WA West Springfield institution for more than 60 years, the White Hut restaurant opened a second location in downtown Springfield late last year. Third-generation owner E.J. Barkett says that is probably just the start of an expansion process that could take the establishment — famous for its burgers, dogs, and simplicity — across the Valley and perhaps well beyond.

E.J. Barkett was bemoaning the weather.

It was a cold February day, and a brisk wind that was whipping an early-morning snow through Springfield's downtown made it feel even colder. It wasn't a day when businesspeople would feel inclined to leave their offices and brave a walk to Market Place and the new location of White Hut, the 64-year-old family business and local institution that Barkett now owns.

There have been many such days this winter, slowing the start to the highly anticipated White Hut expansion into Springfield. But Barkett is clearly thinking long-term, and despite the rugged winter, he says the new Springfield location is off to a solid start. And he believes this is just the beginning of a much larger expansion plan for the landmark fast-food restaurant started by his grandfather just before World War II.

Barkett, 35, told BusinessWest that he can easily envision having 10 locations or more within a decade, stretching the chain across the Pioneer Valley and perhaps into Connecticut and well beyond. He's pondered locations on the Cape and other tourist spots across New England, as well as Northampton, Cambridge, and similar college towns where fast, inexpensive food is always in demand.

While plotting future expansion plans, however, Barkett is busy working the counter — especially on those busy Saturday mornings — and also training new employees and even lugging the sign alerting passersby to the new Springfield location out to the sidewalk on Main Street. "This is a hands-on business," he explained, "and I'm as hands-on as they come."

He plans to stay that way, although he knows that as the chain grows, his responsibilities will inevitably change. He currently balances time spent slicing cheese with increasingly frequent visits to check out available real estate and meetings with advisors and potential investors. In the years ahead, there will be much less of the former and far more of the latter, and he is preparing himself for that transition.

"My position has already changed," he explained. "I still fill in where it's needed to make sure those stores are running smoothly, and that means working the counter, but I am spending more time planning the future expansion of the company. I might have an office someday, but I'm not going to sit behind a desk and expect that my shops are going to run correctly without my presence."

BusinessWest takes a look this month at this intriguing Pioneer Valley institution and where Barkett wants to take it. Suffice it to say that this young entrepreneur has an appetite for challenge and opportunity.

"I have a passion for the restaurant and the concept," he explained, "and I want to take it to a higher level than it's ever been. With the right people around me and the right people working for me, I think I can do it."

On a Roll

We Now Have French Fries — Please Try Them.

That's what the sign on the hood over the stove at the West Springfield White Hut says, and it speaks volumes about this establishment and what has made it such an institution in the Pioneer Valley. Until recently, there were no french fries — just burgers, dogs, and piles of grilled onions.

When Barkett says this is a no-frills eatery, he means NO FRILLS.

There are no menus and no signs behind the counter alerting patrons as to their choices and how much they cost. In short, if you have to ask, then you're in the wrong place. There are stools along the counter and a few tables at which people can stand to eat their burgers, hot dogs, and a growing variety of breakfast items. The place is crowded, noisy, and simple in every way possible.

But it is also hugely successful, and popular with both the lunch-pail crowd and area executives looking for something quick and inexpensive. Bricklayers and accountants often share the same counter space along the back wall. The company now boasts annual sales well over $1 million and growth averaging more than 10% a year over the past several years.

Beyond those numbers, though, the White Hut's success can be charted by its inclusion in several 'best-of' lists. These range from a variety of Valley Advocate honors, including a consistent listing as the top hamburger purveyor in the Valley, to occasional awards for best hot dog and best "quick lunch." The company has also earned a spot on the top-10 hamburger joints list compiled by Michael and Jane Stern at roadfood. com, a site "dedicated to finding the most memorable local eateries along the highways and back roads of America."

Writes Michael Stern in a recent review of the Memorial Avenue landmark, "the White Hut is essential road food. There are not a lot of choices available from this brash, open kitchen, but two for which it is unbeatable: cheeseburgers and hot dogs."

Brash?

That's a word Barkett would use himself. He said the key to White Hut's success — beyond the fact that its food is cheap and truly fast — lies in how it is different from the national chains. Here, workers behind the counter know the people on the other side — "if they know someone's name, they use it," said Barkett — and the patrons know each other as well.

They should, because most come in several times a week, and some will even stop by a few times a day. "So there's a rapport between the people who work here and the customers — people like it when they walk into a place and they're recognized," he said, adding that there are other ways this establishment differs from the national giants. For starters, those behind the counter are likely to work there years, not days, weeks, or months. And they never (well, almost never) take notes when compiling orders.

"They simply remember who ordered what," said Barkett. "That can be pretty difficult, especially when the place is busy. But that's one of the little things that makes us different."

It's been that way since his grandfather, Edward John Barkett, purchased a small hot dog stand called Benny's Deli from founder Hy Roberts, for whom the elder Barkett had worked before being offered an opportunity to buy the establishment. The name was soon changed to White Hut, and a within a few years it was moved from its original location on the corner of Main Street and Memorial Avenue to a new building on its present site.

