Golden Fried Since 1965
In 1965, Hal Guthrie, a proud Auburn Alumni, opened the very first Guthrie’s as a drive-in restaurant in Haleyville, Alabama.
Golden Opportunity
In 1978 Hal walked into his restaurant and announced to his wife, Melissa, and four children that they were going to start serving chicken fingers. But not just any chicken fingers. The golden fried standard of chicken fingers–marinated and fried to perfection.
The Story of the World Famous Sauce
Hal realized that he had to have a delicious, totally irresistible dipping sauce to accompany his perfectly golden fried chicken fingers. He held a contest among his younger children, Hud, Joe Kelly and Anna Margaret, to see who could create the best sauce. Hud’s sauce won. Little did they know that this sauce would make restaurant industry history.
Chicken Finger Pioneering
In 1982, Chris Guthrie, Melissa and Hal's oldest son and a student at Auburn University, talked Hal into opening a Guthrie’s restaurant in Auburn. To do this, Chris and Hal realized they needed to simplify their menu. The decision was made to serve nothing but their perfected chicken fingers and legendary sauce. Thus the chicken finger-only restaurant was born.
60 years of golden fried greatness.
Now more than half a century later, Guthrie’s continues to be an icon. Imitated but never replicated, our southern fried fingers and sauce have made their way to even more cities, with stores opening all over the country every year. But even after all these years and all this growth, it’s still the same tried and true, perfectly golden fried chicken fingers and sauce as we’ve always made.
