202 Fun Facts About Fast Food

The first restaurant built with Stanley Meston's golden-arches design opened in May 1953 in which city?

The first Meston-designed building, with two yellow parabolic arches flanking the stand, opened in Phoenix, Arizona, in May 1953 under franchisee Neil Fox; the arches became the chain's logo in 1962.

McDonald's adopted 'I'm Lovin' It' as its slogan in which year?

McDonald's launched 'I'm Lovin' It' in September 2003, debuting in Germany with a Justin Timberlake jingle, replacing earlier lines such as 'You deserve a break today'.

Despite closing every Sunday, Chick-fil-A led US fast-food chains in 2022 by which measure?

Sales per restaurant: about $6.7 million each in 2022, the most of any US fast-food chain, though founder Truett Cathy shut on Sundays so that staff could rest and worship.

The Big Mac was created in 1967 by franchisee Jim Delligatti near which Pennsylvania city?

Pittsburgh: Delligatti owned about a dozen McDonald's in the area and, told to use only standard ingredients, went rogue and ordered bigger sesame-seed buns from a local baker.

Who played the original Ronald McDonald in 1963 TV ads after a stint as Bozo the Clown?

Willard Scott, later the Today show's weatherman, had appeared at local McDonald's as Bozo; when the show went off the air, the franchisees asked him for a new clown.

Which burger did James McLamore launch in 1957 to match a rival's oversized sandwich?

The Whopper sold for 37 cents when the Burger King co-founder launched it; the rival stand was in Gainesville, Florida, and his chain went on to bill itself as the 'Home of the Whopper'.

How is KFC's Original Recipe chicken cooked?

Pressure-fried: in 1939 Colonel Sanders bought one of the first commercial pressure cookers and turned it into a fryer, which cooked chicken far faster than his iron frying pan.

In 2020, which country's Supreme Court ruled that Subway's bread was too sugary to count legally as bread?

Ireland: a franchisee had argued that its sandwiches were a tax-free staple food, but the court found the bread held about five times the sugar the law allows in bread.

On In-N-Out's not-so-secret menu, a burger ordered 'Protein Style' drops the bun in favor of a wrap of what?

Lettuce: the 'secret' menu was never a marketing plan; regulars invented the orders and passed them on by word of mouth, and In-N-Out now lists them on its own website.

Why did Dave Thomas make Wendy's hamburger patties square?

To show beef past the bun: Thomas wanted customers to see the quality of the meat at the corners, and he borrowed the shape from Kewpee, a Michigan burger chain.

Which fast food chain is credited as the first hamburger chain in the United States, opening in 1921?

White Castle opened in Wichita in 1921, when The Jungle had left Americans wary of ground beef; the founders answered with spotless uniforms and gleaming steel interiors, and sold burgers for a nickel.

What businessman bought McDonald's from the McDonald brothers and turned it into a global empire?

Ray Kroc paid the brothers $2.7 million in 1961, but the deal left out their original stand; they renamed it The Big M, Kroc opened a McDonald's nearby, and The Big M closed six years later.

After selling KFC, Colonel Sanders publicly compared the chain's new gravy to what?

Wallpaper paste, he told a Louisville newspaper, adding that he knew the stuff because he had watched his mother make it; a franchisee sued him for libel and lost.

What documentary film about eating only McDonald's for 30 days was released in 2004?

Super Size Me premiered at Sundance in January 2004; Morgan Spurlock ate only McDonald's for 30 days in early 2003 and later admitted he drank heavily during filming, muddying his health results.

Which Burger King slogan arrived in 1974 with a jingle that began 'Hold the pickles'?

'Have it your way', sung with 'special orders don't upset us', was a dig at McDonald's and its rigid assembly line; Burger King brought the motto back in the 2000s.

What is McDonald's famous limited-time pork sandwich called?

The McRib arrived in 1981 because McNuggets were too popular: chicken ran short, so chef René Arend gave franchisees a pork patty pressed into the shape of a rack of ribs.

How many herbs and spices are in KFC's secret Original Recipe?

The 11 herbs and spices are guarded so closely that two companies each blend only half the recipe, and a copy signed by Sanders is kept in a vault.

Who voiced Taco Bell's talking Chihuahua of the late 1990s, famous for '¡Yo quiero Taco Bell!'?

Carlos Alazraqui, the voice of Rocko in Rocko's Modern Life, supplied the Chihuahua's lines in the 1997–2000 campaign; the dog on screen was a female named Gidget.

During which period did Colonel Sanders begin selling fried chicken from a Kentucky service station?

The Great Depression: in 1930 Sanders took over a Shell station in Corbin rent-free and fed travellers in his own living quarters before he had a restaurant.

Taco Bell's Doritos Locos Tacos, launched in 2012, were developed with which snack company?

Frito-Lay makes Doritos, and the nacho-cheese taco shell launched in March 2012; the Naked Chicken Chalupa later flipped the idea, with a shell made of fried chicken.

In 2001, Pizza Hut had a specially made six-inch pizza delivered where?

The space station: the vacuum-sealed pizza was sized to fit the station's oven, flew up on a Russian rocket and was eaten in orbit by cosmonaut Yuri Usachov.

How did 'Uncle Jerry' Jacobson rig McDonald's Monopoly game for more than a decade?

He stole the winning pieces: Jerome Jacobson was security chief at the firm that ran the game, and sold them to fake winners, some recruited by Gennaro Colombo of the Colombo crime family.

Taco Bell takes its name from what?

Its founder's surname: Glen Bell ran a hot dog stand in San Bernardino, learned hard-shell tacos from the Mexican cafe across the street, and opened the first Taco Bell in 1962.

Which practice, devised by Harry Sonneborn in the 1950s, became the financial engine of McDonald's?

Owning the land and buildings makes McDonald's its franchisees' landlord: Sonneborn's plan was to control each site and lease it to the operator, so rent flows in on top of royalties.

Which breakfast chain flipped a letter of its name in 2018 to push its burgers?

IHOP briefly became 'IHOb', a stunt to shake its breakfast-only image; a year later it mocked itself by promising to call its burgers 'pancakes'.

Chick-fil-A's 'Eat Mor Chikin' billboards are supposedly painted by which self-interested animals?

