The Char-Grill Story
Char-Grill is truly a Raleigh original, and no visit to the Capital City is complete without stopping in for that delicious, flame-cooked taste. Keep on reading to see how we’ve grown from a single cinder-block building on Raleigh’s Hillsborough Street to multiple locations all around the city!
1959
Bruce Garner, entrepreneur and restaurateur, builds the first Char-Grill on Raleigh’s Hillsborough Street, patterning the restaurant after Raleigh’s first fast-food hamburger grill, The Charcoal Grill. This small cinder-block building on the edge of downtown offers take-out service only, with orders taken on a ticket and prepared before customers’ eyes.
1961
Bruce Garner’s son-in-law takes over the management. Char-Grill becomes a favorite of NC State students as well as downtowners.
1972
Raleighite Jackie Watkins leases the building from Dorothy Garner and repaints it a patriotic red, white, and blue.
1973
Atlantic Christian College graduate Mahlon Aycock and student Ryon Wilder decide to partner-up and form a business together. Wilder, whose family has a long history in the restaurant industry, looks into opening a drive-through hamburger restaurant.
1974
Aycock and Wilder research the Raleigh area for a suitable location to open a double-lane drive-through, fast food restaurant. Aycock and Wilder stumble across the Char-Grill building. The pair meets with Dorothy Garner (now Vickers) to discuss the building. Vickers has plans to demolish the building and use the land for a parking lot.
1975
Aycock and Wilder negotiate a three-year rental deal with Vickers. On April 15, Aycock and Wilders reopen the Char-Grill at its current site, operating the business with one hired employee—Gary Parsons.
The Char-Grill continues the tradition of serving made-to-order, charcoal-grilled hamburger sandwiches. Customers order by filling out a simple order form and sliding it through a window slot to staffers, whom customers can watch making their orders through a large, plate-glass window.
1977
Aycock and Wilders purchase the building, with a 15-year loan financed by Vickers.
1978
Owners change menu to add a four-ounce hamburger steak sandwich to the eight-ounce sandwich previously offered.
1980
Wilders and Aycock add air-conditioning to the small cinder-block building.
1986
Relying on word-of-mouth advertising alone, Char-Grill’s popularity takes off, and the owners decide to open a second Char-Grill restaurant at Olde Raleigh Village shopping center on Edwards Mill Road.
1994
Owners open their third Char-Grill on Atlantic Avenue near the intersection of Millbrook Road.
1999
Wilder and Aycock open fourth Char-Grill on Strickland Road near the intersection of Six Forks Road.
2007
The first Char-Grill franchise location opens at 3635 SW Cary Parkway at the corner of Waldo Rood Road in Cary, NC.