The origins of the story are a lot more boring than the story itself. So prepare to doze off.
In 1968 Foodmaker (the parent company of JITB) was bought by Ralston Purina. At that time RP was the largest seller of livestock feed in the U.S., so buying a hamburger chain made some business sense.
In the mid-70’s JITB was alleged to be importing beef from Australia. I don’t know if that happened, but it’s true that the corn blight in the early 1970’s led to a beef shortage, and beef was imported from Australia, so some of it could he conceivably made its way to JITB and other hamburger chains.
In any case, it’s clear the slur was more directed at Ralston Purina, for selling feed to American livestock producers and then supposedly hing their hamburger chain get its beel from Australia. JITB burgers picked up the nickname “kangaroo burgers.”
In 1979, Foodmaker decided its best growth opportunities were in the West and Southwest, and closed more than 200 JITB stores in the Midwest. Two-thirds of all JITB restaurants are now in either Texas or California.Ralston Purina sold the business in 1985.
In summary:
It wasn’t the 1980s, it was the 1970s. It wasn’t horse meat, it was kangaroo meat. It wasn’t kangaroo meat, it was Australian beef. It wasn’t even about the meat, it was a slur against the parent company, which got rid of the chain more than 20 years ago. It was a business decision to concentrate on other regions.
And that’s why you don’t he JITB in Michigan.