Pal's Sudden Service, normally called Pal's for short, is a regional fast food

Fast food

Fast food is the term given to food that can be prepared and served very quickly. While any meal with low preparation time can be considered to be fast food, typically the term refers to food sold in a restaurant or store with preheated or precooked ingredients, and served to the customer in a...

 restaurant chain located in northeast Tennessee

Tennessee

Tennessee is a U.S. state located in the Southeastern United States. It has a population of 6,346,105, making it the nation's 17th-largest state by population, and covers , making it the 36th-largest by total land area...

 and southwestern

Southwest Virginia

Southwest Virginia, often abbreviated as SWVA, is a mountainous region of Virginia in the westernmost part of the commonwealth. Southwest Virginia has been defined alternatively as all Virginia counties on the Appalachian Plateau, all Virginia counties west of the Eastern Continental Divide, or...

 Virginia

Virginia

The Commonwealth of Virginia , is a U.S. state on the Atlantic Coast of the Southern United States. Virginia is nicknamed the "Old Dominion" and sometimes the "Mother of Presidents" after the eight U.S. presidents born there...

, with stores concentrated in the Tri-Cities, Tennessee

Tri-Cities, Tennessee

In Tennessee and Virginia the name "Tri-Cities" refers to the region comprising the cities of Kingsport, Johnson City and Bristol and the surrounding smaller towns and communities in Northeast Tennessee and Southwest Virginia...

 metro region. The first Pal's opened in 1956 in Kingsport, Tennessee

Kingsport, Tennessee

Kingsport is a city located mainly in Sullivan County with some western portions in Hawkins County in the US state of Tennessee. The majority of the city lies in Sullivan County...

 a year after the founder of Pal's, Fred "Pal" Barger, attended a National Restaurant Convention in Chicago and met Ray Kroc

Ray Kroc

Raymond Albert "Ray" Kroc was an American fast food businessman who joined McDonald's in 1954 and built it into the most successful fast food operation in the world. Kroc was included in Time 100: The Most Important People of the Century, and amassed a fortune during his lifetime...

 and Fred Turner, observing the construction and equipment they used for the first McDonald's

McDonald's

McDonald's Corporation is the world's largest chain of hamburger fast food restaurants, serving around 64 million customers daily in 119 countries. Headquartered in the United States, the company began in 1940 as a barbecue restaurant operated by the eponymous Richard and Maurice McDonald; in 1948...

 restaurant.

In 2001, Pal's won the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award

Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award

The Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award recognizes U.S. organizations in the business, health care, education, and nonprofit sectors for performance excellence. The Baldrige Award is the only formal recognition of the performance excellence of both public and private U.S. organizations given by...

, becoming the only restaurant company to receive the award.

Menu

Pal's has always featured a basic menu. Items must not only be popular, but efficient to make. Lunch items are served open to close. Some of the most popular items are

• Tea – Called "Pal's Tea" locally, a quart-sized cup of tea. This is Pal's most popular item, served from open to close, largely because area workers can buy it in the morning and drink on it all day at work. Made using JFG brand black tea.
• Milkshake; Vanilla, Strawberry, Chocolate (Peanut Butter and Peanut Butter+Chocolat Mix at Pal's #1)
• Big Pal – A 1/3 lb hamburger on a large bun with mayonnaise, onions, lettuce and tomato. (Also with Cheese and as Double Big Pal)
• Sauce Burger – a standard fast food burger with "sauce": a ketchup, relish, and mustard based sauce.
• Jr. Burger – small version of the Big Pal.
• Frenchie Fries – french fries seasoned with seasoned salt.
• Hot Dog – a hot dog bun with a weiner, mustard, onions, and chili
• Chili Bun – a hot dog bun with chili and no weiner.
• Chili Burger (also as a Jr.) – 1/3 lb. cheeseburger topped with Chili
• Chipped Ham Sandwich – A chipped ham sandwich on the Big Pal bun.
• Big Chicken Sandwich – same as the ham but with Chicken and cheese.

Pal's serves Breakfast biscuits and other breakfast fast food items such as Cheddar Rounds, cheesy potatoes also popular with fry salt, plus offers the entire dinner menu in the morning. Also, during breakfast hours at all locations and all day at some locations, a cup of coffee can accompany any item on the menu.

Pal's is also noted for their health scores which predominantly run between 95-99 which are also inspected on a monthly basis by their own in-house inspectors to ensure quality and cleanliness.

Architecture

At Pal's #1, the exterior is covered with red and white tiling, and has a large red sign that is lit up every night. The neon glow shows up saying 'Burgers, Shakes, 19 cents (the original cost for a Pal's Burger).
One of the notable features of Pal's is the architecture of the buildings. Pal's #2 has long featured a "Muffler Man

Muffler Men

Muffler Man is a term used to describe large molded fiberglass sculptures that are placed as advertising icons, roadside attractions or for decorative purposes, predominantly in the United States. Standing approximately 20 feet tall, the first figure was a Paul Bunyan character designed to hold...

" called Big Pal holding a hamburger on the roof. The newer Pal's restaurants are box-shaped with a tiered front. On this front sits a Big Pal (Hamburger), Hot Dog, and an Order of Frenchie Fries and drink cup.
Until recently, Pal's #2 also featured a 50's-style lighted sign. The sign was replaced because it became too expensive to operate and maintain.
Originally Pal's #1 had a stone front and you didn't come inside, you had to go to a window under a cement awning.

Company history

• 1956 - First Pal’s opened Kingsport # 1
• 1958 - Lynn Garden Pal's #2
• 1985 - First drive thrus open in Kingsport
• 1990 - Pal's #5 opened in Johnson City
• 1991 - Greeneville #6 and Gate City #7
• 1992 - Pal's Johnson City Mall #8 and Elizabethton #9
• 1993 - Pal's #10 Volunteer Parkway
• 1994 - Pal's #11 Bristol Highway
• 1995 - Pal's Brook's Circle #12 and Rogersville #13
• 1997 - Pal's Morristown #14
• 1998 - Pal's #15 and Big Breakfast Introduced
• 1999 - Pal's opens in Bristol at Exit 7
• 2001 - Pal's Wins Baldrige National Quality Award
• 2002 - President Bush presents Pal's the Baldrige Award
• 2003 - Two new Pal's, Gray and Blountville
• 2006 - Pal's opens in Jonesborough
• 2007 - Pal's celebrates the 20th year of the "big tea"
• 2008 - Pal's opens in Lebanon, Virginia
• 2008 - Founder Pal Barger is on board the M/S Nautica when it is attacked by pirates in the Gulf of Aden
  Gulf of Aden
  The Gulf of Aden is located in the Arabian Sea between Yemen, on the south coast of the Arabian Peninsula, and Somalia in the Horn of Africa. In the northwest, it connects with the Red Sea through the Bab-el-Mandeb strait, which is about 20 miles wide....
  
  .
• 2009 - Pal's opens in Greeneville
• 2009 - Pal's introduces Razzie Tea
• 2009 - Neon sign at Pal's #2 taken down due to high costs of operation
• 2010 - Pal's opens in Norton, Virginia. It has the biggest opening in Pal's history.