Dee's Drive-In was a fast food hamburger drive-in restaurant chain based in Utah. The chain was founded by Dee Frederick Anderson, who got his start selling hamburgers operating the Ute Hamburger Shop near the University of Utah in the 1920s. Anderson opened the first Dee's Restaurant in 1932.[1] Dee's would evolve into two separate but related restaurant chains: Dee's Family Restaurant and Dee's Drive-In.
Noted for its family-friendly advertising and the colorful "Dee's Clowns" that adorned its restaurants, the franchise became a Utah cultural landmark in the 1960s. At its height, the family operated 53 restaurants with an annual revenue of $20 million per year. In the late 1970s, an altered business strategy led the Anderson family to sell all of its Dee's Drive-Ins to Hardee's; a dozen Dee's Family Restaurants remained in business. Half of them continue to operate across the Wasatch Front region of Utah.
History
Dee Frederick Anderson, a fast-food entrepreneur from Ephraim, Utah, opened his first Dee's Restaurant in 1932.[1] He was inspired to create Dee's Drive-Ins after seeing drive-in restaurants during a 1953 visit to