Building materials were in short supply during World War II, said E.J. Barkett, adding that this was one of the reasons why the White Hut was made small and cozy, with just over 700 square feet of floor space.

Since the day it opened it has been a family business, with many members of that family working inside. "Everybody worked here ... my grandfather, my grandmother, my grandfather's brother, a couple of his sisters, and a sister-in-law," he said. "Through the '60s, it was my grandfather's generation, then it started with the second generation and my father, my aunts, and my mother. As for me, I've been coming to the White Hut since, well, before I was born."

Like many members of his family, Barkett started at the White Hut early. At 13, he was peeling and slicing onions and making hamburger patties. He didn't love the work, however, and when he left for the University of Colorado and a course of study in political science in the mid-'80s, there were few, if any, thoughts of coming back and running the family business.

But he got a taste for restaurant management in Boulder, when, during the later years of a six-and-a-half-year ordeal to obtain his bachelor's degree, he managed a franchise of a national pizza chain. He thought about opening his own restaurant, but instead returned to West Springfield and worked out a timetable for buying the White Hut from his father — a transaction that was completed in March 2000.

Chain of Events

Barkett said he started exploring the possibility of a second location soon after acquiring the White Hut, and that preliminary discussions actually began after he returned from Colorado. He looked at several locations, but finally opted for downtown Springfield because of the large working population there and the attractive terms eventually struck with Market Place owner Lester Fontaine.

While a Main Street location would have been preferable, Barkett said patrons have been able to find the new White Hut at the back of Market Place largely through word of mouth, generous amounts of press, and that sign on the sidewalk that points the way. In the meantime, he's working with Springfield-based Tobin Systems to develop a Web site that will tell the White Hut story to those who may not be familiar with it.

Thus far, the Springfield location has been successful in drawing both those who work and live downtown, and Barkett expects the numbers to improve as the weather does. Thinking long-term, he views the convention center project and other initiatives to build tourism as more evidence that he's in the right place at the right time.

"This is what we were looking for — this is a great location for us," he said. "Expectations are high, and we know that, but we can meet them."

As for future expansion, Barkett said he's already thinking about location number three. He is scouting a number of potential sites — the Boston Road area, Northampton, and Enfield are among the locations in contention — and expects to open a third restaurant by year's end.

While he may build new or buy an existing building, Barkett said it is more likely that he will follow the model he used in Springfield and lease space. "It's much more economical to do it that way," he said, noting that he opened the doors at the Springfield location for less than $100,000, while buying a location would double or triple that figure.

As the chain grows and economies of scale allow locations to become more profitable, the company will look more closely at buying real estate, he said, but for now, the leasing model will be used.

When asked if he had a five- or 10-year plan, Barkett says he's working on one. The informal goal is to add perhaps a new location a year for the next several years — company-owned facilities, not franchises — and to focus first on the Western Mass. market, where he believes there is plenty of potential. Indeed, while many people would drive a good distance to get to the Memorial Drive location, it relied heavily on people living or working in Springfield, West Springfield, and Agawam. If the formula works there, it will work in similar high-population-density areas, he said.

"If I can get a core number of stores in this area and feel that the concept is expandable and working, I don't see why we can't go well outside this region," he said. "I think we would be very effective in college towns, as well as in bigger cities like Boston, Hartford, Worcester, and others — the sky's the limit, really.

"I'm confident I can take this business to the next level," he continued. "I just need to determine the path I want to take — one that will allow me to move forward comfortably, and without taking any risks for my family."

Barkett said he's talked with a number of potential investors, but isn't ready to give up any percentage of the business yet.

"At this time, I don't want to jump in and take that route," he said. "I want to be comfortable enough so that I'm in control of the expansion of the operation. I'm probably not the best manager, or the smartest businessman, or the greatest entrepreneur, but I think I have enough advisers around me and talk with enough people to do this right."

Barkett says he's read the headlines announcing the struggles of McDonald's, Burger King, and other fast-food giants, and is well aware that he's not serving up health food at a time when more attention is being paid to a national obesity crisis.

But he believes there will always be a place for the hamburgers and hot dogs, especially when they're cooked to order by someone who knows your name.

"If you look at history, hamburgers are the biggest-selling food in the country," he said. "I don't know why McDonald's and some of the other chains aren't doing quite so well now — I don't see anything changing as far as America's appetite for hot dogs and hamburgers for at least the next 25 or 30 years."

Food for Thought

As he posed for some pictures in front of the West Springfield restaurant, Barkett warned that a few of the lights in the neon sign were not working. He has been planning to fix them for some time, but has been held up by the mountain of other responsibilities now on his plate.

Deep down, though, he knows that this establishment doesn't need a sign over the door any more than it needs menus and tablecloths. The White Hut is what it is — and for 64 years, that's been more than enough for its patrons in the Pioneer Valley.

In the years ahead, Barkett expects the name will be known far beyond Western Mass. Building a chain is not easy, he explained, but he believes he has all the right ingredients.

Especially those grilled onions.