MUSKEGON, MI – When it comes to fresh comfort food and a late-night snack, Mr. Quick Drive-In has everything from tasty burgers to fresh-battered perch by the basket.
The original Mr. Quick opened in Moline, Illinois, in 1962, and grew to 300 locations before seeing a decline in the 1970s.
The father-son duo of Dan and Luke McKinnon took over for the previous owner Ernie Davis, who was in charge of the first Muskegon location, 5501 E Apple Ave., from 1978 until October 2020, when he decided to retire.
Davis was from Missouri and worked at a Mr. Quick there when the franchise was flourishing, and he had the opportunity to expand in Muskegon.
A couple of decades later, Muskegon-natives Dan and Luke McKinnon took over and kept the Mr. Quick legacy alive. They own three out of the four remaining locations in the area.
The restaurants are promotes having the best value, serving breakfast, lunch or dinner.
Some of the top sellers that Mr. Quick is most known for is their bargain bundles, which is a choice of five burgers, cheeseburgers or hot dogs with a half-pound bag of fries.
For a cheeseburger bundle, customers can get five cheeseburgers and a half-pound bag of fries for $12.66 and a double cheeseburger bundle for $20.31.
Customers looking to get a classic chili dog can order a Mr. Quick Bargain Bundle of four chili dogs and a half-pound bag of fries for $12.50.
Besides the classic burgers and hot dogs, Mr. Quick is also famous for its breakfast deals and fresh orders of hand-battered perch every Friday, Saturday and Sunday during the perch season.
Luke McKinnon’s go-to order on the menu is no other than the savory triple cheeseburger with ketchup, mustard, pickles and onion. He said the menu sells well because it’s made fresh and “sells itself.”
“My father and I have grown up having Mr. Quick our whole lives and we loved it,” McKinnon said. “We’re not fast food, and everything we do is fresh to order. Anytime somebody comes through, whether it’s our omelets, pancakes or burgers, we make them from scratch.”
This year, Mr. Quick Drive-In is celebrating its 60th anniversary and the anticipation of the new location opening mid-summer. The new place will be the first new Mr. Quick restaurant in nearly 20 years.
District Manager Amber Schaner, who has been with the Mr. Quick businesses for 18 years, worked with McKinnon to revamp the menu “within this century,” McKinnon said.
McKinnon and Schaner said they came together to create a new menu concept called “Tailored to Your Taste” that allows customers to order a meal or combo their way.
“Customers can make a sandwich any size, with any toppings they want,” McKinnon said. “Which was fun for us to test and let our customers be more creative with our menu.”
Schaner said she wanted the guests to know there were more options than one through 14 and that every menu item can be a meal.
This new concept comes when the Apple Avenue location in Muskegon prepares to celebrate its 30th anniversary of an annual car show in the parking lot.
“We have invested so much of our time, blood, sweat and tears into doing these updates,” McKinnon said. “It is a Muskegon tradition, and our goal would be to turn this into a franchise. We get people from other states who grew up with Mr. Quick in their hometown, and they come back to remember the experience they had there.”
The other Mr. Quick Muskegon locations owned by the McKinnons are in East Muskegon at 640 Whitehall Road and in Norton Shores at 4190 Grand Haven Road.
Hours of operation for all three locations and the upcoming fourth are Monday through Friday, from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. and Sunday, from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.
More on MLive:
Muskegon Heights launching ‘Beautify the Heights, Help Fight Blight’ clean-up campaign Saturday
155 acres of ‘resplendent beauty’ on the Pere Marquette donated for nature preserve
Muskegon leaders to rally in hopes governor signs off on casino as deadline nears
‘Like somebody came back to life.’ Michigan teen reunites with lost dog after 11 months