With each post I make on this website, I bring you unique places that people may not have heard of before.

I present to you: Burger King.

Wait? You’ve heard of Burger King, right? Whopper. Have it your way. Kid Vid (is he still around anymore?). At least there’s some familiarity to the subject. That doesn’t mean the chain places aren’t unique. There are historic McDonald’s locations still standing. There’s even an 1960s Burger King in downtown Naperville (which I visited in August 2024; the first “road trip” destination with the current car that I had literally just bought in Downers Grove). The Galesburg Arby’s still has the neon cowboy hat sign.

The Burger King in Mattoon, Illinois is truly unique. So unique that its story is its own. Not a corporate one.

Mattoon’s Burger King provides a lesson on copyrighting and naming rights. More than 50 years later, part of its tourism reach has been the fact that it is NOT affiliated with the Burger King we’re all familiar with. The sign isn’t the circular yellow, red and blue; or the hamburger bun yellow and red – it’s as plain black and white as something would look like from the 1960s. That tourism reach included Yours Truly as a detour from my Illinois Route 1 road trip in Fall 2025.

Here’s the story:

In 1952, Gene and Betty Hoots bought an ice cream stand called the Frigid Queen in Mattoon and then started selling hamburgers and fries. When they expanded the business, they opened Burger King, thinking “every queen needs a king.” The Hootses registered “Burger King” as an Illinois state trademark in 1959. Around the same time the Hootses were building their local restaurant, a different Burger King chain was starting in Florida; this one would grow into the worldwide franchise). When that chain began expanding into Illinois in the late 1960s, the Hootses sued to protect their name. This became Burger King of Florida, Inc. v. Hoots. 

The Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals ultimately ruled in 1968 that the Florida-based chain had the primary federal trademark rights nationwide, but because the Hootses had established and used the Burger King name before the franchise entered their region, they could keep using it in Mattoon, and the big chain was barred from opening any Burger King within a 20-mile radius of the Hootses’ restaurant. The Mattoon restaurant remains independent, with its own menu, staff and style – quite different from the corporate chain. The nearest chain Burger King is just a hair over 20 miles to the north in Tuscola.

Mattoon’s Burger King is a typical mom-and-pop burger joint: burgers, fries, shakes (when you “make it a Moo” to substitute for a soda), hot dogs, tenders and fish sandwiches. It also is supporting of its local sports teams, and on my visit there were painted jerseys of the Mattoon Green Wave football team on its front windows. The interior’s counter looks like a time warp back to decades ago. Ordering is done at the counter, and you receive a paper tag (mine was “9”) and return it upon your order being ready. Black and white pictures of the Hootses working at the place are scattered throughout the interior as well. There also is a drive-thru window.

The chain BK has its Whopper sandwich, which is a larger patty than their usual one. The original’s variety is called the Hooter, named after the place’s founding family. I had a double Hooter on my visit with fountain Pibb Xtra. Good stuff.

The Hootses’ potential calamity with the naming rights actually turned out to be a blessing due to curiosity, in my opinion. Most people know what a chain BK is like, and it can make them wonder what this “other” one is like. As small businesses try to carve out a “reason to come,” this is it.

In a bit of irony, the current owners of Mattoon’s Burger King own a second location. This one is in Shelbyville, about 15 miles west, in 2024. That location is just called the Original Burger.

Original Burger King
1508 Charleston Ave, Mattoon, IL
Open 9 a.m. to 10 p.m. daily, year-round
Find it on Facebook; (217) 234-8122