Dick Blake, owner of Redding’s beloved Giff’s Steakburger , was grousing earlier this month about how business was a little slow.
Not anymore.
Everything changed after a hungry TikTok creator pulled off the freeway and discovered the one-of-a-kind hamburger joint tucked away in the Mission Square shopping center off Bechelli Lane.
Ian Carroll of Bellingham, Washington, posted a hilarious video review of Blake’s signature Ugly Burger and the welcoming reception he received from some of the smart-aleck regulars.
The 6-minute clip has been seen on social media over 2 million times since the beginning of July. Ever since then, Giff’s Steakburger has been crazy busy.
“That video put us balls to the wall,” Blake said. “But it’s good. I love it. We’ve had to work the past two weeks,” he said.
In nearly 45 years in business , July 19 was Blake’s best day ever for restaurant sales. He came close to running out of hamburger patties, which he gets from R&R Quality Meats.
Lines out the door
The 82-year-old Blake is a Vietnam veteran with a mostly don’t-give-a-care attitude.
With all the first-time customers and sometimes 20 ticket orders waiting, he told his regulars to be patient and they’d get their lunch when he got to them.
“They’d say, ‘Where’s my lunch at?’ ‘When I get to the end, you’ll get fed,’ that’s what I told them,” a reply reflecting Blake’s often gruff and ornery side.
“I treat everybody equal here. You come in, sit down and shut up,” Blake quipped.
Don’t be surprised if you overhear customers dish back the trash talk. “I love it,” Blake said. A regular said one of Blake’s favorite catch phrases is, “So what’s your point?”
Heckling aside, Giff’s is the type of place with memorabilia all around, where regulars come in, sit at their regular table and pour their own cup of coffee or grab a cold beer.
'We do not have Wi-Fi. Talk to each other'
Ever since the video hit social media, you’re likely to see the tables packed because customers — both locals and out-of-towners — have been clamoring for a taste of one of Blake’s famous Ugly Burgers.
What makes the burger special, as well as the smaller Steakburger, is that they’re both charbroiled.
The TikTok video persuaded one guy to drive all the way from the Bay Area to Redding for an Ugly Burger, said Blake.
“I had a kid come in here the other day from San Francisco. He drove three hours to have lunch with me and talk to me," Blake said. "He also ordered (an Ugly Burger) to go so he could eat it on his way back home — six hours on the road to come and have lunch with me."
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Giff’s is a definite throwback to simpler times. Expect spotty cell reception inside. A sign in the window proclaims, “We do not have Wi-Fi. Talk to each other. Pretend it’s 1995.”
Several years ago, Blake gave in and began taking debit and credit cards for the first time.
To show how old school Giff’s is, Blake didn’t take credit or debit cards for more than 30 years — it was only cash or check. He told customers to use the ATM machine inside his store if they needed cash. He finally broke down, although he doesn’t like the machine, with all the fees.
“One day, I finally got convinced by my son. He (Richard Jr.) is a corporate chef and said, ‘Daddy, put a credit card machine in. It’ll help your business.’”
Viral video sensation
Carroll, the TikTok creator from Washington, said he was driving north from Yosemite Valley on Interstate 5 when he got the urge for a quick meal. Not wanting to stop at a McDonald’s, Burger King or Denny’s, he saw the reviews of an amazing condiment bar at Giff’s.
“I’m like, ‘I kind of want to eat something local and dope,’ which sounded right. At the next exit, there’s this place call Steakburger,” Carroll said in his online clip.
Carroll’s review is down-to-earth and peppered with f-word adjectives. “To be fair, I didn’t know it was in a strip mall until I showed up. I just saw the reviews that said the condiment bar was awesome, but that’s not the cool part,” he said.
“Immediately, I have no idea what’s going on because there’s no servers,” Carroll said. “It’s just a room full of people. Then suddenly, four different people from around the restaurant started talking to me as though they’re my server. It turns out they were all just customers hanging out, having a good time. They saw me walk in and they’re like, ‘This dude’s clearly from out of town. Let’s adopt him,’ but not because they thought I was cool. Just because they knew they were at the coolest place in the world.”
He described the atmosphere as “one big party of homies.”
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“I walked out of there feeling like I had just gone to a family reunion with the coolest uncles and grandpas that I’d ever met in my life with the best burger I’ve ever eaten in my life and one of the coolest family founder-owned business I could ever remember being to,” he said.
