70 Fun Facts About Restaurant

What is the maximum number of Michelin stars a restaurant can hold?

The zero-to-three hierarchy arrived in 1931; the top rating officially means 'exceptional cuisine, worth a special journey'.

Burger King's signature sandwich, added to the menu in 1957, is called what?

The chain began in 1953 as Insta-Burger King in Jacksonville, Florida before its Miami franchisees bought it out in 1959.

The Michelin Guide, which awards restaurant stars, was originally published by a company that makes what?

The Michelin brothers gave the first 35,000 copies away free in 1900 to persuade France's few thousand motorists to drive more and wear out more rubber.

Every Chick-fil-A restaurant is closed on which day of the week?

Founder Truett Cathy was a devout Southern Baptist; the chain still has the highest per-store sales of any US fast-food brand.

What is the name of Wendy's signature soft-serve frozen dessert?

It is served alongside square patties whose corners poke out of the round bun to make the burger look bigger.

Wendy's founder Dave Thomas named the chain after whom?

Melinda Lou 'Wendy' Thomas was his fourth child; the square patties came from Kewpee Hamburgers in his home town of Kalamazoo.

Starbucks opened its first store in 1971 at which Seattle landmark, originally selling only coffee beans?

For its first decade it was a bean retailer; Howard Schultz turned it into an espresso bar and led its expansion as CEO from 1986.

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

It was spun out of PepsiCo in 1997 as Tricon Global Restaurants and took its current name in 2002.

The word 'restaurant' comes from a French term for a dish meant to do what?

The earliest Paris establishments of the 1760s sold 'restorative' broths, and by 1802 the label had jumped from the soup to the shop.

Louis' Lunch in New Haven, Connecticut claims to have invented which dish in 1900?

The patties are still cooked on the original 1898 vertical cast-iron broilers, and asking for ketchup is frowned upon.

Ray Kroc was selling what when he visited the McDonald brothers' San Bernardino restaurant in 1954?

He became their franchise agent, opened his own outlet in Des Plaines, Illinois in 1955 and bought the brothers out for $2.7 million in 1961.

Which chain overtook McDonald's in 2011 to have the most locations of any brand?

Subway passed McDonald's store count in 2011. It began in 1965 as Pete's Super Submarines in Bridgeport, Connecticut, funded by a $1,000 loan from a family friend.

Delmonico's, often called America's first fine-dining restaurant, opened in 1827 in which city?

When it rebuilt on a grand scale after the Great Fire of New York, diners were told the columns by the door had been shipped from the ruins of Pompeii.

Pizza Hut was started in 1958 by two brothers studying at a university in which US state?

Dan and Frank Carney opened in Wichita; a young Bill Parcells, later a Hall of Fame NFL coach, worked for them as a student.

The first Hard Rock Cafe opened in 1971 in which city?

Two Americans opened it on Old Park Lane; the wall-of-memorabilia tradition began in 1979 with an unsigned red Fender guitar from regular customer Eric Clapton.

Outback Steakhouse, the Australian-themed chain, was founded in 1988 in which US city?

None of the founders had been to Australia; the theme rode the Crocodile Dundee wave and now the chain even has outlets down under.

Ordering 'à la carte' literally means ordering 'according to the' what?

The first menus offering a choice were chalked on a small board, a carte; a table d'hôte instead offered a fixed meal for a set price.

Caesar salad was invented on 4 July 1924 in a restaurant in which city?

Caesar Cardini ran the place to serve Americans dodging Prohibition; a holiday rush emptied his kitchen and he improvised tableside.

Which Copenhagen restaurant, opened by René Redzepi in 2003, led New Nordic cuisine?

It was voted best restaurant in the world several times and closed as a conventional restaurant to become a food lab with pop-up residencies.

Guy Fieri's Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives began airing on Food Network in which year?

He earned the show by winning the second season of The Next Food Network Star the year before.

Which chain, founded in Wichita in 1921 and famous for 'sliders', is considered America's first fast-food chain?

They sold for a nickel, and the gleaming white buildings were designed to convince customers that ground beef was safe.

Burger King's Australian outlets trade under what different name because of a trademark dispute?

A takeaway in Adelaide already owned the Burger King name, so the Australian franchise picked a different one and kept it after a series of court cases.

Before founding Taco Bell in 1962, Glen Bell ran what kind of eatery in San Bernardino?

He learned his taco technique from the Mitla Cafe across the street, which still has a dish named after the woman who taught him.

Which US disaster agency informally gauges storm damage by whether Waffle House is open?

