Ollie Gleichenhaus

Oliver George "Ollie" Gleichenhaus was born September 30, 1911, in Brooklyn, New York, the fifth of Adeline (née Abrams) and Leopold Gleichenhaus's five children. His father was a cloak and dress cutter, working with his brother Isaac at L. & I. Gleichenhaus in New York City. Gleichenhaus said his mother took him to Florida as a child "for health reasons". =="Ollie's Sandwich Shop"==

Gleichenhaus ran "Ollie's Sandwich Shop", a small Miami Beach, Florida, diner located at 315 23rd Street, at Liberty Avenue and 23rd Street. The diner had just seven stools and three booths and was not air-conditioned, but customers stood in line all day long, waiting to dine. Gleichenhaus said of the restaurant, "It was a crummy dive, but it had charisma". A temperamental restaurateur Gleichenhaus would not allow his customers to request any changes to the food he prepared, saying "When you eat in my joint, you eat what I want you to eat, or out you go!" and "My customers ate what I told them to". He resented customers who left food on their plate, and a customer who requested "good" food would so irritate him, he would turn off the lights and order everyone out of the diner. In 1977 Gleichenhaus said "Anybody who orders an Ollieburger well done should go to a crematorium" and "If you put ketchup on it [an Ollieburger], I'll charge you double." ==The Ollie Burger==

Gleichenhaus's Ollie Burger was a ⅓-pound hamburger patty made from ground ends of beef tenderloin. "It has to be thick for flavor". Origin of his secret spice blend recipe In 1974, Gleichenhaus discussed the origin of his Ollie Burger. "I started with little hamburgers on a plain grill, just like everyone else. My burgers had the lettuce, the tomato – the whole schmear! ... I knew I had to find somethin' different, you know, somethin' with a little kick if I was going to get ahead. So I started experimenting. I'd try this and try that". "It's a question of how to marry them [the spices]. They all have to have their own identity. You don't grind them. They have a cover Nature put on them. The aroma stays in. When they hit the fire, they open up". He used the spice blend dry and also mixed the blend in a salad dressing based sauce. He dabbed the spiced sauce on his signature "Ollie Burger" burger patties with a brush as they cooked, saying "Dab it on. Smell the bouquet, 23 natural organic seeds, we don't grind them, keeps the aromas intact". He explained the spice mix had to be applied to the outside of the hamburger, saying "... not herbs IN the meat, it would taste like a meat loaf". Fried in safflower oil, he said the secret to their taste was not cooking them a minute before the meal. He tossed the fries and his spice mixture together in a bowl lined with ten layers of filter paper. Brown visited the Miami diner in the fall of 1971, ordering and slowly eating five of the ⅓-pound Ollie Burgers. Gleichenhaus questioned Brown's intense interest. "I said 'What's with this guy? Does he have a tapeworm or sumpin?'" After finishing his fifth Ollie Burger, Brown introduced himself and said the hamburgers were the best he had ever tasted. Brown told Gleichenhaus he owned Lum's and wanted his Ollie Burger for the restaurant group. "I wouldn't drink coffee in that joint" Gleichenhaus replied. Investors were told that Gleichenhaus and his hamburger recipe with secret ingredients meant that "Ollie would be the Colonel Sanders of hamburgers". In 1972, "Ollieburger" was registered as a US trademark. Scaling the recipe Gleichenhaus worked with Lum's for over six months to standardize his recipes within the restaurant chain. Paramount Foods Inc. in Louisville, Kentucky, manufactured the sauce to Gleichenhaus's recipe. During test marketing of the Ollie Burger, sales at the Columbus, Ohio, Lum's jumped 35 per cent. 63 television commercials featuring Gleichenhaus in “an Archie Bunker kind of approach" were created and broadcast to build Gleichenhaus's image throughout the US. In 1975, Lum's advertised the Ollie Burger as "the heavy-weight champion of the world", touting its ⅓-pound weight as "outclassing and outweighing all the other ¼ pounders". In 1977, Lum's restaurants advertised "The man who invented the Ollieburger presents ... The buck-and-a-half meal-and-a-half!" for $1.50 (). The deal offered diners an Ollie Burger, French fries and "a schooner of beer". ==Ollie's Trolley==

While Brown had employees scouting America for the perfect hamburger for Lum's, Brown and his family went skiing in Aspen, Colorado. On a lift to the top of the mountain, Brown spotted a small trolley down below, selling popcorn. It reminded him of the trolleys in Louisville during his childhood. He said "Well, it was just sort of cute". Brown decided that, while selling Ollieburgers at Lum's, he'd also sell them from small, stand-alone replica trolley cars. Brown then made the Ollieburger the centerpiece of his new streetcar-themed "Ollie's Trolley" fast food chain, where “the world’s best hamburger” was served up in bright yellow and red replicas of old-fashioned trolley cars. The initial trolleys were fabricated by Castle Industries, a modular housing fabricator in New Castle, Kentucky. With just one door in and one door out, Ollieburgers were sold as take-out only. The 20 by 12 foot Spurious "Ollie Burger" and "Ollie Fries" spice recipes Over the decades, nostalgic fans of Ollie's Trolley have tried to replicate Gleichenhaus's secret spice formulas. The internet is full of so-called "authentic" recipes that rely on spurious ingredients never mentioned by Gleichenhaus such as A.1. Steak Sauce, Heinz 57 steak sauce, crushed beef bouillon cubes and the like. These incorrect spice recipes often offer "proof" of their authenticity, saying "The recipe is 100% authentic. I know because I have already tried it". For many years, Gleichenhaus only mentioned using pure spices that were unground, used in their full form for intense flavor. He never referred to using bouillon cubes and cider vinegar. Authentic Ollie Burger spices and other spice blends used by the now defunct Lum's Restaurant group are still available. Franchise start and expansion The first Ollie's Trolley opened in March 1973 in Louisville, Kentucky. Four months later, John Y. Brown said the store "has a $100 a day break-even figure and it's already taking in about $600" (per day). International sales began with two units installed in Windsor, Ontario, Canada in July 1973. By 1976, it was reported there were seventy-five Ollie's Trolleys in seven states. In 1978, it was reported that Ollie Burgers were available in 400 Lum's locations and 200 Ollie's Trolleys across America. Counterfeit "Ollie Burgers" In 1987, Gleichenhaus, who then held the US Trademark 1,104,558 for the word mark "Ollie", publicly protested the sale across America of counterfeit hamburgers named and being sold as "Ollie Burgers" due to the then media attention of Lt. Col. Oliver North. ==Humble in success==

Gleichenhaus kept a keen sense of humility even though he had suddenly become a millionaire, a corporate spokesman and had appeared in countless parades, store openings and local and network television interviews and shows. In 1972, it was reported that Gleichenhaus would visit his old and by then closed shop of 37 years and simply sweep the sidewalk because "he missed it". Describing his recent success in 1976, he mentioned he still lived in Miami Beach, but had moved to an apartment with a swimming pool. He said "And I got what I wanted most: two bathrooms in my apartment. To me, that's the epitome of success". ==Death==

Gleichenhaus died in Miami, Florida, on January 10, 1991, after open heart surgery. His Associated Press obituary quoted Terry, his wife of 34 years, who said of Gleichenhaus "He was a very vibrant, very outgoing person who never shut his mouth". ==References==