LOCAL FOOD HISTORY
FAMILIAR FLAVORS
For over half a century, Medford has been ground zero for new chain restaurants By Nick Morgan Mail Tribune
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n April of last year, a prankster duped hundreds of Southern Oregonians with a misspelled name and a single Facebook post. “Hope you’re hungry,” said an April 4, 2021, post using a corporate green-and-beige color scheme on a page titled “Panara Bread Medford.” It listed an opening date of May 21, 2021. That opening date was far too good to be true — it was months before crews had even broken ground on the new Panera Bakery Cafe coming to the corner of Highway 99 and Garfield Street. Wishful thinking, however, couldn’t stop the hoax post from being shared by locals 266 times. According to KOGAP Enterprises CEO Brent Hackwell, construction on the building is expected to be completed by the end of 2022. The fast-casual bakery cafe is the latest dalliance in local diners’ love affair with chain restaurants, but it’s hardly Southern Oregon’s first love. Over the past decade, grand openings for Oregon’s first In-N-Out Burger location and
JAMIE LUSCH / MAIL TRIBUNE
Orders are taken at In-N-Out Burger in Medford which, on opening day in 2015 saw three-hour wait lines at its drive-thru window.
Medford’s first Chick-fil-A have drive-ins up and down the road, drawn blockbuster crowds eager According to Medford’s June for the familiar tastes they’d sam- 1962 Bell Telephone book. pled in other metropolitan areas. Jack’s Hamburgers at 911 N. On Sept. 15, 2015, the exciteRiverside Ave., was one hamment was palpable at 1970 Crater burger option that also gave Lake Highway in Medford. CBS diners choices of “pizza pie to News crews were on deck to go,” fried chicken or “Mexican watch as fans of In-N-Out’s tacos and burritos.” Cubby’s famed Double Double camped Drive-in at 1275 S. Riverovernight for the ribbon-cutting. side Ave., was another option Others braved drive thrufor hamburgers, as well as lines in excess of three hours on “Broasted” chicken “prepared in opening day, according to Mail scientific new equipment.” Tribune reports at the time. By the latter half of the decade, From hamburgers to sandwiches Medford’s fast-food choices to everything in between, Medford started ramping up. A listing for has long been the place for South- Kentucky Fried Chicken, at 603 ern Oregonians to get their first S. Riverside Ave., first appeared local taste of some of the country’s in 1967, Taco Bell in 1968 and most popular restaurants, but that Southern Oregon’s first McDonwasn’t always the case. ald’s, at 245 E. Barnett Road, Six decades ago, those looking opened in 1972. for a hamburger might have considered the A&W at 333 N. A rendering of Medford’s Panera Bread Riverside Ave., but there were location under construction at the corner of plenty of other locally owned Highway 99 and Garfield Street in Medford
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