.
Milo Carlton's son, Ronnie Carlton, and his wife, Sheila eventually went to work for Milo. In 1983, Milo's began selling franchises under Ronnie's direction. The first was on Southside, which opened February 7, 1983. Franchisees originally had little leeway in operations as the parent company dictated many facets of the business, from what vendors were used to employee uniforms. Shortly after the Southside store's opening, the original store closed. (It is now The Pit B-B-Q.)
Separation
Ronnie Carlton sold the restaurant portion of the business, including the sauce recipe, to Dean Chitwood in January 2002. The business is registered as the Milo's Franchise Company.
Carlton continued to run Milo's Restaurant Services (now known as Milo's Tea Company), to sell hamburger sauce and tea concentrate to Milo's locations. The restaurant chain began experimenting with brewing its own iced tea at some locations in May 2012. That practice led Milo's Tea Company to end its supply agreement in the summer of 2012. Milo's Franchise preemptively sued Milo's Tea over the matter that August. During the lawsuit, Milo's restaurants switched to using tea provided by Royal Cup Coffee. The two companies resolved the issue in March 2013 and Milo's restaurants began serving Milo's Tea again.
Locations
- 757 Academy Drive, Bessemer
- 1 Limestone Parkway, Calera
- 1530 Montclair Road, Birmingham
- 6600 Bellview Drive, Fairfield
- 1120 Forestdale Boulevard, Fairfield
- 604 Fieldstown Road, Gardendale
- Regions-Harbert Plaza, Birmingham
- 208 State Farm Parkway, Homewood
- 1210 Inverness Corners, Inverness
- 2057 Village Drive, Moody
- 2020 Pelham Parkway, Pelham
- 209 Gadsden Highway, Roebuck
- 401 19th Street South, Suite 130, Birmingham
- 5887 Trussville Crossing Parkway, Trussville
- 1449 Montgomery Highway, Vestavia Hills
Notes
- "Milo's History", miloshamburgers.com
References
- Milo's History (March 9, 2005) - accessed 18 August 2006.
- Milazzo, Don (October 8, 1999) "Sauce is still boss, but Milo's tea takes off" Birmingham Business Journal
- Nicholson, Gilbert (February 1, 2002) "Milo's serves up a warehouse in Bessemer" Birmingham Business Journal
- Mackay, Steven (December 13, 2002) "It's teatime (Milo's style) in Bessemer" Birmingham Business Journal
- Poe, Ryan (August 31, 2012) "Battle brews over Milo’s tea." Birmingham Business Journal
- Poe, Ryan (March 4, 2013) "Milo's Famous Tea back on the menu at Milo's restaurants." Birmingham Business Journal