After a half century in business, the Steven brothers sell Spangles

Half a century after starting what would become the Spangles hamburger chain of 26 Kansas restaurants — made popular in part by a ubiquitous series of “It just tastes better” commercials — brothers Craig Steven Sr. and Dale Steven have sold the business.

A combination of factors led them to sell now, but in the end, as Dale Steven put it, “I might as well enjoy life a little bit more.”

A number of potential buyers courted the chain. The Stevens sold to the Hamideh family for an undisclosed price.

“They believed in our vision of where we want to take the Spangles brand,” Abdul Hamideh said.

He, his parents and his siblings already are partners in six Popeyes restaurants in Wichita and elsewhere and IHOP restaurants elsewhere and were wanting to grow in Wichita.

Dale Steven said he and his brother wanted someone already in the industry who wanted to not only own but run the business “instead of being an entrepreneur who just wanted to invest in something.”

The Hamidehs had been looking at becoming franchisees for another Wichita restaurant chain but jumped at the chance to own Spangles, even losing the earnest money they’d put down on the other business.

“We believed so strongly in Spangles and the dream of Spangles,” Hamideh said.

For Hamideh, whose father, Jamal, immigrated to Oklahoma from Palestine in 1979, the Spangles name is evocative of “The Star-Spangled Banner,” and its restaurants are slices of Americana nostalgia with 1950s-themed decor.

Hamideh said when he’s in a Spangles restaurant he feels like he’s in “Pulp Fiction” during the iconic scene where the characters played by John Travolta and Uma Thurman are dancing.

Like Popeyes and IHOP, he said Spangles “just feels like you’re in an American brand . . . and that’s big for me.”

Also big for the Hamidehs is keeping the business based in Wichita — Hamideh is moving from Kansas City to Wichita to run it and his father is moving to Wichita from Olathe — and keeping the same staff.

That includes key players such as the Stevens’ sister Rene Steven, who is director of operations, CFO Dave Dooman, Craig Steven Jr., who is chief corporate adviser, and Melissa Hennen, who is in charge of marketing and advertising among other things.

“I’ve worked on this deal for a very long time,” Hamideh said. “The Steven family was so great.”

Hamideh particularly credits Dooman, who “was instrumental in putting the deal together.”

“It’s a big deal, and it was a very complicated one.”

A Wichita staple

Spangles is a Wichita staple today with 14 of the restaurants across the city and a dozen more in surrounding communities, but it easily could have gone another direction a couple of times.

Craig Steven was 22 and going to school while working for his parents at their Joe’s Car Wash on North Seneca in 1971.

“My dad and mom were big antique collectors,” he said.

They returned from a trip to a Tulsa antiques convention raving about Coney Island hot dogs.

Steven’s father, Joe, told his sons one of them should consider starting a Coney Island in Wichita.

“I raised my hand first,” Craig Steven said. “I said, ‘I’m goin’.’ I just wanted to do something different.”

He opened his first restaurant in the Sweetbriar shopping center, at 21st and Amidon, and eventually had several in well-known spots around the city, including Main and William where Coney Island shared part of a kitchen area with next-door neighbor Dr. Redbird’s.

“It was the weirdest setup ever,” Steven said.

There were a lot fewer Wichita restaurants in those days, and Dale Steven had an idea for a fine-dining restaurant and approached his brother about it.

“We got in a car and drove to Oklahoma and looked for ideas,” he said.

Then, they went to Kansas City and discovered a hibachi business.

“Boy, that’s really unique,” Dale Steven said he thought at the time.

Excited, they drove back to Wichita but had a disappointing epiphany on the way.

“I said, ‘Oh, my God, we don’t speak Japanese.’ ”

Then an opportunity came up to take the former Wiener King space on South Seneca. The space was practically new, and Craig Steven didn’t want to miss the chance to take it.

They decided to forget fine dining and focus on making more Coney Islands work.

“We ran the stores ourselves as managers,” Dale Steven said.

That meant working hundreds of hours with no days off except Christmas.

Dale Steven was in his early 20s and single, but Craig Steven already was 30 with several children.

“We had a tough time,” Dale Steven said, “but we grinded it out for two years.”

Craig Steven said going into business with his brother is the best investment he ever made; however, he laughed about his brother’s learning curve.

In the early days, Craig Steven worked days and Dale Steven took nights.

Once, Dale Steven called his brother in a panic and said, “All my employees left.”

Confused, Craig Steven asked what happened.

“He said, ‘Oh, I got mad and raised my voice, and they all left.’ ”

Dale Steven admitted that actually happened more than once.

