Jake's Wayback Burgers opens in Rehoboth

For some, the old-fashioned metal malt milkshake cups take them way back to the good old days. For others, a good burger and fries will take them way back to childhood.

Still others may arrive at the new beach location of Jake’s Wayback  Burger and go way back in their memory banks to recall a little burger shack on Ogletown Road from college in Newark.

The newest franchise to hit town, Jake’s Wayback Burgers, is located in the Lighthouse shopping center, near the Giant supermarket and has been grilling up burgers since August.

Evolving from a burger joint near the University of Delaware that has been in business since 1941, Jake’s Burgers is now known as Jake’s Wayback Burgers and more than 30 locations have popped up all over the Northeast.

Jake’s Rehoboth Beach franchise owner Bill Brown said higher-ups in the franchise added “Wayback” to the name to remind consumers that their burgers and shakes are made using the same classic recipes that take them back to the simpler times when Jake’s burgers first hit the scene.

“The name changed because there’s a Jake’s everywhere,” Brown said. “The higher-ups in corporate franchising wanted to take customers back to the days of burger joints.”

Owning another location in their hometown of Middletown, he said himself, another business partner and his identical twin brother opened that Jake’s Wayback location last summer, and proved naysayers wrong when they opened the beach location little more than a year later.

“We opened the Middletown location July 15, and Jakes didn’t think we could open another location in a year,” he said. “But here we are.”

The menu at Jake’s Wayback helps to keep operations pretty straightforward, Brown said. The menu offers garden and turkey burgers in addition to beef, and expands beyond burgers, but not by much.  Grilled and breaded chicken sandwiches, French fries, onion rings, hot dogs and those malted milkshakes nearly cover everything offered at Jake’s.

Many of the burgers are available as single, double or triple patties and Brown said they have offered a challenge for the bravest and hungriest of their clientele.

“We are going to have a contest involving the triple-triple challenge, which is three of Jake’s triple cheeseburgers stacked on top of each other,” he said. “It should start soon, but you have to sign a waiver.”

With lines almost out the door on Labor Day weekend, some customers like Kathleen Mahoney recognized the franchise from upstate Delaware.

Originally from the Wilmington area, Mahoney said she lives in Lewes with her family now and stopped into Jakes one afternoon for lunch with her son.

“We know Jake’s from upstate and we’re glad they moved here,” she said. “It was a favorite place to stop in Wilmington for burgers and shakes; hopefully it will be the same here.”

Others, like Gene and Dee Melchiorre of Rehoboth, said they had heard good reviews from a friend so they stopped in for lunch to follow up on the rumors.

“We were on our way to Burger King, but we stopped here,” Gene said. “I like it - I like a good hamburger - not too much fat.”

Jake’s Wayback Burgers is open in the Lighthouse shopping center from 11 a.m. daily. For more information call 302-227-3002 or go to www.waybackburgers.com to find out about specials or to order online.