With old-fashioned appeal, Chip’s Hamburgers continues to carry on its 50-year heritage as the first true fast food restaurant in Marshfield.
Famous for charbroiled hamburgers and golden brown french fries, the North Carolina-born franchise was purchased by a Wausau resident and operated around fifteen locations all over the state before closing in 1979. Marshfield’s Chip’s was allowed to keep the name and sat on the corner of N. Central and W. Upham from 1967 to 1993.
Owner Steve Konrardy is a large part of Chip’s history, starting out as a cook in high school in the ‘70s before continuing his career as assistant manager after graduation, eventually purchasing the Wisconsin Rapids location in 1994. Konrardy resurrected Chip’s Hamburgers in Marshfield in 2003 on North Central before opening in 2009 the retro A-frame building that stands today on the south side.
“I think it turned out pretty nice. It’s kind of unique,” he said.
The design is reminiscent of the the restaurant’s early look, with a few notable differences. “The original Chip’s didn’t have any inside seating,” Konrardy explained. “For seven years they just came to a little cubicle and took it to their car and ate, or took it home.”
On the inside, Chip’s walls feature black-and-white photographs of Marshfield taken by his wife which show the more modern side of the city. Natives will recognize notable subjects like the Round Barn and the Soo Line Steam Locomotive.
Konrardy retains fond memories of his boss, who started Chip’s in the late sixties, the early days of fast food in the city, and survived the competition posed by other chains that would arrive in the following decades.
“He had a nice clientele that came in, and we still do,” Konrardy said.
