ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Thursday, December 19, 1996 TAG: 9612190019
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: 3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: CHRIS HENSON CORRESPONDENT
It's hard for Bill Gaul to believe he's been doing this for 10 years. But the decade has flown by for the flipper of possibly the best burger in the valley. "The market's a fun place to work," he says. "We've made a lot of friends."
Today, "Burger" Bill and his wife, Dremma, will celebrate the 10th anniversary of the opening of Burger in the Square, one of the Market Building's first food shops. And while downtown has seen a lot of change over the years, the Gauls like to think they've been pretty consistent.
"We're still doing the same thing we started out doing 10 years ago," says Bill. "We knew there was no way we could compete with the fast food places on price or speed. So we just had to beat them with quality."
He says that by grinding their own beef, and putting patties on steamed buns with fresh ingredients makes all the difference. "The goal has always been to make the best burger in town," he says. "And it's really paid off for us."
All day today, to celebrate the anniversary, Burger in the Square will knock its prices back to what they were 10 years ago, which is essentially 10% off what they are now, according to Gaul. Burgers that are normally $2.16, for instance, are going to be $1.85.
Bill and Dremma have been married 13 years. As co-owners they've worked together and seen their business grow into a second stall in the Market Building, Three L'il Pigs Barbecue. "Right now she's kind of semiretired," he says. She had a baby in September, a girl, Piper Catherine.
Originally from Charlotte, N.C., Bill's first venture was training dogs. "I was a terrible businessman," he says. "Then I took some courses while I was working at Pizza Hut and Steve's Hot Dogs." The rest is hamburger history.
Burger in the Square opened about a year after the Market Building did. Bill believes the addition of the Market and Center in the Square have energized the whole area. "Without it I think Roanoke would be just another medium-sized city with a dead downtown," he says. "It's evolved into one of the neatest places around. The nightlife, the energy ... it's almost like you can't really create that on purpose."
LENGTH: Short : 45 linesby CNB