Even before In-N-Out Burger took hold of the SoCal fast food scene, a different joint haunt began slinging burgers to hungry residents in Los Angeles: Original Tommy’s World Famous Hamburgers. Of course, what made Original Tommy’s special is that its burgers came smothered in chili. That’s right, ever since 1946, the chain has been cooking up chili by the gallons to slop on top of burgers — and it was one of the first of its kind to do so. Word quickly spread, and the operation had to expand in the ’60s to handle the influx of chili-loving burger-seekers. Original Tommy’s chili burgers are layered with onions, mustard, pickles, cheese, and tomatoes and served on plain buns, a recipe that would spawn several copycats over the years.
As the restaurant’s popularity grew, so, too, did those joints trying to capitalize off the Tommy’s name; hence why the brand had to change its name from simply “Tommy’s” to “Original Tommy’s.” Over 60 knockoff restaurants have been countered in Los Angeles alone, and these named restaurants have also peddled chili burgers. Though Original Tommy’s founder Tom Koulax once launched legal campaigns to try to get some of these establishments barred, the effort proved to be too time-wasting and energy-sucking. Over the years, the family-run brand has decided that imitation is indeed a form of flattery. Still, frequent visitors are adamant that copycat recipes do not compare to Original Tommy’s beef chili.
Original Tommy’s is sloppy in all the right ways
Original Tommy’s certainly doesn’t seem to be a stranger to legal action, however. Lawsuits within the Koulax family have cropped up over the years, with the restaurant going up against family members who have attempted their own entrepreneurial efforts by selling chili independent of the burger shack. The business warns hunters of its original recipes to “look for the shack” that appears on the brand’s logo when deciding upon a restaurant to solicit.
To this day, Original Tommy’s doesn’t franchise and remains a family-owned establishment. Some copycat restaurants have put their waitstaff in similar uniforms and used logos that appear to plagiarize the Original Tommy’s burger house. This effort warranted an attempt at legal action in 2009. Regardless of all of this drama, Original Tommy’s remains a loved American (specifically Californian) fixture and gives the people what they want: a mouthwatering menu filled with chili-smothered burgers, burritos, cheese fries, cheese dogs, and tamales that requires no legal action to dig into.
