Porch Notes
The Olive Burger: Michigan's Love-It-or-Hate-It Sandwich
History and culture
Most of the country puts lettuce and ketchup on a burger. A good chunk of mid-Michigan puts chopped green olives and a creamy olive-mayo sauce on theirs — and wouldn’t have it any other way. The olive burger is one of those regional foods that visitors find baffling and locals find essential.
Its roots trace to the Kewpee hamburger chain (named for the popular Kewpie dolls) back in the 1920s. The most-told story has a Kewpee in Flint topping burgers with green olives around 1923. Exactly who deserves the credit is a genuine little feud — the Kewpees in Flint, Lansing, and Grand Rapids all have a claim. In Lansing, the honor belongs to Weston’s Kewpee Sandwich Shop, open since 1923 and now the last Kewpee left in Michigan; their olive sauce was the creation of Gladys Weston, and the recipe is still a closely guarded family secret four generations on. In Flint, the torch is carried by Halo Burger, which grew out of the old Kewpee chain.
It’s simple food — a beef patty, cheese, and that briny, tangy spread — but it inspires real devotion. Lansing now even holds an annual Olive Burger Week.
Where to see it
Weston's Kewpee Sandwich Shop in downtown Lansing (a block from the Capitol) and Halo Burger in the Flint area are the classic stops.