Brownsville businesses succeed with tradition

Rutledge Hamburger Stand, tucked into a small alleyway on Washington Street, has never left its post as an iconic gathering for locals and visitors from afar.

While the two stores on either side have been there for a year or less, Rutledge has sold burgers, hot dogs and cheese sandwiches in the same place since 1924. Time's immortal hand beckons visitors to sample its refreshing simplicity.

Here, patrons can experience the nuances of life before the invasion of checks and credit cards. Ceiling fans toss the humid air flowing in from the screen door, pathway from the sidewalk where generations have entered to enjoy a hamburger that hasn't changed since Hilda Rutledge opened the place.

Rutledge still accepts only cash. With so many businesses - McDonald's, Wal-Mart, Burger King, to name just a few - moving forward with new technology and pouring millions of dollars into expansion and change, Rutledge still maintains a steady clientele without changing

anything except the prices of its burgers. A basic, single-patty, palm-sized burger sells for $1.15, and customers can get a second patty, cheese and even a slice of ham, for a few cents extra.

Rutledge sells between 800 and 1,000 burgers per day, all prepared on a hissing, perpetually sizzling old grill and the business' success appears to refute the belief that financial gain requires continuous innovation, new technology and expansion. If those things aren't necessary, why do businesses continue to utilize them? And if they are necessary for success, why do people keep going to Rutledge Hamburger Stand?

"They go to Rutledge because of tradition, because of memories. Because, in my case, I remember my father taking me in there as a little kid," said Tony Zavaleta, professor of anthropology at the University of Texas at Brownsville and Texas Southmost College.

"It has character," Zavaleta said. "It has heritage. And it tastes good. It's cliché, I know, but it's the homemade cooking. They (customers) want to see them flip the burger right in front of them - all that kind of stuff. And that's Rutledge."

FINDING WHAT WORKS BEST

While places like Rutledge can succeed, innovation and technology are necessary to dominate the market, said Ray Perryman, an economist and president of The Perryman Group based in Waco. Still, there is a niche in the market throughout the United States for locally owned home-style restaurants.

"I was in Memphis last week and they have an old rib joint that's been there 60 years," said Perryman, who lives in Odessa. "It's like a legendary rib joint and I went in there. It's an old place, and you just walk in and they sit you as fast as they can sit you and get the food out as fast as they can, because they turn the tables about six times a night. It's just good, old-fashioned good food. And you love those kinds of places."

He said, however, that consumers have had the option of choosing the big chains or local businesses, and often, they've chosen the big businesses.

"Over time, they had the option of basically keeping all the old downtown merchants viable or going out and shopping at Wal-Marts, and they opted to go out and shop at Wal-Marts in such large numbers that most of the old traditional downtown merchants couldn't hang around," Perryman said.

"And consumers, while they do buy these hamburgers and they do have a clientele, McDonalds sells billions of them."

Zavaleta spoke hypothetically of a business that barely makes enough to survive and the owner decides to expand. He or she takes out a $100,000 loan to purchase a bigger refrigerator and a better stove and to hire more employees.

"If you do the business plan, you can figure out how long it's going to take you to repay that loan, you see, and the answer is a long time," he said.
Zavaleta knew of three local families who were in the restaurant business and started out small and "then expanded into oblivion. They are all out of business. They are all gone."

Those businesses failed because their business plans did not take into consideration financial downturns, increases in food prices, minimum wage costs and other factors. This occurred because of ill-conceived plans to expand.

"I think, in the case of Rutledge, a decision had to have been made by someone along the line that that's not what they wanted to do," Zavaleta said. "They wanted to do good, quality hamburgers, and they were going to live within their means."

SERVING UP SUCCESS

The flavors of many seasons have fused themselves into the Rutledge Hamburger Stand, yielding a mixed menu of consistency, memory and experiences. From the white brick walls emanates a sense of security that customers can have the same burger they enjoyed decades ago.

"It's the same recipe that they've had since 1924," declared Amelia Coronado, a waitress who remembers her mother bringing her here as a child.

The place didn't change even when Gloria Perez purchased the restaurant from Martin Rutledge in 1995. Rutledge's mother, Hilda Rutledge, started the business.

"It has always been the quality," said Gloria Perez. "Mr. Rutledge told me that everything - the beef, the cheese - has to be of a good brand. He would always tell me to get the best products for everything."

Rolando Cisneros, 49, first visited Rutledge at age 10 or 11 years, and it has never changed. That's why he still comes in about twice a week.

"I like the bread," Cisneros said as he waited for his two cheeseburgers. "They are kind of toasty. The meat tastes good. They taste like home-style."

The hamburgers at Rutledge are a little different from those found at other establishments, said Tony Knopp, professor emeritus at UTB-TSC.

"The way the meat is put together, it makes for a different kind of hamburger than you are likely to get at the fast food places," Knopp said. "I don't know that I can tell you exactly what it is. But for some reason the meat is organized in a way that it's not a hard patty. It's kind of soft, and for whatever reason it comes out quite flavorful because it's something unique, some kind of a niche that some of these businesses have found, either by location or uniqueness of product, that holds customer loyalty.

"There's a dependability about them that you seek out time and again."

Zavaleta said personal customized service also draws customers to places like Rutledge's.

"I like to be called by name, the establishments where I go to, where people recognize me and say, ‘Hello, Dr. Zavaleta,' or ‘Tony,'" he said. "I likethat. And I will always give my business and come back to people who know me, whether at the bank or at Rutledge."

Zavaleta said he hasn't been to Rutledge in years, but he used to patronize the business regularly in the 1980s when he was in that part of town. The employees knew him by name then.

"Everybody feels honored," he said. "I mean, you've given them your money, and you've chosen their establishment, and they know you by name. That's a social contract."