New White Castle to rise in Commack later this year following rebuild

A White Castle in Commack that once featured a state-of-the-art "Vittleveyor" at its drive-thru window is expected to reopen later this year following a major rebuild. 

The restaurant opened in the early 1980s and was razed in March. The demolition is drawing social media buzz around the property's future. At the site, excavators and construction crews have been working amid the rubble behind a chain-link fence. 

A new restaurant will be built on the same spot as the previous one and feature a "better-designed drive-through lane," Huntington Town spokeswoman Christine Geed said.

For years the drive-thru featured a Vittleveyor, a "cutting edge" conveyor belt system that created a double drive-thru, according to White Castle spokeswoman Kerelle Sampson. The automated contraption, which has been compared to a dumbwaiter, comprised a single lane and was popular among fast food chains in the '80s and '90s as a way to boost efficiency.

Employees placed the prepared food in a small basket that would travel through a conveyor belt. The meal would make its way to the left side of the car for customers to collect.

Eventually, "it took up lots of space in the parking lot and drive thru area," Sampson said in an email. The Vittleveyor was removed in 2017, said Michael McCarthy, a Huntington-based attorney for White Castle. 

Once it was removed, Sampson said, restaurant "sales increased and we made a decision to replace the location with a new building."

The fast-food chain is currently targeting late summer or early fall for the reopening, Sampson said. "It will be a state-of-the-art building featuring a hospitality door at the drive-thru that makes it easier for our team members to get orders to customers," Sampson added.

Plans call for a one-story, 2,788-square-foot restaurant with 50 seats on the 1.3-acre site on the corner of Commack Road and Jericho Turnpike. The White Castle is near the Commack Motor Inn and across from Veterans Memorial Plaza shopping center, where the Long Island Arena used to be.

The rebuild marks another development in the reshuffling of the fast-food chain lineup in the Commack area. In November, Raising Cane’s confirmed plans to build a new 3,500-square-foot restaurant with 45 seats on Vanderbilt Parkway, replacing a recently closed McDonald's. The opening would mark Raising Cane's first Long Island location.

Meanwhile, McDonald's, which closed its Vanderbilt Parkway site in September, plans to open a new 43-seat restaurant on Crooked Hill Road in Commack.

Last year, Smithtown approved site plans for Shake Shack to build a new location on the corner of Crooked Hill Road and Henry Street in Commack.

Huntington's zoning board authorized alterations to the White Castle in Commack in 2017. 

White Castle went back to the zoning board in 2024, Geed said, "to demolish the building so that the entire site could be developed with a standard drive-through lane format."