Cows: since 1995 the chain's Holsteins have begged diners to spare beef, and they replaced its earlier mascot, a chicken named Doodles.

Which animated series set off a 2017 fan campaign to bring back McDonald's Szechuan Sauce?

Rick and Morty's Rick raved about the sauce, a 1998 tie-in with Disney's Mulan; fans campaigned, and McDonald's brought it back in a small run that October and a wider one in February 2018.

In which country did a 1974 KFC ad campaign make fried chicken a Christmas tradition?

Japan: 'Kentucky for Christmas' grew from the manager of the country's first KFC selling party barrels as a stand-in for a turkey dinner, in a country with few Christmas customs of its own.

A Taco Bell Cantina in Pacifica, California, beside Highway 1, has a reputation as the chain's most what?

It is widely called the world's most beautiful Taco Bell: the 1960s building, once an A&W, stands right on Pacifica State Beach, on the ocean side of the highway.

Which staff did the McDonald brothers drop from their drive-in in 1948?

The carhops: the brothers cut the menu to nine items and had customers walk up to a window for a 15-cent hamburger, a system built on speed, low prices and volume.

In 2009, a Burger King Facebook app offered a free burger to anyone who did what?

Deleted ten friends: the 'Sacrifice' app told each dropped friend they had been traded for a burger, and Facebook shut it down after ten days and more than 233,000 ended friendships.

What goes on top of In-N-Out's 'Animal Style' fries?

Cheese, spread, grilled onions: that is Animal Style on fries, a name In-N-Out has trademarked and once took a look-alike restaurant to court for using.

Which company owns Taco Bell, KFC, and Pizza Hut?

Yum! Brands began as PepsiCo's restaurant arm, built after the soda maker bought Pizza Hut in 1977, and was spun off in 1997; its chains' soft drinks are still largely supplied by PepsiCo.

Why did McDonald's drop its McPizza after selling it widely in the 1990s?

It took too long to cook: about 11 minutes, against a promise of fast service; two holdouts in Pomeroy, Ohio and Spencer, West Virginia went on serving it until 2017.

Which rapper's 2020 McDonald's meal, the chain's first celebrity meal since Michael Jordan's, caused ingredient shortages?

Travis Scott's meal, built on a Quarter Pounder, drew such demand in September 2020 that some restaurants ran out of ingredients; McDonald's followed it with a J Balvin meal.

How did drivers order at In-N-Out's original 1948 Baldwin Park drive-thru stand?

Through a two-way speaker that Harry Snyder had built himself, so drivers could order without leaving the car, which made the stand California's first drive-thru for hamburgers.

What word did Burger King's Miami owners drop from the chain's original 1953 name?

Insta-Burger King was named for the Insta-Broiler ovens its Jacksonville founders used; the Miami franchisees who took over found the machines unreliable and built a flame broiler instead.

McDonald's opened its first drive-through in 1975 to serve which customers?

Soldiers at nearby Fort Huachuca, Arizona, were not allowed out of their cars off post in fatigues, so the Sierra Vista franchisee put a sliding window in the wall to serve them.

Which chain's new chicken sandwich set off a 2019 Twitter feud with Chick-fil-A and sold out within two weeks?

Popeyes launched it on 12 August 2019, traded barbs with Chick-fil-A online and ran out nationwide by 27 August, though its supplies had been meant to last to the end of September.

Outside the United States, which country had the most McDonald's restaurants in 2025?

China: the mainland got its first McDonald's only in 1990, nineteen years after Japan, yet by 2024 it had over 7,700 restaurants, more than double Japan's 3,000 or so.

What is The Economist's Big Mac Index?

A gauge of purchasing power parity, it compares Big Mac prices across countries to show whether currencies are over- or undervalued; Pam Woodall devised it in 1986 as a half-joking guide.

Dave Thomas named Wendy's in 1969 after which member of his family?

His daughter Melinda Lou, then eight, went by Wendy, a nickname from childhood attempts to pronounce Melinda; Thomas later said he regretted the choice, since it cost her some of her privacy.

Which Taco Bell item, a limited-time offer in 2005, went permanent in 2006?

The Crunchwrap Supreme, a hexagonal grilled tortilla parcel, debuted as a limited offer in 2005 and became permanent in 2006; a vegan version was tested in Los Angeles, New York and Orlando in 2023.

Where did the 'Colonel' in Colonel Sanders' name come from?

An honorary state title: Governor Ruby Laffoon made him a Kentucky Colonel in 1935, and after a second commission in 1950 Sanders grew the goatee and dressed the part; his only army service was as a teenage wagoner.

Which city voted in 2010 to ban free toys with unhealthy kids' meals?

San Francisco's law took effect in December 2011, and McDonald's sidestepped it by selling the Happy Meal toy separately for 10 cents.

Who coined the name 'Kentucky Fried Chicken' for Colonel Sanders's recipe in 1952?

A sign painter hired by Pete Harman, the first franchisee, came up with it; Harman liked that a dish from Kentucky sounded exotic and called up Southern hospitality.

Which chain's 1990s ads brought back its ping-pong-ball-headed mascot as company CEO?

Jack in the Box brought Jack back in the mid-1990s as its fictional founder and CEO, who blew up the boardroom in his first ad as payback for the 1980 commercials that had blown him up.

Which chain guaranteed pizza delivery within 30 minutes from 1973 until 1993?

Domino's dropped the guarantee in 1993 after a jury awarded nearly $80 million to a woman hit by a driver who ran a red light; its 2007 slogan 'You Got 30 Minutes' only winked at the old promise.

Which national landmark did a taco chain claim to have bought in a 1996 April Fools' ad?

The Liberty Bell: Taco Bell's full-page ads said it would become the 'Taco Liberty Bell' to cut the national debt; thousands phoned in, and the White House joked that Ford was buying the Lincoln Memorial.

Since 2014, Ving Rhames has growled which chain's slogan, 'We Have The Meats'?

Arby's is not short for 'roast beef': the name spells out R.B., for the Raffel brothers who founded it in 1964 after their first choice, 'Big Tex', turned out to be taken.

Which 1996 McDonald's burger, pitched at adults, became a famous marketing flop?

