Yes, we did say “hot dog stand.” It’s certainly an odd way to begin telling the story of a company that’s famous for hamburgers.
Surprisingly, hot dogs are actually how Nation’s Giant Hamburgers got its start back in 1952. In San Pablo, California, Russ Harvey decided to trade in his 1948 Buick for the chance to make hot dogs at a 10-foot-wide counter with six stools. It turned out to be the best move he ever made. Well, that and the decision to expand his menu beyond hot dogs, of course.
From the moment Russ added extra large, tasty hamburgers to the grill, word of mouth spread like wildfire. People loved all the toppings and the price was just right, too. So, Harvey’s Original Giant Hamburger was born and the lines at his San Pablo stand grew longer.
In his travels, Russ would always look for a good hamburger place. “There was this one place...where they made a hamburger how I liked them. It had nice thick slices of onions in it, tomatoes and lettuce, the whole thing was pretty good.”
Since 1952, our patties have been made of beef that’s specifically ground for Nation’s. We still use two local butchers for ⅓ lb. hamburgers made to our specifications from meat delivered fresh three times a week.
Russ Harvey added a second hamburger stand and — for a brief time — a breakfast spot called “The Waffle Shop.”
Russ Harvey and Dale Power, age 8, met as neighbors in Richmond.
Dale is “ready to have a car and a license.” So, he went to Russ for a job. For the next 10 years, Dale was a maintenance person, a janitor, and a manager.
Giant Hamburgers grew to six locations. Russ opted for partnerships over franchises.
Dale purchased an unnamed restaurant in Oakland, and suggested to Russ, “Why don’t we build a little chain together?” They chose to call it Nation’s, now trademarked. Oakland was first to display the new signage as Nation’s Giant Hamburgers.
Pies were on the menu from the beginning. When a bakery became available in Fremont, Dale brought fresh, homemade pies in-house as a daily menu item. Popular as ever, today there are 13 delicious flavors of quality pies.
The city of San Pablo revitalized the area at San Pablo Avenue and San Pablo Dam Road where Nation’s has had a successful location ever since.
Breakfast was offered for the first time at the San Pablo and Newark stores. By 1978, every store offered breakfast and most locations offer breakfast all day.
For many years our workers made their own uniforms. It’s great to look back and see how the styles are so representative of the times.
With so many stores, we needed more pies, so a second pie shop opened in El Cerrito. On a daily basis, we top nearly 800 pies.
As our growth continued, Nation’s built a new home office and another pie shop in El Cerrito on a site that was originally the Golden Jersey Dairy that closed in the early 1970s when a BART station was built.
The Power family: Dale, Danielle, Cara and Grant.
Since 1952, we have had our produce delivered to us fresh from local farmers. Our lettuce, onions, and tomatoes are delivered to Nation’s stores every night along with our homemade pies.
Toni and Fred Goozen used 250 Nation’s ice cream cartons to build the Pink Goose for the Milk Carton Boat Race at Clear Lake in July 1989.
Our first store on the Peninsula opened in Daly City at the Westlake Mall.
Strawberry tarts became very popular. We start producing them in April or May once prime strawberry season begins.
We introduced the ever-popular Harvester sandwich.
Dale Power became president of Nation’s Foodservice Inc. after Russ Harvey retired.
We celebrated the opening of the Coffee Museum at Peerless Coffee’s home office. Peerless Coffee is our oldest vendor and we are their oldest customer.
Our wild, ocean-caught Salmon Burger was added to our menu.
Look how we’ve grown; our managers gathered for a training session in 2010.
Citrus Heights opened in Sacramento County, as our first store in that area.
Grant Power became the new president of Nation’s Foodservice Inc., while Dale Power transitioned to chairman of the board.
We continued our expansion by opening a store in Stockton.
Our Vallejo store received a makeover.
Nation’s Natomas opened in Sacramento.
Our 70th birthday is here, the legacy continues.
Since 1974, we’ve had our own fleet of pie trucks that make deliveries every night.
On a daily basis we top nearly 800 pies using our pie topping machine added in 2011.
From 1978 to 2000, we opened or relocated a store every year.
