The Roanoker-November/December 2021 - 106
then and now
Kenney's Drive In
written by Jenny Kincaid Boone The spot once housed a popular regional fast food chain.
I
Valley.
The A-frame building, pictured here at 5324
Williamson Road, was one of Kenney's signature
features. Currently, this location houses Reyna Produce,
a specialty Mexican grocer.
In 1958, Bill Kenney, the owner of Kenney's, opened
his first restaurant in the Roanoke Valley under a
national franchise called Biff-Burger. Its first Roanoke
location was at 4317 Williamson Road, according to a
website that documents the history of Biff-Burger (biffburger.com/main.htm).
106
November/December 2021
t's hard to imagine a time when you could buy
a hamburger for 15 cents.
This photo takes us back to those days at
Kenney's Drive In, a fast food regional restaurant
chain with locations throughout the Roanoke
As the franchise grew, in 1962, Kenney changed the
restaurants' names to Kenney's Drive In, selling what
many remember as the Kenney burger. These hamburgers
were covered in a signature red sauce and served in
triangular pouches.
Other menu items included fat crinkle-style french
fries, hot dogs, and barbecue.
Kenney eventually opened 12 restaurants in the
Roanoke Valley and 52 throughout Virginia and West
Virginia, according to a 2009 article in the Roanoke
Times.
By the 1980s, the majority of the Kenney's restaurants
closed.
Even so, for a time, Kenney bottled and sold his
signature Kenney burger sauce in Southwest Virginia
Kroger stores. He donated the proceeds to Habitat for
Humanity, according to the Roanoke Times. I
JENNY KINCAID BOONE is a Roanoke-based freelance writer and former business journalist. She is a Roanoke College and Northwestern University graduate who is passionate
about exercise and chai latte.
TheRoanoker.com
JULIANNE RAINONE JACOB / ARCHIVAL IMAGE COURTESY OF THE VIRGINIA ROOM, ROANOKE PUBLIC LIBRARIES
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The Roanoker-November/December 2021
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