The White Castle burger brand opened its first store in Arizona on Wednesday, the largest unit for the 98-year-old company.
The unit had planned for 24-hour service, but it reportedly limited opening hours from 9 a.m. to 1 a.m. after “record-setting” demand.
The new Scottsdale, Ariz., restaurant is the Columbus, Ohio-based brand’s first company-owned store west of the Mississippi River, and it covers 4,589 square feet and seating more than 200, including on a covered patio.
“We’re really excited to open our first Arizona location,” said Lisa Ingram, White Castle CEO and president as well as a fourth-generation member of the family-owned brand, in a statement. “We have so many loyal fans in the Scottsdale area who have been craving a Castle here. We look forward to serving them and to creating new friends and fans of our one-of-a kind, steam-grilled taste.”
One of those fans was rock musician Alice Cooper, a long-time Original Slider devotee who has a large photo in a corner of the restaurant. The Scottsdale-area resident attended the groundbreaking for the unit in April and was the first to dine with his family in his namesake booth at a pre-opening event Sunday.
The new restaurant, located in the Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community’s Talking Stick Entertainment District, features an open kitchen visible to the dining room, televisions, free WiFi and a soda center.
White Castle, founded in 1921 in Wichita, Kan., has more than 370 restaurants in 13 states. The Scottsdale location will be open 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
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