The Arch Deluxe launched in 1996 behind a campaign costing well over $100 million, pitching a 'grown-up' burger with peppered bacon on a potato-flour bun; it was gone from most menus by 2000.

What title does Subway give the counter staff who build each order?

Sandwich Artists is Subway's own title for the staff who make each sub to order; in 2005 the chain scrapped its Sub Club stamp cards because so many forged stamps were turning up.

Which comic-strip character fronted Dairy Queen's marketing for three decades from 1971?

Dennis the Menace and his friends sold Dairy Queen treats until the early 2000s, when the chain dropped them because it felt children could no longer relate to the strip.

The capital 'A' at the end of Chick-fil-A's name is meant to signal what?

Top-grade quality: the 'A' is for Grade A and 'fil-A' plays on fillet; Truett Cathy coined the name for his chicken sandwich, which he sold for years before any restaurant was called Chick-fil-A.

Whataburger's orange-and-white striped restaurants took which shape from 1961?

An A-frame: the first went up in Odessa, Texas, on the chain's 24th restaurant; founder Harmon Dobson had named the chain for what he hoped diners would say after a bite, 'What a burger!'

Which fast-food catchphrase did Walter Mondale turn on rival Gary Hart in a 1984 primary debate?

'Where's the beef?' came from Wendy's ads in which Clara Peller, in her eighties, glared at a rival's big bun; Mondale used it to ask what lay behind Hart's 'new ideas'.

Popeyes founder Al Copeland said he named his restaurants after a character in which 1971 film?

The French Connection: Copeland said the name honoured Gene Hackman's detective Popeye Doyle, not the spinach-eating sailor, though the chain later licensed the sailor for its marketing.

In which city was Jack in the Box founded by Robert O. Peterson in 1951?

San Diego: Robert O. Peterson turned one of his drive-ins there into the first Jack in the Box, with a clown's head on the ordering intercom and a sign reading 'Pull forward, Jack will speak to you'.

Which bacterium in undercooked Jack in the Box burgers sickened more than 700 people in 1993?

E. coli O157:H7 infected 732 people and killed four children; the patties had been cooked to the federal standard of 140°F, not the 155°F that Washington State required to kill the bacterium.

Which parent company owns both Carl's Jr. and Hardee's?

CKE, short for Carl Karcher Enterprises, bought Hardee's from Imasco for $327 million in 1997 and within a year had given it the Carl's Jr. star logo, running the pair as regional twins.

In which state was Hardee's established in 1960?

North Carolina: Wilber Hardee opened in Greenville in 1960, and within a year two partners had opened a second store in Rocky Mount and bought him out of the chain that still bears his name.

Why did Sonic's founder drop the chain's original name, Top Hat Drive-In, in 1959?

The name was already trademarked, so Troy Smith took 'Sonic' from the slogan he was already using, 'Service with the Speed of Sound'.

Sonic is known for servers who bring orders out to parked cars how?

On roller skates: Sonic's servers still skate orders out at some locations, and the chain holds an annual contest to find its best skater.

In which Wisconsin town did the first Culver's open in 1984?

Craig and Lea Culver, with Craig's parents, opened Culver's Frozen Custard and ButterBurgers in Sauk City, Wisconsin, on 18 July 1984.

Where in New York did Shake Shack begin as a hot dog cart in 2001?

The cart in Madison Square Park began in 2001 to support the park's restoration; it won a permit for a permanent kiosk there in 2004, and the company went public in 2015 at $21 a share.

Which restaurateur behind Union Square Hospitality Group founded Shake Shack?

Danny Meyer, known for fine dining at Union Square Cafe and Gramercy Tavern, began with a cart run out of one of his restaurant kitchens for a park art show; it proved so popular that it ran for nearly three years.

Who founded Chipotle Mexican Grill in 1993?

Steve Ells, a trained chef, opened the first Chipotle in a former Denver ice cream shop with $85,000 in borrowed money, meaning to use its profits to open a fine-dining restaurant that he never got round to.

While it was Chipotle's biggest investor, McDonald's pressed the burrito chain to add what, without success?

Drive-thru lanes were among the ideas Chipotle's founder turned down; McDonald's invested from 1998, saw the chain grow from 16 restaurants to over 500, and left in 2006 with $1.5 billion.

The word chipotle comes from the Nahuatl name for what?

A smoked, dried jalapeño: the Nahuatl word is usually read as 'chili' plus 'smoke', and the method is thought to go back to the Aztecs, who smoked ripe red jalapeños to preserve them.

Which chain did Andrew and Peggy Cherng launch in a California mall food court in 1983?

Panda Express began as a fast-food spin-off of the Cherngs' sit-down Panda Inn, at the invitation of the mall's manager; its signature orange chicken followed in 1987, credited to chef Andy Kao.

In which Massachusetts city did Bill Rosenberg found Dunkin' Donuts in 1950?

Quincy: Bill Rosenberg had been feeding factory workers from catering trucks and noticed that coffee and doughnuts brought in 40 percent of his sales, so he opened a shop devoted to them.

Krispy Kreme lore says its secret yeast-raised recipe was bought from a chef from which city?

New Orleans, in the company's telling; another account credits an Ohio River barge cook. Vernon Rudolph took the recipe to Winston-Salem in 1937, choosing the city because his favourite cigarettes, Camels, were made there.

Tim Hortons was founded in 1964 in which Ontario city?

The first Tim Hortons doughnut shop opened in Hamilton, Ontario, in May 1964; the Maple Leafs defenceman started it with Jim Charade after first putting his name on hamburger restaurants.

Which investor took control of Tim Hortons after Tim Horton's death in 1974?

Ron Joyce, a former police constable who took over Horton's first shop, became his full partner in 1967 and after the 1974 crash bought the family's share for about $1 million, then built 40 shops into a national chain.

Nando's logo depicts which Portuguese symbol?

The Rooster of Barcelos is a Portuguese folk emblem from a legend of a roasted cockerel that crowed to prove a pilgrim's innocence; it reflects the Portuguese roots of co-founder Fernando Duarte.

The peri-peri chicken chain Nando's was founded in 1987 in which country?

