White Castle Inducts 12 Loyal Fans To The 13th Cravers Hall Of Fame Class

COLUMBUS, Ohio, Oct. 18, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- White Castle's most loyal fans submitted their stories, and the judges have selected 12 Cravers to the Hall of Fame. This year's Cravers Hall of Fame inductees have gone to great lengths to be included in the October 28 induction ceremony at the White Castle Home Office in Columbus, Ohio.

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The judges set criteria to evaluate each story based on the following: brand loyalty, creative presentation, originality and magnitude of the Crave. From 675 entries, 10 stories were chosen.

"The Craver Nation never ceases to amaze us with their incredible and memorable stories," said Jamie Richardson, vice president. "We're excited to celebrate the dedication of our loyal fans with the Cravers Hall of Fame inductions."

In 2010, White Castle added the distinguished "Cravers in Extremis" category to the Cravers Hall of Fame. "Cravers in Extremis" is a public figure, celebrity or pop icon who has publicly shown their love of White Castle. The "Craver in Extremis" award has been chosen. A special surprise announcement will be made at the induction ceremony.

Since the launch of Cravers Hall of Fame in 2001, 147 inductees have been honored with this distinguished award.

The class of 2013 inductees includes:

• John Engen, Anoka, MN – "DJ Number One" – John is a radio personality who has made it widely known that he loves White Castle. This notoriety helped him become the first guest of honor at a new restaurant built in the Minneapolis region. He also visited every White Castle restaurant in the state over a two week vacation in 2005.
• Steve Klein, Ledgewood, NJ – "A Craver's Best Friend" – Steve will be inducted for visiting White Castle every day for one year and attending the Valentine's Day event with his wife every year. Steve has also traveled to visit every White Castle in New Jersey and refuses to visit any other quick service restaurant.
• Darrin Vindiola (father) and Darrin Vindiola (son), Evans, CO – "Craver Road Trip" – This father and son duo's Crave for White Castle drove them to make a 1,900-mile road trip through six states for a taste of The Original Slider®.
• Kevin Downey, Brooklyn, NY – "Castle Compass" – When Kevin was a young child, his father taught him how to navigate Brooklyn using a road map with stars denoting the White Castle locations. His prize for finding the White Castle was a lunch of Sliders and French Fries. Kevin now plays the White Castle map game with his own children.
• Ned O'Malia, Albuquerque, NM – "Sibling Rivalry" – Ned and his sister Mary entered the Crave Time Cook-Off recipe contest and out of 458 entries, the sister and brother duo won first and second place. Since then, both have entered the Cravers Hall of Fame contest – but this year Ned was the winner.
• Barry Cash, Somers, NY – "Slider Slumber Party" – A storm hit when Barry was working as an assistant director for a summer day camp. He helped usher 100 children to shelter in a local community center. Then Barry ran out to the nearest Castle and purchased 400 Sliders and 126 orders of French Fries and saved the night.
• Paul Johnson, Taft, TN – "Precious Cargo" – Paul, a self-proclaimed all-time Craver, was traveling to meet his wife's family in Singapore and decided to freeze 10 Sliders and take them on his 24-hour journey. Paul repeated this process when he traveled to Panama and again to Moscow, Russia.
• Jeff Maurer, Wilmington, IL – "Inconvenient Cravings" – Jeff risked being late to his own wedding to satisfy his Crave. He couldn't resist going through the drive-thru just minutes before the ceremony. At 2 a.m. on their way home from the wedding, Jeff and his wife stopped at a local White Castle. While Jeff and his bride were celebrating their nuptials, he spilled the drinks onto her wedding dress. She was understanding of his Crave, and they're still married 22 years later.
• Alice and Samuel Marks, Port Aransas, TX – "Home is Where the Slider Is" –After retiring, Alice and her husband moved from Minneapolis to South Texas, Alice knew that she had to keep the tradition of serving Thanksgiving Slider Stuffing. While grocery shopping for Thanksgiving, she discovered frozen Sliders in the freezer section and surprised her husband with their favorite Thanksgiving tradition – Slider Stuffing.
• Lucretia Henard, High Point, NC – "The Original Slider Saga" – Lucretia discovered her love for The Original Slider® when she moved to Minneapolis to attend the Humboldt Airline Institute. She passed on the Crave to her son who grew up to be a semitruck driver. Her son had heard his mom talk about White Castle most of his life, and he decided to surprise her after a drive through Ohio and brought a sack of Sliders to his Craver mom.

About White Castle
White Castle is a family-owned business based in Columbus, Ohio, that owns and operates more than 400 restaurants in 12 states. The company was founded in Wichita, Kansas, in 1921 and is America's first fast-food hamburger chain. All White Castle Sliders are made from 100 percent USDA inspected beef. White Castle's commitment to maintaining the highest quality products extends to the company owning and operating its own meat processing plants and bakeries. White Castle's loyalty program, Craver Nation, connects like-minded Cravers from around the globe in a social media setting. For more information on White Castle and Craver Nation, visit WhiteCastle.com and CraverNation.WhiteCastle.com.

SOURCE White Castle