Under the bright neon sign on Pacific Highway East in Fife, Pick-Quick’s burgers, shakes and fries have been the stuff of legend for more than 60 years, the mere mention of the name all that’s needed to prompt some serious mouthwatering.
Now Pick-Quick, a family-owned burger institution, and Seattle-based Icon LLC, owned by the Centioli family, have formed a partnership to bring a Pick-Quick to Auburn.
Joe Burgi, chief of the Burgi Family Trust – which owns the Fife Pick-Quick, the six-tenths of an acre it sits on, and the brand – said last week he expects to break ground Sept. 27 at the future site on the corner 12th Street Northeast and Auburn Way North.
Owners expect their new restaurant to be operational by mid-winter.
“We’re excited about the merger of Pick-Quick and Icon LLC and the partnership between the Burgi and Centioli families,” Burgi said. “The Auburn hours are going to be more of a full schedule, and the exposure of our product with the new environment is going to be so exciting for us.”
Gerard Centioli, Icon LLC president and CEO, said the restaurant will anchor the north end of Centioli Plaza, which extends to the KFC at 10th Street Northeast and Auburn Way North. Plans call for an addition to the KFC and the development of two parcels between the restaurants. The needs of as-yet-unknown tenants will determine how Centioli builds up those parcels. Entrance to the restaurant will be off 12th Street Northeast.
Centioli operates a dozen Krispy Kreme franchises in British Columbia, Washington, Oregon and Hawaii. He also operates Joe’s Seafood and Prime Steak & Stone Crab outlets in Chicago and Las Vegas. He is son of the late Gill Centioli, who in 1953 established Gil’s Drive-In Restaurant in Seattle.
Centioli said that he tasted his first Pick-Quick burger when he was 9, has loved them ever since and makes a point of stopping in when he passes.
He explained why Auburn was a good choice.
“Obviously, there is a keen awareness of Pick-Quick in the Auburn area,” Centioli said. “We wanted to be somewhere that is in reasonable proximity but not too close to the original, because we wanted to serve a different trade area. But the second reason, the real reason, is that this property was in a prime location, and it’s within our family real estate portfolio.”
The Auburn restaurant will not be a carbon copy of its parent. Where the original is 484 square feet in size, offers counter service and outside dining on picnic tables, the Auburn restaurant will be 2,450 square feet, large enough to allow indoor seating and a drive-up window. Where the Fife Pick-Quick closes between Dec. 1 and Feb. 1, the Auburn Pick-Quick will be open year-round.
“It’s an exciting time for us with this new concept because we’re so small, and the new environment up there is going to incorporate inside seating, which we do not have here,” Burgi said. “We’re strictly a walk-up operation and a drive-through window. And we are limited to about 76 hours a week. We close at 8 p.m. on the weekends and at 6 p.m. on Sunday.”
Burgi said the new restaurant will offer the same menu, with the exception of one or two items that cannot be prepared at the Fife location because of the size of the building.
“Basically, it’s hamburgers, a single, a double and a triple,” Burgi said. “Our fries are made from real potatoes – we do 200, 300, 400 pounds a day – and we’ll have them up there. Our shakes are just unbelievable. We do a tremendous volume of shakes, featuring all flavors. It’s a very simple menu. But it’s first class, first quality.”
