The Michigan Mall Chain That Was Known For Its Olive Burger

There's not just one way to make classic American foods like hot dogs, pizza, and burgers, and beloved local versions exist across the country. Michigan, for instance, has its own take on all three: Michigan hot dogs, Detroit-style pizza, and a popular and unique olive burger that's relatively unknown outside the Midwestern state. One former chain restaurant, with the whimsical name Mr. Fables, used to be known for the state specialty: a beef patty topped with a mayo sauce and chopped pimento-stuffed green olives. It's still remembered fondly by many residents — although it hasn't existed since the turn of the millennium.

Cousins John Boyles and Dick Faber opened the first Mr. Fables in Grand Rapids in 1963; they bought Boyles' father's Kewpee chain location, including the recipes he used. To make the name "Fables," the cousins combined parts of their last names – Fab- and -les. With the new brand came the popular olive burger. Now, the sauce recipe was always kept secret. However, there are recipes online that are said to be good dupes for the Double Olive burger; these blend cheese with Hellmann's mayonnaise and a little of the olive juice. (Some self-identified former workers have said, however, that they used juice-free mayo.) It was spread on the bottom bun with the chopped olives, lettuce, and tomato, and then two beef patties with American cheese in the middle went on top. 

There were 17 Mr. Fables at one time in malls and at freestanding locations in Grand Rapids and the wider region. Boyles and Faber sold the business in 1988, and it slowly went downhill until the final three were closed in 2000.

Mr. Fables played a role in popularizing olive burgers in Michigan, but the Kewpee chain was making them decades earlier — and yes, it was the small chain that may have inspired Wendy's. Samuel Blair opened the first Kewpee Hotel Hamburgs in Flint in 1923. There, he served an early version that just had sliced olives, according to author Gary Flinn's book "Kewpee Hamburgers: A Mity Nice History." He wrote that a woman named Gladys Bowlin created the first mayo-based sauce at a Lansing Kewpee's, and the same recipe is used today by her great-granddaughter, who still owns the restaurant. Gerald Boyles opened his Grand Rapids Kewpee's in 1929, where he introduced his own version of the olive sauce. There were once more than 400 Kewpees, but only five remain as of 2026, including the one in Lansing. 

Although Mr. Fables used American cheese for the burgers (which could be ordered without cheese as well), it's become traditional in Michigan to make them with Swiss. Today, the olives are sometimes mixed in the mayo sauce rather than stuck on top; it can also have other ingredients, including cream cheese and other non-traditional toppings too.

Some people who reminisce about Mr. Fables on social media also fondly recall other things it served. They particularly rave about its onion rings, the deep-fried mushrooms, and the all-you-can-eat Friday fish fry.