The chain keeps generators and pre-positioned food ready and almost never closes, so a shut Waffle House means things are truly bad.

Rainforest Cafe opened its first location in 1994 inside what?

The Bloomington, Minnesota original was bought by Landry's in 2000, and the fake storm still rolls through every few minutes.

Nathan's Famous began in 1916 as a Coney Island stand selling hot dogs for how much?

Nathan Handwerker undercut his old employer Feltman's, who charged a dime, and the annual Fourth of July eating contest now bears his name.

Which chef, working with César Ritz at the Savoy, created the kitchen 'brigade' system?

The 'king of chefs and chef of kings' drew on his army service to organise cooks into stations, and codified the five mother sauces.

Nando's, the flame-grilled peri-peri chicken chain, was founded in 1987 in which city?

Two friends bought a Portuguese-Mozambican takeaway called Chickenland; the logo is the Rooster of Barcelos and the name is a nickname for Fernando.

Zagat, the diner-survey restaurant guide founded in 1979, was bought in 2011 by which company?

Tim and Nina Zagat began by polling their friends about Manhattan restaurants; the deal was worth more than $150 million.

Which restaurant menu innovation did Howard Johnson's build its 1930s brand on?

The orange-roofed chain pioneered franchising and the highway restaurant, and by the 1960s was the largest restaurant chain in the United States.

Which rocking-chair-porched chain was founded in 1969 by a Shell Oil representative beside a Tennessee interstate?

Dan Evins built it near an Interstate 40 exit outside Lebanon to look like the country stores he remembered from childhood.

In 1943 San Francisco eateries offered 'Pet Pakits' for leftovers, an early form of what?

Wartime food shortages made waste unpopular, and the container ostensibly meant for pets soon became a way for humans to keep the good stuff.

Since 1997, which Michelin award flags good-value restaurants?

It is named after Bibendum, the tyre company's rotund mascot, and highlights 'exceptionally good food at moderate prices'.

Which Boston restaurant, open since 1826, is the oldest continuously operating in the US?

The toothpick was reportedly popularised there, and the building itself dates from around 1716.

Oysters Rockefeller was invented at which New Orleans restaurant, family-run since 1840?

The same kitchen produced pompano en papillote and eggs Sardou; the dish was named for the richness of its sauce.

What did the original McDonald's mascot 'Speedee' have for a head?

The chef with the burger head was retired in favour of the Golden Arches in 1962, and Ronald McDonald arrived the following year.

In 2001 Pizza Hut pulled off a publicity stunt by having a pizza delivered to what destination?

The vacuum-sealed pie flew up on a Russian resupply rocket, an early example of an advert leaving the planet.

Tom Monaghan's brother traded his half of the future Domino's Pizza to Tom in exchange for what?

The car was the one they used for deliveries; the dots in the logo stood for the number of shops Tom owned by 1965.

Which chain, founded in 1965 in Manhattan, is often credited as one of America's first singles bars?

Alan Stillman bought a bar on First Avenue with $10,000, half of it borrowed from his mother, and named it after a college expression.

Hooters was incorporated on 1 April 1983 in Clearwater, Florida. Why did the founders pick that date?

The six businessmen treated it as an April Fools' joke on themselves; the owl logo is the other half of the name's double meaning.

Katz's Delicatessen on the Lower East Side charges a penalty fee if a customer loses what?

Every diner is handed a numbered ticket at the door and pays a fee (US$50 in the mid-2020s) if it goes missing; the deli, open since 1888, staged the famous When Harry Met Sally scene.

Nachos are named after which restaurant worker, who improvised them for US officers' wives in 1943?

'Nacho' was the maître d' at the Victory Club in Piedras Negras; unable to find the cook, he fried tortilla pieces and topped them with cheese and jalapeños.

Thomas Keller's Yountville, California restaurant is named after what former business in its building?

A 1906 law banned alcohol sales near the local veterans' home, so the building became a French steam laundry before Sally Schmitt made it a restaurant in 1978.

Le Procope, opened in Paris in 1686 by a Sicilian cook, is famous as one of the world's oldest what?

Waiters in 'Armenian' costume served coffee and sorbet to Voltaire's generation, though it closed in 1872 and only reopened in 1957.

In-N-Out's 1948 drive-through was the first in California to let drivers order via what?

Harry Snyder built the intercom himself, and the Baldwin Park stand grew into a chain that still refuses to franchise.

Which Madrid restaurant, founded in 1725, is listed by Guinness as the oldest in the world?

Its roast suckling pig gets a mention in the closing pages of Hemingway's The Sun Also Rises.

