Karl Krecklow needs your help!
Donation protected
Hello everyone....
In the early 1970’s a local NH born man by the name of Karl had an simple idea and plan, college students are probably hungry after the dinning halls close. So he set out to test his theory by modifying a camper and turning it into a professional kitchen, complete with running water, a gas powered grill for up to 16 hamburgers, hot dog steamer, refrigeration and a couple of windows to see and serve his customers and of course a menu.
Karl took his truck, which he affectionately named “Karl’s Kitchen”, to the University of New Hampshire, which is located in Durham, NH about 10 miles inland from the Atlantic coast and had at the time about 7-10,000 students and a non-student population of about 3-5,000.
Karl made his menu simple as I recall, hamburgers, hot dogs, submarine sandwiches, French fries, onion rings and of course his signature dish, a cheeseburger subs. This last item, the cheeseburger sub, affectionately known as a “big guy” had about 3,000 calories. It contained three 1/4 lb hamburgers, enough velvetta cheese to choke a horse and a sub roll that could have been used as a flotation device if a flash flood came through Durham.
Karl drove his truck into “The Quad”, a parking lot in the middle of 6 dorms. At the time it was 3 girls dorms and 3 boys dorms that held about 2,000 students combined. The students did not know it but they were basically sitting ducks, a captive audience with no where to go but to Karl’s, and so it began. For four decades thereafter students flocked to Karl’s, 7 days a week, from 5pm until he ran out of food which was usually about 2-3 am.
The lines were at minimum 20 students deep for the entire night, in snow, sleet, rain, sun, -20 degrees and -40 degrees with windchill into the 50’s and 60 below zero mark, it never mattered. They came and they came and they came again. The prices were extremely reasonable bordering on cheap and the food was tremendously good focusing on fat, salt and more fat....
I am certain over the years others tried to duplicate his plan but none succeeded and Karl reigned king of the quad for 3 to 4 decades. Along the way a completely new language developed to describe his menu items in the shortest possible amount of letters and sounds. “Big guy run it through the garden with rag and load” meant, cheeseburger sub with lettuce and tomatoes and ketchup and mayonnaise. Snotty’s described an order of French fries with velvetta cheese melted on top.... and you can use your imagination to figure out more.
The decades came and went and a few generations of UNH students and their friends were feed well night after to night, hour after hour, he is and was a legend with the entire group of students that went to the school during his tenure fully addicted to his version of crack, the cheeseburger sub and its accoutrements.
As Karl aged, he began to slow down and his 7 day a week, 9-10 hour a day job began to take a toll on his body. Somewhere in the early 2000’s he called it quits. He took on odd jobs here and there but never reached the prominence and cult status he had ascended to as the chief at Karl’s Kitchen.
A few years ago his health took a much more serious turn and he is currently suffering from stage four heart failure. He lives by himself in a small cabin he had built years ago as a student rental and after his divorce he decided to rent his main house and live simply in the small rental.
The sad part of this story is this man who made so many people happy for so many years, now is basically alone and because of his condition he needs daily help just to live. Currently he is at Mass General in Boston with many machines hooked up to him, keeping him barely alive.
However, when and if he gets out of the hospital, he is going to need some help to pay for a full-time caregiver and unfortunately there was not a 401k and long term health care insurance plans available for a guy who cooked hamburgers for college students night after night for 40 years.
So this is where you come in, we are trying to raise some money for Karl and his impending expenses.
Please if you can afford it, give anything you can, anything and everything will help. For those of you that went to UNH during those years, you know how great his food was and what unique experience it was eating from Karl’s so give a little back to the man that made you so happy all of those years. For the small group that actually never paid for your food and rather asked Karl for credit on his “wall” where he literally wrote your name and the amounts you owed him, you owe it to your conscious to send Karl an amount equivalent to what you owed him before you either flunked out or graduated and then took a job that now has you in a 3 bedroom house in the suburbs.
Spread the word, Karl needs your help, help the Big Guy!!!!
Finally a couple of weeks ago the UNH Alumni group Posted a story on Their Facebook page about Karl and the response was magical, thousands of people posted stories and pictures of their experiences over the years eating at Karls... Karls current care giver read him many of the posts and it warmed his heart to know that so many people still love him and have a special place in their heart for him.... Let’s continue that and help him live his last days with dignity, he deserves it.