Fernando Duarte and Robbie Brozin bought a takeaway called Chickenland in Rosettenville, Johannesburg, South Africa, in 1987 after tasting its peri-peri chicken, a style brought from Portuguese Mozambique.

Jollibee, with its bee mascot and Chickenjoy fried chicken, is the top fast-food chain in which country?

Philippines: Tony Tan Caktiong turned his family's ice cream parlor into Jollibee in 1978, and it held off McDonald's, which arrived in 1981, by cooking to Filipino tastes.

In which Texas city did Whataburger open its first restaurant in 1950?

Corpus Christi: Harmon Dobson and Paul Burton opened the first stand there in August 1950, selling a quarter-pound burger for 25 cents; the chain is now run from San Antonio, and the Dobsons sold control in 2019.

Raising Cane's is named after what?

The founder's yellow Labrador, Raising Cane, hung around the construction site in 1996, so a friend told Todd Graves to name his still-nameless restaurant after the dog; Cane II and Cane III have since served as mascots.

Bojangles, known for Cajun-seasoned chicken and biscuits, was founded in 1977 in which city?

Charlotte got the first Bojangles' in 1977, opened by Jack Fulk and Richard Thomas; the chain won wider fame in 1989, when it kept serving after Hurricane Hugo had closed almost every other restaurant.

Church's Chicken was founded in 1952 across the street from which landmark?

The Alamo stood across the street from Church's Fried Chicken To-Go, opened in San Antonio in 1952 by George W. Church Sr.; he put the fryers by the window so waiting customers could watch their chicken cook.

Long John Silver's takes its name from a character in which novel?

Treasure Island's Long John Silver is, fittingly, taken on as the ship's cook before he leads the mutiny; the seafood chain that borrowed his name opened in Lexington, Kentucky, in 1969.

Which chain did Arby's Restaurant Group buy in 2018 just before renaming itself Inspire Brands?

Arby's Restaurant Group closed its $2.9 billion purchase of Buffalo Wild Wings in February 2018 and renamed itself Inspire Brands; Sonic, Jimmy John's and Dunkin' followed by 2020.

Which chain grew from a roadside drink stand that Roy Allen opened in Lodi, California, in 1919?

A&W takes its letters from Allen and Frank Wright, the employee he made his partner at the root beer stand; Allen later bought Wright out, but the W stayed.

Dairy Queen's first store opened in 1940 to sell which treat?

Soft-serve ice cream was John McCullough's new formula; when Sherb Noble tried it as a 10-cent all-you-can-eat special in 1938, 1,600 servings went in under two hours, so he opened Dairy Queen to sell it.

Which conglomerate has owned Dairy Queen since 1998?

Berkshire Hathaway agreed to buy Dairy Queen in 1997 and closed the deal early in 1998; Warren Buffett told shareholders that he and Charlie Munger were longtime customers, so 'we have put our money where our mouth is'.

What did Steak 'n Shake founder Gus Belt often do in front of his diners?

Ground steaks into burgers: at busy times Belt wheeled a barrel of steaks into the dining room and minced them while customers watched, in keeping with the chain's slogan 'In Sight It Must Be Right'.

Checkers and Rally's, which merged in 1999, are known for what restaurant format?

Double drive-through lanes flank the small Checkers and Rally's buildings, most of which have walk-up windows and no indoor seating, a stripped-down format built to sell burgers cheaper and faster than bigger rivals.

Mexico's El Pollo Loco opened its first US restaurant in 1980 in which city?

Los Angeles got the Alvarado Street restaurant in December 1980; it did so well that Denny's bought Juan Francisco Ochoa's American outlets in 1983, leaving his family the original chain in Mexico.

Nathan's Famous began in 1916 as a nickel hot dog stand in which neighbourhood?

Nathan and Ida Handwerker spent their $300 savings on a Coney Island stand in 1916, undercutting Feltman's ten-cent hot dogs with nickel ones.

Papa John's began in 1984 with an oven installed where?

A broom closet in a tavern became the first kitchen: Schnatter knocked it out at the back of Mick's Lounge, his father's bar in Jeffersonville, Indiana, to fit a pizza oven in 1984 and sold pies to the drinkers.

What did Papa John's founder John Schnatter sell to buy his first pizza equipment?

His 1971 Camaro Z28 paid for $1,600 of used equipment in 1984; in 2009 he toured the country hunting for the car and paid a $250,000 finder's fee to get it back.

Which married couple founded Little Caesars in 1959?

Mike and Marian Ilitch opened the first Little Caesars in a Garden City, Michigan strip mall in 1959; the family later bought the Detroit Red Wings and the Detroit Tigers.

Domino's began as which Ypsilanti pizzeria, bought by Tom Monaghan and his brother in 1960?

DomiNick's kept its name until 1965, when the original owner refused to let it spread to Monaghan's new shops; a delivery driver, Jim Kennedy, came up with Domino's instead.

Where are Domino's global headquarters?

Ann Arbor, Michigan, is home to Domino's Farms, the long, low headquarters Tom Monaghan began in 1984 in the style of his hero Frank Lloyd Wright; its address is 30 Frank Lloyd Wright Drive.

How much did the Carney brothers borrow from their mother to start Pizza Hut in 1958?

$600 borrowed from their mother let Dan and Frank Carney open a pizzeria in a small rented building in Wichita in 1958; as the company tells it, the sign had room for only eight letters, so 'Pizza' was followed by 'Hut'.

Which former world leader starred in a Pizza Hut television commercial filmed in Moscow in 1997?

Mikhail Gorbachev appeared with his granddaughter while diners argued over his legacy and then toasted him; he said he took the fee to fund his foundation's library and archive, and the advert never aired in Russia.

Auntie Anne's began in 1988 as a pretzel stand at a farmers' market in which state?

Pennsylvania's Downingtown farmers' market is where Anne Beiler took over a stand in 1988 with $6,000 borrowed from her in-laws; the pretzels were meant to fund the free counselling centre her husband Jonas wanted to open.

Which mall bakery chain shares an owner, GoTo Foods, with Auntie Anne's and Carvel?

Cinnabon opened in 1985 at SeaTac Mall near Seattle, where restaurateur Rich Komen had a local baker, Jerilyn Brusseau, develop its cinnamon roll; its parent, Focus Brands, renamed itself GoTo Foods in 2024.

