The Fast Food Restaurant Credited With Introducing The Double Cheeseburger

The double cheeseburger has become a fast food staple, from classic versions like the In-N-Out Double-Double to the newer double smash burger that seems to be everywhere these days. The origins of this towering beef-heavy sandwich (yes, according to the USDA, a burger is a sandwich) go all the way back to the 1930s. And while you might think the idea came from a company like McDonald's, you'd be wrong. Although, like the biggest fast-food chain in the world that started in San Bernardino, it was a California-based restaurant that invented the double cheeseburger.

Back in 1937, Bob's Big Boy founder Bob Wian made a special burger for a regular customer bored with the menu at his Glendale, California restaurant, then known as Bob's Pantry. Wian split a bun into thirds, slapped on two beef patties, cheese, mayonnaise, lettuce, and relish, and bam — the double cheeseburger was born. Surprisingly, it took more than a decade for other fast food chains to catch up. In-N-Out, another California company, introduced the Double-Double in 1948, which helped popularize the double cheeseburger. Today, you can get another version of the Double-Double at In-N-Out: The Flying Dutchman, a double cheeseburger without the bun or condiments.

Bob Wian invented the original double cheeseburger just a year after selling his DeSoto Roadster for $300 and buying the diner that would launch the Bob's Big Boy chain across the country. His double decker cheeseburger sold so well that he renamed his restaurant after it. The Big Boy was named after a chubby 6-year-old named Richard "Big Boy" Woodruff. Wian gave him the nickname and modeled the chain's mascot — a boy in checkered overalls holding a double cheeseburger in the air — after him. Woodruff, who would eventually stand 6-foot-6 and weigh 300 pounds, sometimes helped out around the restaurant as a child in exchange for double cheeseburgers and other treats.

Besides In-N-Out's Double-Double, other burger chains eventually released their own versions of the double cheeseburger. Surprisingly, McDonald's came late to the game. The company's double cheeseburger came out nationally in 1965, and its Big Mac, which is arguably a double cheeseburger, arrived in 1967. While there are currently less than 60 Big Boy restaurants left, the double cheeseburger continues to thrive. With the continued popularity of the double smash burger, with its thin, crispy-edged beef patties, it looks like the double cheeseburger is here to stay.