In the early 1970’s a local NH born man by the name of Karl had an simple idea and plan, college students are probably hungry after the dinning halls close. So he set out to test his theory by modifying a camper and turning it into a professional kitchen, complete with running water, a gas powered grill for up to 16 hamburgers, hot dog steamer, refrigeration and a couple of windows to see and serve his customers and of course a menu.
Karl took his truck, which he affectionately named “Karl’s Kitchen”, to the University of New Hampshire, which is located in Durham, NH about 10 miles inland from the Atlantic coast and had at the time about 7-10,000 students and a non-student population of about 3-5,000.
Karl made his menu simple as I recall, hamburgers, hot dogs, submarine sandwiches, French fries, onion rings and of course his signature dish, a cheeseburger subs. This last item, the cheeseburger sub, affectionately known as a “big guy” had about 3,000 calories. It contained three 1/4 lb hamburgers, enough velvetta cheese to choke a horse and a sub roll that could have been used as a flotation device if a flash flood came through Durham.
Karl drove his truck into “The Quad”, a parking lot in the middle of 6 dorms. At the time it was 3 girls dorms and 3 boys dorms that held about 2,000 students combined. The students did not know it but they were basically sitting ducks, a captive audience with no where to go but to Karl’s, and so it began. For four decades thereafter students flocked to Karl’s, 7 days a week, from 5pm until he ran out of food which was usually about 2-3 am.
The lines were at minimum 20 students deep for the entire night, in snow, sleet, rain, sun, -20 degrees and -40 degrees with windchill into the 50’s and 60 below zero mark, it never mattered. They came and they came and they came again. The prices were extremely reasonable bordering on cheap and the food was tremendously good focusing on fat, salt and more fat....
I am certain over the years others tried to duplicate his plan but none succeeded and Karl reigned king of the quad for 3 to 4 decades. Along the way a completely new language developed to describe his menu items in the shortest possible amount of letters and sounds. “Big guy run it through the garden with rag and load” meant, cheeseburger sub with lettuce and tomatoes and ketchup and mayonnaise. Snotty’s described an order of French fries with velvetta cheese melted on top.... and you can use your imagination to figure out more.
The decades came and went and a few generations of UNH students and their friends were feed well night after to night, hour after hour, he is and was a legend with the entire group of students that went to the school during his tenure fully addicted to his version of crack, the cheeseburger sub and its accoutrements.
As Karl aged, he began to slow down and his 7 day a week, 9-10 hour a day job began to take a toll on his body. Somewhere in the early 2000’s he called it quits. He took on odd jobs here and there but never reached the prominence and cult status he had ascended to as the chief at Karl’s Kitchen.
A few years ago his health took a much more serious turn and he is currently suffering from stage four heart failure. He lives by himself in a small cabin he had built years ago as a student rental and after his divorce he decided to rent his main house and live simply in the small rental.
The sad part of this story is this man who made so many people happy for so many years, now is basically alone and because of his condition he needs daily help just to live. Currently he is at Mass General in Boston with many machines hooked up to him, keeping him barely alive.
However, when and if he gets out of the hospital, he is going to need some help to pay for a full-time caregiver and unfortunately there was not a 401k and long term health care insurance plans available for a guy who cooked hamburgers for college students night after night for 40 years.
So this is where you come in, we are trying to raise some money for Karl and his impending expenses.
Please if you can afford it, give anything you can, anything and everything will help. For those of you that went to UNH during those years, you know how great his food was and what unique experience it was eating from Karl’s so give a little back to the man that made you so happy all of those years. For the small group that actually never paid for your food and rather asked Karl for credit on his “wall” where he literally wrote your name and the amounts you owed him, you owe it to your conscious to send Karl an amount equivalent to what you owed him before you either flunked out or graduated and then took a job that now has you in a 3 bedroom house in the suburbs.
Spread the word, Karl needs your help, help the Big Guy!!!!
Finally a couple of weeks ago the UNH Alumni group Posted a story on Their Facebook page about Karl and the response was magical, thousands of people posted stories and pictures of their experiences over the years eating at Karls... Karls current care giver read him many of the posts and it warmed his heart to know that so many people still love him and have a special place in their heart for him.... Let’s continue that and help him live his last days with dignity, he deserves it.
Organizer and beneficiary
Dean Dino Georgopoulos
Organizer
Durham, NH
Kristi Sargent
Beneficiary