What is the idea behind Baskin-Robbins' '31 flavors' slogan?

A different flavor every day of the month was the 1953 pitch, with 31 covering even the longest one; the chain has since created more than 1,400 flavors.

How were Baskin-Robbins founders Burt Baskin and Irv Robbins related?

Brothers-in-law Baskin and Robbins each ran their own ice cream shops from the mid-1940s; when they joined the names in 1953, a coin toss decided whose came first.

Why did Dave Thomas blend two flavours for the original Frosty?

Pure chocolate would overwhelm the burgers, Thomas reasoned, so the original Frosty blended chocolate with vanilla; he also wanted it thick enough to need a spoon, like the shakes of his youth.

The Egg McMuffin was invented in 1972 to resemble which dish?

Franchisee Herb Peterson devised it in Santa Barbara in 1972 as a handheld eggs Benedict, swapping hollandaise for a slice of American cheese on a toasted English muffin.

The Filet-O-Fish was created in 1962 because a Cincinnati franchisee's burger sales slumped on which day?

Friday was meatless for the many Catholics around Lou Groen's restaurant, so he devised a fish sandwich; in a one-day test against a meat-free idea from head office, Groen sold 350 and won a place on the menu.

What was Ray Kroc's rival meatless sandwich that lost a sales contest to the Filet-O-Fish?

The Hula Burger was a slice of grilled pineapple with cheese on a cold bun; Kroc agreed that whichever meatless sandwich sold more in a one-day test would join the menu, and the fish sold 350.

Which is one of the Chicken McNugget's four official shapes?

The boot joins the ball, the bell and the bow tie, also called the bone; McDonald's says it stamps out standard shapes so that every nugget cooks in the same time, and that they make dipping more fun.

In France and much of Europe, the Quarter Pounder is sold under which name?

Royal, or Royal Cheese in France, replaces a name that means little where nobody weighs in pounds, the point Vincent Vega makes about the metric system in Pulp Fiction's 'Royale with Cheese' scene.

Which McDonald's burger was created in 1971 for adults wanting more meat than bun?

Quarter Pounder sales began at franchisee Al Bernardin's Fremont, California, restaurant under the slogan 'Today Fremont, tomorrow the world'; the former McDonald's product chief saw 'a void in our menu' for such adults.

What flavour was the original 1967 Shamrock Shake?

Lemon-lime sherbet blended with vanilla ice cream gave Hal Rosen's 1967 original its green colour; by 1973 it was just a green vanilla shake, and the mint flavour came later still.

In which city was McCafé launched in 1993?

Melbourne got the first McCafé in 1993, and about 300 were trading abroad before the idea reached the United States in 2001, a rare McDonald's concept imported into its home market.

What is McDonald's management training school, founded in 1961, called?

Hamburger University began in a restaurant basement in Elk Grove Village, Illinois, set up by Fred Turner, a former grill man who later ran the company; graduates earn a degree in 'Hamburgerology'.

What did Grimace originally do in McDonaldland before becoming a good guy?

Stole beverages and shakes: the 1971 'Evil Grimace' was a scaly villain with four arms for grabbing cups, but he frightened young customers, so McDonald's remade him as a soft, two-armed sweetheart.

McDonald's opened its first restaurant outside the United States in 1967 in which country?

Canada's first McDonald's opened in Richmond, British Columbia, in June 1967, the chain's first step outside the United States; San José, Costa Rica, followed in 1970 and the first European restaurant, in the Netherlands, in 1971.

Which Burger King breakfast sandwich debuted in 1983 as its answer to the Egg McMuffin?

Croissan'wich sales gave Burger King its first breakfast hit in 1983: its flame broilers could not handle breakfast as easily as McDonald's grills, so the menu it had tested since 1978 struggled until then.

Which company supplies the plant-based patty for Burger King's meatless Whopper?

Impossible Foods supplies the patty; Burger King unveiled the Impossible Whopper on April Fools' Day 2019 with a video of regulars who could not tell it from beef, then tested it in 59 St. Louis restaurants.

Pete Harman, KFC's first franchisee, introduced which KFC trademark?

The bucket meal was the Utah restaurateur's idea, 14 pieces of chicken and five rolls in a cardboard tub; one author called him 'the man behind the bucket'.

KFC's Double Down, launched nationally in 2010, replaced the bun with what?

Two fried chicken fillets took the place of the bun, with bacon, cheese and sauce between them; KFC said it sold 10 million in about three months, though analysts called that a small slice of its sales.

What did Colonel Sanders do after selling KFC in 1964?

Stayed as its paid face: the $2 million deal gave Sanders a salary, at first $40,000 a year, to keep touring in his white suit as the company's 'living image' while the new owners ran the business.

KFC's US headquarters began moving in 2025 from Louisville, Kentucky, to which Texas city, the home of Pizza Hut?

Plano, a Dallas suburb, already housed Pizza Hut when KFC's parent announced in 2025 that the chicken chain's US corporate office would leave Louisville and join its sister brand there.

Subway was founded in 1965 in Bridgeport, Connecticut, under what name?

Pete's Super Submarines was named for co-founder Peter Buck; on the radio 'Pete's Submarines' sounded like 'Pizza Marines', so the name was changed to Pete's Subway and later cut to Subway.

Peter Buck, who lent Fred DeLuca $1,000 to start Subway, worked in which field?

Nuclear physics: Dr Buck had worked on atomic power plants for Navy ships when he suggested the sandwich shop at a barbecue; the pair's holding company was named Doctor's Associates.

What was the name of the Hapeville, Georgia restaurant where Chick-fil-A began in 1946?

The Dwarf Grill was opened by Truett Cathy in Hapeville in 1946 and later became the Dwarf House, a name Chick-fil-A reused in the 1980s for a line of sit-down restaurants.

The first Chick-fil-A restaurant opened in 1967 in what kind of location?

A shopping mall, the Greenbriar in Georgia, housed the first Chick-fil-A, and the chain stayed almost entirely inside malls until it built a free-standing restaurant in 1986.

Why did an Atlanta Chick-fil-A break its Sunday rule on December 17, 2017?