Eventually, Craig Steven quit working in the restaurants and handled the business side from an office while his brother trained workers and ran the stores.

“It took him awhile, but he came around pretty good.”

A new idea

The Wendy’s hamburger chain, with long lines of cars to get into its restaurants, was responsible for the Stevens changing direction with their Coney Islands.

“I said, ‘Oh, my God, we need to add hamburgers,’ because they were so busy, and we weren’t,” Dale Steven said.

The brothers added burgers and gradually decreased the variety of hot dogs they sold.

“People don’t eat hot dogs every day,” Craig Steven said.

Eventually, Dale Steven said, ”I wanted to change the name of the restaurant because we really weren’t selling any hot dogs.”

Also, Craig Steven said, they were considering franchising — which they never ended up doing — and they couldn’t franchise the Coney Island name because there were so many other Coney Island businesses nationally.

The brothers, who were looking for a generic name without any connotations, decided to have a naming contest. The winner would receive a free weeklong trip for two anywhere in the world.

The response was overwhelming, with about 50,000 entries from across the city.

“I mean, no matter where you went, someone was writing names down on a piece of paper,” Dale Steven said. “It was that popular.”

Even though it was their “best promotion ever,” as he put it, Dale Steven had another idea for getting publicity for the name change — one that he couldn’t get away with today.

As the competition came to an end, and people kept asking what the new name was, the brothers put up a tall pole with the name at their restaurant at 850 N. Broadway, but they covered the letters of the new name to wait on a big unveiling.

Dale Steven and a radio disc jockey concocted a plan to generate even more attention with the help of an extremely tall ladder.

“We agreed at midnight, they would climb up this ladder to pull the banner back to show one letter,” he said.

At 10 minutes after midnight, Steven went to a pay phone to call the police and say, “I think there’s some vandalism going on at Coney Island.”

Media outlets manning police scanners immediately descended on the restaurant’s parking lot.

“I show up 15 minutes later, and the parking lot is packed,” Steven said.

He told the police he owned the business and was asked if he wanted to press charges.

“Let ’em go,” was his reply.

“It was a perfect climax to a massive promotion.”

‘Getting tough’

Through the years, Spangles has become known for its customer service — something that sets apart the chain from a lot of fast-food places.

Many employees have been with the chain for years if not decades.

“Sales are near an all-time high with our company,” Dale Steven said.

He said operations are better now than ever, too.

That combined with Hamideh’s abilities should work well, Steven said.

“He knows what he’s doing.”

Though Craig Steven said the business has been lucrative, he said he doesn’t “understand why more people want to come into the restaurant business” these days.

“Competition is just getting tough.”

There are new restaurants all the time, he said, and food costs are high, too.

He said he loves the business, but, “I’m ready to retire.”

Steven has 16 grandchildren and four great-grandchildren he’s looking forward to spending more time with.

Dale Steven is going to continue his side career as Stevauni the Magician.

Craig Steven said he likes some of the ideas Hamideh has for Spangles.

“He’s thinking about growing our concept.”

Hamideh said his family won’t make any substantial changes for at least six months as they get to know the Spangles business.

There are some ideas they’d like to pursue, though, such as bringing back kids’ meals.

“We really want to lean toward the family-friendly atmosphere,” Hamideh said.

Also, he said his family wants to give back to the community.

“That’s something that we’re going to really do is get involved in the community.”

His family has a long history in the restaurant industry.

When Jamal Hamideh was 18 and came to America with a borrowed $300 in his pocket, he landed in New York City and asked a cab driver to take him to Oklahoma, where he planned to go to school.

The cab driver helpfully took him to a bus station instead.

Hamideh, who spoke little English, pestered a Sonic owner to give him a job. He finally got one cleaning at the restaurant for a dollar an hour.

Within six months, he became an assistant manager.

His son called it “just a phenomenal story.”

From there, he went to Pizza Hut, which at the time was based in Wichita.

“That’s why we’ve got a love toward Wichita,” Abdul Hamideh said.

He said the Wichita concept put food on the family’s table.

Eventually, the Hamidehs moved to Texas where Jamal Hamideh became an IHOP franchisee in the 1980s. The family added Popeyes to their plate in 2021.

“That was our entry into Wichita,” Abdul Hamideh said.

“We absolutely love the community,” he said. “It’s actually become like a second home to me.”

He said he and his family “will have blood and sweat equity” in the Spangles business.

“I can honestly say it is locally owned and operated. That is a really big thing for me.”

Hamideh said his family is excited for the opportunity and is ready to serve the city.

“We hope to carry the torch for Spangles and the Steven family and to carry it to new heights.”