What You Didn't Know About White Castle's Customer Hall Of Fame

Fast food chain White Castle has been around for a long time. According to the brand's official website, White Castle's founder Billy Ingram started his journey with a simple plan. He wanted to provide his customers with delicious, square hamburgers that were called sliders. Before he knew it, his idea took off and White Castle mushroomed into a successful brand with restaurants across different parts of the U.S. 

In a Reddit post, a curious Austrian tourist wrote about trying White Castle's burgers for the first time and asked why it has retained its popularity over the years. An astute commentator pointed out that this has a lot to do with nostalgia. They wrote, "White Castle is about 30 years older than every other fast food burger chain. So, there is a bit of a nostalgia effect." They added that it is unique and when you crave one of its sliders, you know that the only place you can go to is White Castle because no other chain has it.

Interestingly, the brand is now so popular that it even has a hall of fame that is dedicated to its most loyal customers — no joke. The customers who do end up getting featured are called "The Champions of Crave." Intrigued? Read on for more details on how White Castle chooses its inductees.

You'd probably think that it can't be too hard to be featured for noshing beef sliders, but you'd be wrong. As it turns out, thousands of participants have tried to be a part of the White Castle Cravers Hall of Fame since 2001. Guess how many made it? Less than 250. According to QSR Magazine, judges go through hundreds of entries from participants each year, reading their reflections on White Castle.

Stories can be powerful. "Year after year, we're so so impressed with and humbled by the entries we receive for the Cravers Hall of Fame," Jamie Richardson, vice president at White Castle, once said in a statement. "White Castle has been such an important and memorable part of so many people's lives. We love to hear their creative and touching stories about visiting our restaurants and what those visits meant to them."

White Castle's judges have to keep several factors in mind such as creativity, brand loyalty, and originality in mind while choosing the inductees. In case you're wondering, a few celebrities have made it to the Hall of Fame such as Stan Lee, Kal Penn, and Alice Cooper.