An airport power outage stranded travellers at Hartsfield-Jackson for hours, so Chick-fil-A fired up its kitchens on its day of rest and supplied meals, which the airport itself hailed as a Christmas miracle.

Red's Giant Hamburg, often called the first drive-through restaurant, opened in 1947 on which famous highway?

Route 66 ran past Sheldon 'Red' Chaney's café in Springfield, Missouri, which served motorists until 1984; fans built a replica that opened in the city in 2019.

Which bakery-café chain began as the St. Louis Bread Company?

Panera began as the St. Louis Bread Company, which the Au Bon Pain group bought in 1993; six years later the group sold off its own Au Bon Pain cafés to bet everything on Panera.

The world's first automat restaurant, Quisisana, opened in 1895 in which European capital?

Berlin's Quisisana sold food from coin-operated compartments; an American lunchroom firm imported the same German machinery and opened the first automat in the United States in 1902.

Which company operated the first US automats and was once the world's largest restaurant chain?

Horn & Hardart's coin-fed walls of little glass doors fed hundreds of thousands of people a day at their height; by the 1970s the company was turning its own automats into Burger King franchises, and the last one closed in 1991.

When Chicken on the Run flopped, what did Al Copeland change to relaunch it as Popeyes?

Made it spicier: Copeland switched to a Cajun-style recipe after the original shop failed to break even within months, and the relaunch under the Popeyes name turned the business around.

In 1993, Wendy's founder Dave Thomas went back to do what?

Earn his high-school diploma: Thomas, who left school at 15, passed his GED so that his success would not tempt others to drop out, and his adopted class at Coconut Creek High voted him Most Likely to Succeed.

While working for a KFC franchisee, what did Dave Thomas urge Colonel Sanders to start doing?

Appearing in his own commercials was Thomas's advice, along with trimming the menu to a signature dish; years later he took it himself, starring in more than 800 Wendy's adverts from 1989.

Five Guys had just five restaurants by 2001, all clustered around which city?

Washington, D.C., was home turf: Jerry and Janie Murrell opened the first takeout shop across the river in Arlington, Virginia, in 1986 after their sons chose starting a business over college, and franchised only in 2003.

Zaxby's was founded in 1990 in Statesboro, the home of which university?

Georgia Southern's campus was beside the first shop, opened as plain 'Zax' by friends Zach McLeroy and Tony Townley, who saw that nobody then sold chicken fingers as a main course; a Zaxby's now stands on campus.

During a 2021 chicken-wing shortage, Wingstop launched an online-only brand under what name?

Thighstop sold crispy chicken thighs from Wingstop's own kitchens through delivery apps; with wing prices soaring, the company pitched the cheaper cut as a way to keep its costs down.

The first Waffle House opened on Labor Day weekend 1955 in Avondale Estates, a suburb of which city?

Atlanta's suburb of Avondale Estates got the first Waffle House from Joe Rogers Sr. and Tom Forkner; the chain made its name by never closing, 24 hours a day and 365 days a year, and the original is now a museum.

The Southern burger chain Krystal's name was chosen to suggest what?

Cleanliness: the name came from Mary Davenport, wife of co-founder Rody Davenport, as a play on 'crystal clean', spelled with a K to stand out; the first Krystal opened in Chattanooga in 1932.

Bob Wian of Bob's Big Boy is credited with inventing what in the 1930s?

The double-decker hamburger, built from two thin patties, made Wian's ten-stool Bob's Pantry famous as the Big Boy; from 1946 he let operators such as Frisch's copy it, and it spread nationwide.

What does the name of British sandwich chain Pret a Manger mean in French?

Prêt à manger is French for 'ready to eat', a play on prêt-à-porter ('ready to wear'); Julian Metcalfe and Sinclair Beecham built the London chain from 1986.

The British bakery chain Greggs was founded in 1939 in which city?

John Gregg began delivering eggs and yeast by bicycle in Newcastle upon Tyne in 1939 and opened his first shop in Gosforth in 1951; the chain is famous for sausage rolls.

The burger chain Wimpy is named after a cartoon moocher who would 'gladly pay you' on which day for a hamburger today?

Tuesday is when J. Wellington Wimpy, Popeye's burger-loving friend, always promised to settle up; Edward Gold named his Wimpy Grills after him in Bloomington, Indiana, in 1934, and Britain's Wimpy Bars followed under licence in 1954.

Hesburger is a home-grown burger chain from which Nordic country?

Finland's Hesburger grew from a grill kiosk Heikki Salmela and his wife Kirsti opened in Naantali in 1966; the first restaurant under the name followed in Turku in 1980, and the chain has since spread nationwide.

Under what name does Burger King operate in Australia?

Hungry Jack's is the name Jack Cowin chose when he opened the first restaurant in Perth in 1971 and found 'Burger King' already registered in Australia; he took it from a pancake mix made by Burger King's then owner, Pillsbury.

The Irish fast-food chain Supermac's takes its name from founder Pat McDonagh's schoolboy nickname in which sport?

Gaelic football earned McDonagh the name 'Supermac' at school in Moate, a play on Superman; he opened the first restaurant in Ballinasloe in 1978, and in 2024 his chain cost McDonald's part of its EU 'Big Mac' trademark.

The East Asian chain Lotteria's name combines Lotte with which word?

Cafeteria supplies the ending: Lotte, the confectionery group, opened its first Lotteria burger outlets around Tokyo in September 1972, only months after it had begun making ice cream.

What does MOS in Japan's MOS Burger stand for?

Mountain, Ocean, Sun: the company says the letters stand for a mountain's dignity, the ocean's breadth and the sun's life-giving energy; its founder opened the first shop in Tokyo in 1972 after admiring a California burger stand.

Yoshinoya, founded in Tokyo in 1899, is known for which dish?

Beef bowls, or gyudon, have been the staple since Eikichi Matsuda opened at the Nihonbashi fish market to feed workers too busy to stop for a hot meal, serving them fast and cheap.

Jimmy John Liautaud's father lent him $25,000 to start his sandwich chain as an alternative to what?

Joining the Army was the deal if the shop failed: after finishing second to last in his high-school class, Liautaud took his father's $25,000 in return for a 48 percent stake and opened in Charleston, Illinois, in 1983.

