Freddy’s is Welcomed to West Chester
Serving fresh frozen custard and steakburgers
This month, we welcomed Freddy’s Frozen Custard & Steakburgers to the borough and asked General Manager Kurt Herwig about what makes their fast-casual eatery stand out.
The first question on my mind is, what differentiates a steakburger and a hamburger?
It’s about quality. We use fresh, preservative-free, 85/15, lean beef. We press the patties down onto the grill and scrape them off, which means the burger is caramelized on the outside. Everything is hand-crafted and made to order.
Everything’s made fresh?
We pride ourselves on it. The Freddy’s Promise is that we don’t start cooking anything until you’ve ordered it. It takes a little longer, but it’s worth it.
It probably takes good employees to make that happen.
We like to kick-start out workers, use what might be their first job to make them into leaders. We call it the Freddy’s School. It’s important to us that they’re moving up in the ranks here, and it’s not just another dead-end job.
Lots of similar restaurants don’t put in the effort—why bother?
We care about everyone who comes through the door. Not everyone has the best home life, so we’re always looking to help our employees. We drive them to and from work when they can’t get rides.
The first Freddy’s opened in Wichita, Kansas in 2002. Why’d you come to Pennsylvania?
Steve DeMarco, one of the owners here, was on a trip and decided to get something to eat. He couldn’t tell if he liked Freddy’s food just because he was hungry, so he went back the next day and loved their food and hospitality. We opened the first one East Coast location in 2012 in Broomall in Delaware County. This West Chester location opened on April 18, 2017.
I’ve noticed you’re always holding the door open for everyone. Is that intentional?
Greeting everyone with a smile is our Number One goal. As soon as they walk in, kindness rubs off on everyone, no matter their moods.
To read the rest of our talk at Freddy’s, check out our February “I ♥ WC” issue!