The Big Mac was created in 1967 by franchisee Jim Delligatti in which state?

It debuted in Uniontown for 45 cents, and The Economist later built its Big Mac Index around the sandwich's near-universal availability.

Colonel Sanders was commissioned as an honorary Kentucky Colonel in 1935 by whom?

Governor Ruby Laffoon handed out the title; Sanders was then running a roadside cafe at a Shell station in Corbin.

What did Denny's discover when it closed for Christmas for the first time in 1988?

The chain had run 24 hours a day since 1959, so several buildings were built without locks and others had lost the keys.

Recognisably modern restaurants first appeared in Kaifeng and Hangzhou during which Chinese dynasty?

They grew out of tea houses and taverns serving travelling merchants in the 11th and 12th centuries, centuries before Paris caught up.

A restaurant in St Peter's Abbey in which Austrian city claims to have served since AD 803?

Its first recorded mention is in a letter to Charlemagne, and it is famed for the fluffy Salzburger Nockerl dessert.

The first Kentucky Fried Chicken franchise opened in 1952 in which state?

Franchisee Pete Harman in South Salt Lake also introduced the cardboard bucket in 1957, and the recipe of 11 herbs and spices remains a trade secret.

Ruth Fertel bought a New Orleans steakhouse in 1965 founded by an entrepreneur with which surname?

A divorced single mother, she mortgaged her house against everyone's advice; when a fire forced a move she could not take the old name with her.

Rao's, the East Harlem Italian restaurant famous for near-impossible reservations, opened in what year?

Its handful of tables are held by regulars on standing bookings, and patrons have included Robert De Niro and Rudy Giuliani.

The world's first automat, with coin-operated food windows, opened in 1895 in which city?

Horn & Hardart brought the idea to Philadelphia in 1902 with machines shipped from the same Berlin factory, and once ran forty of them in Manhattan alone.

El Bulli received over two million requests each season for how many places?

The restaurant near Roses on Spain's Costa Brava opened only part of the year and became the emblem of modernist cooking.

The first drive-through, Red's Giant Hamburg, opened in 1947 in which Missouri city?

In-N-Out followed in 1948 with an intercom Harry Snyder built himself; McDonald's did not add a drive-through until 1975.

The title 'sommelier' derives from an Old Provençal word for a person who did what?

A saumalier drove the beasts of burden that carried supplies; only 293 people had passed the Master Sommelier diploma by 2025.

What price did flyers advertise for Herb McDonald's first Las Vegas all-you-can-eat buffet in 1946?

Patrons were promised every variety of hot and cold entree 'to appease the howling coyote in your innards'; the smorgasbord idea itself went international at the 1939 World's Fair.

In which city did Walter Scott sell food from a horse-drawn wagon in 1872, starting the American diner?

Factory-built 'lunch cars' followed from the 1920s, delivered whole to their sites like mobile homes with only the utilities left to hook up.

The Texas chuckwagon, ancestor of the food truck, was created in 1866 by which rancher?

He fitted an old army wagon with shelves and drawers to feed cowboys on the trail; the UN's FAO has estimated that street food feeds some 2.5 billion people a day.

What was the ancient Greek and Roman counter-service eatery, a forerunner of fast food, called?

Archaeologists have identified 158 of them in Pompeii alone, clustered along the main streets and near public spaces.

Who opened La Grande Taverne de Londres, the first luxury restaurant in Paris, in 1786?

A former noble-household chef, he set up at the Palais-Royal the same year a Paris decree gave restaurants official status.

Roughly how many copies of the first, free Michelin Guide were handed out in 1900?

The Michelin brothers wanted to get France's fewer than 3,000 motorists driving more, and wearing out more tyres.

What prompted André Michelin to start charging for the guide in 1920?

He concluded that 'man only truly respects what he pays for' and priced it at 7 francs.

In which year did the Michelin Guide's cover change from blue to red?

The Allies had the 1939 France edition reprinted in 1944 because its maps were the best available.

Where did Michelin publish its first American guide, in 2005?

It covered 500 restaurants across the five boroughs; Tokyo followed in 2007 and promptly topped the star count.

Who was the first British chef to hold three Michelin stars, before handing them back in 1999?

He cited the pressure and monotony of keeping them and questioned the inspectors' competence.

What award did the Michelin Guide begin giving to hotels in 2024?

Anonymous stays are judged on five criteria including architecture, service, character, value and contribution to the setting.

Commercial production of American 'lunch wagons' began in 1887 in which Massachusetts city?

By the 1920s diners were prefabricated in factories and delivered to site like mobile homes.