At 17, Peter Cancro bought Mike's Submarines, the shop where he had worked since 14, with whose help?

His football coach, a banker named Rod Smith, backed the purchase in 1975; Cancro renamed the Point Pleasant shop Jersey Mike's in 1987, began franchising, and in 2024 sold control to Blackstone in an $8 billion deal.

From 1989 Taco John's owned the 'Taco Tuesday' trademark in 49 states, but a local bar held it in which state?

Gregory's Restaurant & Bar in Somers Point, New Jersey, already held the phrase there; Taco John's abandoned its trademark in July 2023 after Taco Bell petitioned the US trademark office to cancel it.

What are the Olés, the signature side dish at Taco John's?

Seasoned fried potato nuggets, Potato Olés are the signature side of a chain that began as John Turner's taco stand in Cheyenne, Wyoming; two local businessmen bought the franchise rights and named it after him.

Hot-dog chain Wienerschnitzel sponsors a national championship series for what?

Dachshund racing's Wiener Nationals crown a champion wiener dog each year under the chain's sponsorship; despite its name, Wienerschnitzel has not normally sold schnitzel, bar a limited-time sandwich in 2017.

Which sub chain shrank from about 4,700 US stores in 2007 to fewer than 400 a decade later?

Quiznos made much of its profit selling food and paper to its own franchisees, who struggled to earn a living and sued; weighed down by buyout debt, the company filed for bankruptcy in 2014.

Which fat, once common in fryer oil and margarine, did the FDA declare unsafe for food in 2015?

Trans fat was created by partially hydrogenating vegetable oil, which kept it solid and slow to spoil. The FDA decided those oils were no longer generally recognized as safe.

Which nutrient do US dietary guidelines tell adults to keep under 2,300 milligrams a day?

Sodium mostly reaches the plate through packaged and prepared foods, which supply over 70% of it, not the salt shaker. Diets high in it are linked to high blood pressure.

A 2010 San Francisco law banned which freebie from kids' meals that fell short on nutrition?

Toys stayed in the Happy Meal anyway, because McDonald's got around the ban by charging 10 cents for them. City supervisors had passed the law over the mayor's veto.

Which fruit did McDonald's add to every Happy Meal under a 2011 plan that also shrank the fries?

Apple slices came with a smaller 1.1-ounce portion of fries, as McDonald's tried to make its best-known children's box healthier.

Ireland's Supreme Court ruled in 2020 that Subway's rolls held too much of what to count as bread?

Sugar levels were so high that the judges said Subway's bread had to be classed as cake instead.

What unappetising nickname describes lean finely textured beef, a filler once common in US burgers?

Pink slime was coined in a 2002 email by a government microbiologist who argued the product was salvage, not meat. By March 2012 it was in 70% of American ground beef.

Which side dish did Wendy's add to its menu in 1983 as a lower-fat alternative to French fries?

Baked potato came with a choice of toppings. Chili was no newcomer in 1983: Wendy's has sold it since its first restaurant opened.

Until a campaigner's newspaper ads forced a change in 1990, McDonald's cooked fries mainly in what?

Beef tallow made up 93% of the frying blend introduced in 1949. Millionaire Phil Sokolof bought full-page ads in big-city papers calling the menu a threat to American health.

Which US city's 2012 rule capping soda cups at 16 ounces was struck down before it took effect?

New York's cap was championed by Mayor Michael Bloomberg and nicknamed the soda ban. A judge blocked it the day before it was due to start, and the state's top court killed it in 2014.

Which TV host's 2009 coupon giveaway for KFC's new grilled chicken left restaurants running short?

Oprah Winfrey let viewers print the coupons from her website, and demand was so heavy that KFC ran out of grilled chicken. One Manhattan store even saw a sit-in protest.

Which 2010 US law made restaurant chains with 20 or more outlets post calorie counts on menus?

Affordable Care Act menu rules were signed alongside the health insurance reforms, but regulators delayed them several times and they did not take effect until May 2018.

Which word did Starbucks give its 2008 line of lower-calorie drinks made with skim milk?

Skinny drinks used skim milk by default and could be sweetened with honey, agave syrup or one of several artificial sweeteners.

When Starbucks set a new dairy standard for espresso drinks, whole milk gave way to which type?

2% reduced-fat milk became the default in the same period that Starbucks stopped buying from dairies whose cows were given growth hormone. It carries less saturated fat than whole.

McDonald's lean McLean Deluxe burger of 1991 held water in its beef with an extract of what?

Seaweed supplies carrageenan, which held the patty's added water and lean beef together. The burger sold poorly and McDonald's dropped it in 1996.

Which California college town's voters approved a penny-an-ounce soda tax in 2014, hailed as America's first?

Berkeley approved Measure D by a landslide, while a similar measure across the bay in San Francisco won a majority but fell short of the two-thirds it needed.

Which 2001 Eric Schlosser book exposed the meatpacking and marketing behind America's burger chains?

Fast Food Nation began as a Rolling Stone series and called meatpacking the most dangerous job in America. Richard Linklater turned it into a 2006 film.

In 2015 Chipotle claimed to be the first national restaurant chain to cook entirely without what?

GMOs left the menu when Chipotle dropped genetically modified corn and soybeans. A lawsuit later argued its meat came from animals raised on modified feed, and the chain paid $6.5 million to settle.

Which Las Vegas burger restaurant let customers weighing over 350 pounds eat for free?

Heart Attack Grill dressed its waitresses as nurses and named its burgers after bypass operations, the largest holding nearly 20,000 calories. It closed in 2026.

Which chemical, formed when potatoes fry at high heat, once required a California cancer warning?

Acrylamide forms in the browned parts of starchy foods such as French fries, potato chips and bread. A federal court ruled California's warning label unconstitutional in 2025.

Which foam product gives azodicarbonamide, a dough conditioner Subway dropped in 2014, its nickname?

Yoga mats and other foamed plastics are made with the same compound, so critics dubbed it the yoga mat chemical. A petition against it gathered more than 50,000 signatures.

Officials in Sedona, Arizona, made McDonald's swap its golden arches for which colour?

Turquoise arches went up because officials felt the usual yellow would contrast too much with the scenic red rock around the town.