Meet Customer No. 1
Longtime regular Mike Rader was sitting at the “reserved” table on a recent Saturday, remarking how Blake’s business had picked up tremendously.
“The guy came through here and made that little TikTok video thing and business has gone wild. I’m happy for (Blake) because it’s been really slow since pandemic times,” Rader said. “It used to be that if you didn’t get here by 11:30 a.m., you didn’t get a seat.”
Rader said he became “Customer No. 1” — and Blake agrees — after he visited Giff’s when it opened in 1979 and Rader was working at a printing company nearby. “This was the nearest place to eat," Rader said. "I just happened to come in here one day and I’ve been coming ever since. It ain’t killed me yet."
Rader’s friendship with Blake, his wife Barbara and their family — and appreciation of the Ugly Burger — is going on 45 years. “It started when I came in and said, ‘Hey, you got a nice mustache.’ And he goes, ‘So do you.’ And we’ve been friends ever since.”
Ugly Bob namesake
Coleton Vaughn, 31, of Redding said he’s been coming to Giff’s since he was in elementary school — before he could see over the counter. Vaughn says he usually orders the double Ugly Burger with extra cheese.
“It’s just good food. It’s one of the only places where you can still dress up your own burger. It’s one of the greatest places around,” Vaughn added.
Blake came up with the name Ugly Burger from a real estate agent who used to have an office up the walkway.
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”One day he comes in and says, ‘Dick, make me something different.’ So I made him a big burger and I made it that way (oblong on a hoagie roll).”
“We used to call him Ugly Bob. That’s what I named it after. He’s long gone,” Blake said.
Having customers add their own condiments saves Blake time and lets them have their sandwiches their way.
“Everybody does exactly what they want. They get the meat in the bread and then they put whatever the hell they want,” he said. “People ask if they can have tomatoes. You’re the ones eating. I don’t care what you put on it.”
Blake has a substantial menu that includes chicken and veggie burgers. “Ladies buy them," he says.
Then there’s the Moo and Oink sandwiches.
“A Moo is a chicken patty with a hamburger and an Oink is a chicken patty with ham,” Blake said. “Just something different.”
He serves daily specials every day except Saturdays. And don’t ask for a salad because Giff’s doesn’t have them on the menu.
Anniversary party coming
Blake had prior experience running delicatessens and working in the grocery business before he moved to Redding from the San Fernando Valley in Southern California. He said he’d had enough of working in grocery stores, so he left. He also wanted his kids to go to school elsewhere.
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Blake said he bought the business from Bill Gifford, who built the Mission Square shopping center and had been running the hamburger business for about a year.
Gifford famously told Blake that he wouldn’t last a year. Now, Giff’s is the only remaining original store there.
Blake said he plans to take a weeklong break in September when he’ll travel to Alaska for a family vacation. Otherwise, Blake doesn’t see the need to talk about retiring.
Although his daughter will help him out on busy days, he says his son Richard Jr. is content to work in Vancouver, Washington. The son wants to stay away from California, where he says it’s too expensive to live.
Blake said his son took several weeks off so he could come down and run the place when Blake needed knee and hip-replacement surgery from working 12-hour days, six days a week.
“If I slowed down, I wouldn’t know what to do. I mean, I’d find something to do, but I like coming to work,” Blake said. “Am I going to sit at home all day? That ain’t going to happen,” he said.
In the meantime, Blake is looking forward to throwing a blow-out party on Oct. 12 to celebrate 45 years in business and, he says, most likely having served more than a million burgers.
His TikTok admirer and the rest of the community are invited to join his family for the anniversary celebration.
“That’ll be a riot,” Blake said. “I’m going to be out in the parking lot drinking beer.”
If you go: Giff’s Steakburger in Redding
- Hours: 9:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. Monday through Saturday. Closed Sundays.
- Menu: Ugly Burger $8.49, Steakburger $7.49, house special: double Ugly Burger with fries and drink $16.49 (with cheese $18.49), chicken patty sandwich $5.29, moo or oink sandwich $7.99.
- Address: 2827 Bechelli Lane on south side of Mission Square.
- Phone: 530-223-3586
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/kimsuglyburger
This article originally appeared on Redding Record Searchlight: Redding home of the Ugly Burger gains viral fame after TikTok video praise
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