Georgia Magazine - August 2018 - 22

The Varsity experience

You're invited!
Come celebrate 90 years of Varsity fun
on Aug. 18 from 10:30 a.m. to 3 p.m.
at the North Avenue location in Atlanta.
All menu items are 90 cents, and
there will be music, door prizes
and fun for the whole family.

In the '50s and '60s,
90 percent of The Varsity's
business was curb service.
"It was known as the
world's largest drive-in," Weiser
says. "A control tower and a
PA system were used to direct
heavy traffic."
The Varsity employed 200
car hops with their signature
paper caps back then. To earn good tip money, the
car hops amped up their charm. John W. Raiford, also
known as the flamboyant Flossie Mae, sang the entire
menu to customers and wore caps embellished with
clips, bows, slippers, insect repellent and other odd
items. Entertainer Nipsey Russell worked as a car hop
for four years after he returned from his military service
in World War II; he used comedy to maximize tips.
One car hop earned an astounding $12,000 in tips
in a single year.
But as time passed, dining preferences changed.
Diners preferred to eat inside the facility.
"In the early days of television, before most Americans had televisions in their homes, Frank put televisions in the dining rooms," says Gordon Muir, Gordy's
grandson and president of The Varsity. "So many people
saw their first television broadcast while at The Varsity.
To this day, customers pull me aside and say, 'I came
here with my dad in the '60s, and we watched "Batman"
together,' or, 'I remember seeing The Beatles on "Ed Sullivan" in this room.'"
Today, hungry patrons can get their fill at five
stand-alone locations in Atlanta, Athens, Norcross,

Kennesaw and Dawsonville,
plus two walk-up counters
inside Hartsfield-Jackson
Atlanta International Airport
and another at Mercedes-Benz
Stadium in Atlanta. As diners
step up to the long, stainlesssteel counter to order, they are
greeted by the same barking
calls of counter workers from
years ago. "What'll ya have?

What'll ya have?"
Some customers attempt to place their orders using
the unique language of The Varsity. For example, to order a hot dog dressed with onions with a side of iconic
Varsity onion rings and a Frosted Orange (the restaurant's signature orange-flavored milkshake), simply ask
for "a dog, all the way, ring one and an F.O."
The Midtown Atlanta location of the Varsity serves
an average of 15,000 people every day; on the busiest
days, that number balloons to about 30,000.
"The Varsity is still the place to gather before a
Saturday afternoon football game," Muir says. "It's part
of so many family traditions. Parents bring their kids
here, and when those kids grow up and have children
of their own, they come here, too. Generation after
generation, they come here and share a meal together.
It connects them to the past and to each other."

The family remembers
For years, there were holes cut in the stainless-steel
counters. The menu items cost even amounts, and there
was very little need to make change. The counter workers raked the money into the holes and the money
dropped into large mayonnaise jars underneath.
That changed in the '70s, when General Manager Joe Shalabi talked to Gordy about installing
cash registers along the counter.
"My father didn't see any reason to make that
change," Simms says. "He thought cash registers
would slow down operations."
While Gordy was on vacation, Shalabi boldly

Do you have a favorite Varsity memory?
Customers wait in line for their turn to answer the famous question:
"What'll ya have?"
22

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Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Georgia Magazine - August 2018