Starbucks describes the twin-tailed mermaid on its logo as which creature from Greek mythology?

Siren imagery has been on the Starbucks logo since its first version, which the company traced to an old Norse woodcut. A Saudi Arabian edition once removed her and left only her crown.

What did the three dots on the original Domino's Pizza logo stand for in 1965?

The stores then open each got one dot on the domino. A 2012 redesign split the tile into a blue half with two dots and a red half with one.

Which feature of Pizza Hut's classic restaurant design was later turned into the company logo?

The red roof struck some German speakers as a wide-brimmed hat, a fitting mistake because Hut is the German word for hat.

The Arby's logo descends from neon signs at early restaurants that were shaped like what?

A cowboy hat suited founders who had wanted to call their restaurants Big Tex, until they found an Akron business already using that name.

Which yellow shape, matching the trim on the chain's buildings, anchors the In-N-Out Burger logo?

An arrow in the same yellow as a band on the buildings is the logo's signature, and many branches plant two palm trees in an X out front.

Which smiling shape do the sister burger chains Hardee's and Carl's Jr. both use as their logo?

A star with a grin, known as the Happy Star, came from Carl's Jr. and was kept in the 2006 Hardee's logo to tie the two brands together.

A 2017 update to the Little Caesars logo hid LC in the toga and removed what from the mascot?

His chest hair vanished in a redesign timed to the opening of Little Caesars Arena, while the wreath on his head was only redrawn.

White Castle modelled the turreted restaurants behind its castle logo on which Chicago landmark?

Water Tower features such as octagonal buttresses, crenelated towers and a parapet wall can be seen on a surviving 1936 building in Minneapolis.

From 1969, Burger King's logo set the chain's name between two shapes representing what?

Bun halves stayed through later redesigns: a 1999 version tilted them inside a blue crescent, and the logo introduced in 2021 dropped the crescent again.

Which octogenarian former manicurist barked the beef-hunting catchphrase in Wendy's 1984 adverts?

Clara Peller was hired at 80 as a manicurist extra for a barbershop commercial before she became the face of Wendy's. The chain dropped her in 1985 after she appeared in an advert for a pasta sauce.

Which Democrat used Wendy's beef-hunting catchphrase to mock rival Gary Hart's policies in 1984?

Walter Mondale used the line to great effect, painting Hart's policies as lacking depth after Hart had won the New Hampshire primary.

Which singer performed on the campaign that gave McDonald's its first worldwide advertising slogan?

Justin Timberlake supplied the vocals for a campaign McDonald's commissioned after reporting its first ever financial loss.

The agency Heye & Partner created McDonald's first worldwide slogan from a base in which country?

Germany heard the slogan first, because the campaign opened in Munich weeks before the English version reached American screens.

Which future pop balladeer sang the McDonald's jingle that told customers they had earned a rest?

Barry Manilow worked as a jobbing jingle singer and writer before fame, voicing spots for Dr Pepper and Kentucky Fried Chicken and composing tunes for State Farm and Band-Aid.

Which female Chihuahua fronted Taco Bell's Spanish-language catchphrase ads from 1997 to 2000?

Gidget became so popular that talking figures of her were sold at Taco Bell restaurants in 1998 and 1999.

Which rabbit-eared villain in a red bodysuit did Domino's 1980s adverts urge pizza buyers to avoid?

The Noid was animated in clay by Will Vinton's studio and plotted bizarre schemes to ruin pizzas before anyone could eat them.

Dunkin' Donuts retired catchphrase mascot Fred the Baker in 1997 with a parade through which city?

Boston hosted the send-off, and the free doughnut day that went with it served more than six million customers.

Burger King's costly 1985 flop sent America hunting for which man who had never eaten a Whopper?

Herb was finally unmasked in a Super Bowl XX commercial as a bespectacled man in an ill-fitting suit, and spotting him in a restaurant was worth $5,000.

Which moon-headed crooner sang a reworked Bobby Darin hit in McDonald's dinner adverts of the 1980s?

Mac Tonight began as a 1986 promotion for Southern California restaurants and went national a year later. The ads wound down after Darin's son sued over the tune in 1989.

Which cooking method has set Burger King's patties apart from griddle-fried rivals since the 1950s?

Flame broiling took over from an earlier oven that cooked a dozen patties at a time in a wire basket, browning both sides at once.

Which trademarked In-N-Out burger stacks two beef patties with two slices of cheese?

Double-Double is so central to In-N-Out that the chain sued a lookalike restaurant in another state for copying its trademarked menu names.

White Castle cooks its square sliders in steam rising from a griddle covered with water and what?

Onions are spread across the griddle with water, and the rising steam cooks the patties to completion.

What kind of beef did McDonald's switch to for Quarter Pounders in the continental US in May 2018?

Fresh beef with no added preservatives went into the Quarter Pounder first, and months later the chain announced it would strip artificial flavours and colours from the burger too.

Which 1980s McDonald's burger came in a split foam box that kept its salad apart from the hot patty?

McDLT adverts featured a young Jason Alexander singing and dancing, but the bulky polystyrene box drew environmental complaints and the burger was dropped in 1991.

Which burger takes the place of McDonald's beef flagship on its menus in India?

Maharaja Mac was first made with lamb and is now made with chicken, because McDonald's serves no beef in India, where most states ban cow slaughter.

The Whopper Jr. was born by accident when bun moulds failed to reach a new Burger King where?

Puerto Rico franchise boss Luis Arenas-Pérez improvised with smaller buns, and the result sold so well that the company adopted it worldwide.

Burger King's 1998 April Fools' advert announced a Whopper redesigned for which group of customers?

Left-handers were promised a burger with every condiment rotated 180 degrees, in a full-page advert placed in papers such as USA Today.

Before a 21-year-old secretary coined the name Big Mac, the burger flopped under which earlier name?

The Aristocrat and a second attempt, the Blue Ribbon Burger, both failed in the marketplace before Esther Glickstein Rose suggested the name that stuck.

Which cartoon chicken, Chick-fil-A's mascot before the cows, lives on as the C in the chain's logo?

Doodles lost his job to the cow campaign, but the anthropomorphised bird was never removed from the logo.