Editor’s note: From Oct. 1-8, we’ll be featuring each of the winners from the eight categories of the Owensboro Times Eat Down the Street Competition. The championship week of the voting competition will begin Oct. 11, when eight finalists will face off for the title of the overall favorite local restaurant. Today, we feature Wyndall’s Wonder Whip, which was voted as the favorite local burger/drive-in restaurant.
Seth Woodward, owner of Wyndall’s Wonder Whip, said at the core of the nearly 70-year-old establishment’s philosophy has been to try to keep it all the same.
The location of Wonder Whip has not moved, changed or been remodeled. For Woodward, that’s why he thinks the community keeps coming back.
He said it is a normal occurrence for a customer to come and recount a memory of their parents or grandparents eating at a picnic table, former workers or just how intertwined Wonder Whip is in people’s lives.
“These things are time capsules, they’re relics of a bygone era,” Woodward said.
The restaurant, located 2434 E. 4th St., is one-of-a-kind, as Woodward said there aren’t many hamburger stands left in Owensboro-Daviess County, or even the region.
Since Woodward took ownership in 2015, he has been a part of some of the best days of the restaurant since its opening in 1955. The pandemic took them to new heights as they continued to climb in sales and support.
When the CDC encouraged take-out and drop-off instead of indoor dining, Wonder Whip was excited because that’s what they already offer.
One of the benefits of the drive-thru is they never had to worry about rejecting people from dining at their location. Added to that, Wonder Whip has not seen a day where they were closed for COVID-related reasons.
“If you told me in March or April of last year that we would go 18 months and not have a single employee get a positive test, while they were actively working, I wouldn’t have believed that,” Woodward said.
Like many restaurants, they also had difficulty with shipping and a rise in prices for ingredients and supplies. However, Woodward knows the community is thankful for the diligence the restaurant puts into being open as much as possible even with the difficulties.