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Spring residents inducted into Krystal Burger Hall of Fame
  
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By VALERIE L. CLIFTON
Baseball and rock and roll are notorious for their hall of fames, but to some cult followers of fast food, an induction into the mini-burger version is monumental.
Hailing from Spring, the Clark brothers Joey, Steven and Robert Clark were inducted into the Krystal Burger Hall of Fame on Dec. 13.
The honor was bestowed upon them at an induction ceremony where about 30 people, a mix of friends and family, were on hand to witness the three receive plaques that read “Krystal Lover Hall of fame inductee No. 66” and their names, along with along with the box that will be in circulation in January.
Robert, who is actually a brother by default due to having the same surname as Joey and Steven, said they began eating at Krystal when it opened in 2005 after seeing “Harold and Kumar go to White Castle.”
“Somebody told us that there was a burger place that had just opened up that was like a White Castle but for the South,” Robert said.
When Joey was in town from college, the trio would eat at the restaurant as frequently as possible to have business meetings for movies they’d filmed.
They read the stories of Krystal lovers on the boxes the small burgers came in, and decided they too deserved a place in burger history.
After eating a countless number of restaurant’s signature Steamer Packs, the brothers deemed it time for a permanent representation and reminder of Krystal’s greatness, hence the birth of The Krystal Monument.
Joey had been making furniture and a Christmas tree out of beer cans and bottles, so they decided to build a pyramid, but it became too wide to get through a door.
They reshaped it, building in sections to make a 1/14 scale of the Washington Monument. It was going to be about 11-feet-tall, but it got attacked by dogs and had to be rebuilt a few times. The end result was a 7-foot-tall 450-box structure.
Finally, Joey and Steven’s parents were going to throw it away if they didn’t do something with it that day, which also happened to be Memorial Day.
“We decided to take it to Krystal Burger as a memorial to Krystal on Memorial Day,” Robert said.
They set it up in the parking lot and left it alongside the building of the Auto Zone next door to the restaurant.
“The people of Krystal burger thought Auto Zone was playing a joke on them and took it inside the restaurant,” Robert said. “I drove by a day later and saw that it was inside the restaurant.”
Robert told Joey, who promptly drove up to the restaurant to explain how the mini-structure’s presence came about.
Amused by the story, management wanted to send the Clarks’ tale to corporate headquarters, but the brothers opted to send a packet themselves, completer with photos and their story.
“They were already in the selection phase for the hall of fame and had 75 finalists already in the running,” Robert said. “They moved us into that (stage) because our story was so good.”
They received an e-mail about a week before Thanksgiving that they had been selected as one of 15 individuals to be inducted into the Krystal Hall of Fame. But one brother was skeptical, having been previously duped by the other two.
“Joey and me were excited, but Steven wasn’t sure if we were playing a joke on him or not,” Robert said. “He didn’t believe us because we’re always playing jokes on him. He didn’t believe it until he saw the story on their website.”
Fifteen Krystal lovers are being inducted across the country for this selection round, including Georgia State University football coach Bill Curry and a Baton Rouge woman who traveled to a Slidell, Louisiana Krystal to tailgate in the parking lot for Super Bowl earlier this year.
Inductees were selected from thousands of stories submitted to Krystal headquarters via mail, e-mail and social media sites such as Facebook, Myspace and Twitter.
Hailing from Spring, the Clark brothers Joey, Steven and Robert Clark were inducted into the Krystal Burger Hall of Fame on Dec. 13.
The honor was bestowed upon them at an induction ceremony where about 30 people, a mix of friends and family, were on hand to witness the three receive plaques that read “Krystal Lover Hall of fame inductee No. 66” and their names, along with along with the box that will be in circulation in January.
Robert, who is actually a brother by default due to having the same surname as Joey and Steven, said they began eating at Krystal when it opened in 2005 after seeing “Harold and Kumar go to White Castle.”
“Somebody told us that there was a burger place that had just opened up that was like a White Castle but for the South,” Robert said.
When Joey was in town from college, the trio would eat at the restaurant as frequently as possible to have business meetings for movies they’d filmed.
They read the stories of Krystal lovers on the boxes the small burgers came in, and decided they too deserved a place in burger history.
After eating a countless number of restaurant’s signature Steamer Packs, the brothers deemed it time for a permanent representation and reminder of Krystal’s greatness, hence the birth of The Krystal Monument.
Joey had been making furniture and a Christmas tree out of beer cans and bottles, so they decided to build a pyramid, but it became too wide to get through a door.
They reshaped it, building in sections to make a 1/14 scale of the Washington Monument. It was going to be about 11-feet-tall, but it got attacked by dogs and had to be rebuilt a few times. The end result was a 7-foot-tall 450-box structure.
Finally, Joey and Steven’s parents were going to throw it away if they didn’t do something with it that day, which also happened to be Memorial Day.
“We decided to take it to Krystal Burger as a memorial to Krystal on Memorial Day,” Robert said.
They set it up in the parking lot and left it alongside the building of the Auto Zone next door to the restaurant.
“The people of Krystal burger thought Auto Zone was playing a joke on them and took it inside the restaurant,” Robert said. “I drove by a day later and saw that it was inside the restaurant.”
Robert told Joey, who promptly drove up to the restaurant to explain how the mini-structure’s presence came about.
Amused by the story, management wanted to send the Clarks’ tale to corporate headquarters, but the brothers opted to send a packet themselves, completer with photos and their story.
“They were already in the selection phase for the hall of fame and had 75 finalists already in the running,” Robert said. “They moved us into that (stage) because our story was so good.”
They received an e-mail about a week before Thanksgiving that they had been selected as one of 15 individuals to be inducted into the Krystal Hall of Fame. But one brother was skeptical, having been previously duped by the other two.
“Joey and me were excited, but Steven wasn’t sure if we were playing a joke on him or not,” Robert said. “He didn’t believe us because we’re always playing jokes on him. He didn’t believe it until he saw the story on their website.”
Fifteen Krystal lovers are being inducted across the country for this selection round, including Georgia State University football coach Bill Curry and a Baton Rouge woman who traveled to a Slidell, Louisiana Krystal to tailgate in the parking lot for Super Bowl earlier this year.
Inductees were selected from thousands of stories submitted to Krystal headquarters via mail, e-mail and social media sites such as Facebook, Myspace and Twitter.
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