MILWAUKEE COUNTY

Hungry fans line up to get their free victory burgers as George Webb pays off Brewers prediction

Meg Jones
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Hungry Brewers fans lined up outside George Webb restaurants as the second hand on both clocks struck 2 p.m. Thursday.

Lauren Wysocki of Pewaukee takes a bite out of her free hamburger at the George Webb Restaurant in Brookfield, where she was with her mother, Sandy Wysocki. George Webb Restaurants across the state handed out free hamburgers on Thursday, delivering on the promise ithe company made if the Brewers won 12 games in a row. The restaurant allowed one burger per customer.

Inside, Webb wait staff held boxes of burgers, each tucked into paper envelopes adorned with the George Webb logo. They happily handed out hamburgers to everyone coming through the door.

Some bit into their free burgers right away while others carried them back to their cars. Many had smiles on their faces and quite a few wore Brewers shirts and hats.

After all, their prized fried patties were thanks to the team’s 12 consecutive victories.

“We’re a burger chain so it’s not like we’re going to give away toast,” said George Webb Vice President Ryan Stamm shortly before the burger rush started.

Rohn Roth wore a powder blue Brewers jersey to come to the Brookfield Webb’s and claim his prize.

“I came because the last time this happened was in 1987, and also because of tradition, it’s a local restaurant and because the Brewers are my team,“ said Roth.

All 30 George Webb restaurants handed out burgers from 2 to 6 p.m. For those who couldn't get a burger during that time, coupons were available to redeem for a free hamburger starting Friday through the end of October.

Rohn Roth (left) of Waukesha is joined by other customers waiting for free burgers in Brookfield.

Only once before has George Webb paid off on its tasty prediction — in April 1987 when the Brewers won 13 in a row, with the 12th victory coming in dramatic fashion before a sellout crowd at County Stadium on Easter Sunday. 

Three days later, all George Webb restaurants — which numbered 48 at the time — handed out one free burger per person between noon and 8 p.m. This being Milwaukee, where folks are known for their love of hamburgers and frugality, almost 170,000 were given away to people who lined up for hours in the rain.

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There was no rain Thursday. Instead, folks lined up outside restaurants under sunny skies and 58-degree temperatures.

Last week, even before the Brewers defeated the Dodgers in Game 1 of the National League Championship Series for their 12th straight victory, George Webb officials alerted their meat supplier and the two bakeries in Oak Creek and South Milwaukee that provide hamburger buns. 

Kent Brodie was 26 when he got his first free George Webb burger in 1987 at a George Webb in Bay View that closed a long time ago. He stood outside the restaurant on West North Avenue in Wauwatosa and reminisced as the delicious smell of frying hamburgers wafted out of the door.

"I'm basically here because I got one in 1987. I don't think the burgers are all that great but it's history," said Brodie. "It was kind of dry but I didn't mind."

Standing behind Brodie in line was another free George Webb hamburger veteran. Mike Norris was a Marquette University graduate student when he visited the George Webb on State Street in downtown Milwaukee, which is also no longer there.

"I was in the neighborhood today and a lady said to me, 'Did you get your free hamburger?' " Norris said. So he did.

Lines ebbed and flowed throughout the four-hour giveaway. Sometimes a line stretched 50 people deep — at the Wauwatosa location it curved around the parking lot shortly after 3 p.m. — while other times folks could walk right in and get their free burger.

While many grabbed theirs and left, Egon Grothe sat down at the counter of the Brookfield George Webb to savor his beef. He pulled out a newsletter of the Milwaukee Braves Historical Association, opened his hamburger, poured a healthy dose of ketchup on the bun and began to read as he munched.

"A free hamburger from George Webb's. I have to carry on the tradition," said Grothe, a Korean War veteran who grew up across from Borchert Field.

Grothe collected home run balls smacked out of Borchert Field by the minor league Brewers, reselling them for 50 cents apiece and using the proceeds to buy a new baseball mitt and a used Schwinn bicycle. He worked as an usher the last three years of County Stadium and the first three seasons at Miller Park before "my knees gave out."

Each restaurant scheduled three times the number of workers normally on duty. 

"No staff member I asked to work said no," said Stamm, who got calls from former employees and even groups such as the Girl Scouts volunteering to pass out hamburgers.

Assembly lines were set up with employees flipping burgers, dealing hamburger buns like decks of cards, adding condiments, bagging and placing in cooler boxes, which were swapped out when they quickly emptied.

All George Webb employees wore either Brewers shirts or T-shirts sold on the company's website proclaiming the 12-in-a-row prediction. Stamm said the George Webb prediction T-shirts have been selling like hotcakes online — more than 600 in the last week since the team clinched its 12th victory. That's about 575 more T-shirts — at $14.95 a pop and sizes small to 4XL — normally sold in a week.

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On Tuesday, enough ground beef and buns for 200,000 hamburgers was delivered to George Webb headquarters. Each restaurant was stocked to handle around 3,000 burgers during the giveaway, which included 50 pounds of onions and 10 gallons of pickles.

During the giveaway, restaurants offered a limited menu with just 10 items to ease the stress on workers pumping out hamburgers. Folks could buy fries and onion rings as well as chili and chicken noodle soup, coffee and soda.

The first in line at the Brookfield restaurant was David Seitz, who showed up at 1:10 p.m. while other diners supped on breakfasts and lunch entrées. He had never been to a George Webb's and decided to stop in to get a free burger, sitting on a bench until 2.

Mark Alberg and Peter Filtranti showed up for more filling lunches, a salsa egg scramble for Alberg and pub burger for Filtranti, an hour before the giveaway and after paying their tab, grabbed free burgers on the way out the door.

"It's awesome that George Webb has done this (12 games prediction) forever. It's a local restaurant that has supported the Brewers the whole time; they're not jumping on the bandwagon," said Alberg.

For some, Thursday's burger handout was a long-held dream finally fulfilled.

"I didn't get one in 1987 when I was 8," said Joe Muente as he waited outside the Wauwatosa restaurant. "I couldn't convince my parents to stop, and the line was too long."