Jeffrey Flowers has something to share.
The Swensons Drive-In CEO hands over a menu from 1967 in a display case. The cream-colored document with aqua lettering is one of the many mementos across the company’s corporate office in Akron’s North Hill neighborhood.
Co-titled “Swenson’s and Sweedon’s,” then the name of a sister location, the list of offerings include “Delectable Shrimp,” $1.20, and white fish, 35 cents. Still, front and center, as it has been since 1934, is the Galley Boy. Two thick patties of fresh ground beef, a slice of melted cheese and two special sauces on a buttered, toasted bun — all for 55 cents.
“Some of the technology has changed,” says Flowers. “But I think a lot of the magic here is how much hasn’t changed over the years.”
Flowers hasn’t been around that long, but he did work at that original location in West Akron, which the company later outgrew. He started in 2001 as a curb server and kept the gig through college. In 2005, he hung a diploma from the University of Akron’s engineering school and dove into a job as an entry-level manager at Swensons. He was quickly promoted to general manager, then district manager, then vice president and then CEO in 2015.
“I’m an Akron guy, born and bred,” Flowers says. “I found a passion for the brand, the culture. Everything about this place just resonated with me.”
“Sprint and Smile” is the motto that has ushered in a new era of growth. Swensons opened its second location in 1952, and its third in 1987. Now, as it turns 90 years old, the Akron-based company’s 21 locations include one in Indianapolis and a ghost kitchen. Food trucks pop up at community events.
“We sell a lot of hamburgers,” Flowers says, “but make no mistake: We’re in the people business.”
Flowers’ passion for the brand is not rare. Swensons fans — including LeBron James and The Black Keys — are ravenous. Take away the potato teezers, which the company was temporarily forced to do late last year after supply chain issues, and you just might have a riot on your hands.
“They’re scary,” Flowers says. “People love their Swensons.”
Peak zealotry came in November 2022. A year before, the company had changed the Galley Boy’s cheese from Velveeta, which required hand cutting 5 million slices a year, to a proprietary blend. Despite hundreds of trials to find optimal meltiness and taste, fans felt the new cheese changed the amalgamation of flavors. The groundswell of complaints grew into a change.org petition that was signed by 655 people. The fans ultimately got their way.
“At first, there was confusion. We thought we’d found a comparable match,” says Flowers. “What fueled us to find a solution was that passion. We understood that people were complaining because they cared.”
And if there’s anyone who could understand that burger-fueled passion, it’s Swensons’ curb server turned fry cook turned manager turned CEO.
“Swensons is such a huge part of this Akron community,” Flowers says. “I take a ton of personal responsibility to make sure I’m taking care of this brand.”
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