How Your Favorite Fast Food Joints Got Their Starts

Ever wonder about the origins of your favorite fast food restaurants? Well, CDA did the research and here’s a look at the history of some of our beloved fast food.

Burger King - Back in 1953, Keith J. Kramer and Matthew Burns tried to make a go of their beloved restaurant, Insta-Burger King. When they couldn’t, they sold it to David Edgerton andJames McLamore in 1957, and the new owners just called it Burger King.

Five Guys - It was created by five guys back in 1986, all sons of Jerry and Janie Murrel who told their boys to go to school or start a business. And the brothers from Virginia seem to have made the right choice because Five Guys now has more than 1,500 locations across the U.S.

KFC - Harland Sanders first sold fried chicken to drivers at a North Corbin, Kentucky service station. The Colonel wrote his list of secret spices and herbs on the back of his kitchen door and Kentucky Fried Chicken took off from there.

McDonald's - It wasn’t Ray Kroc who started it all, brothers Richard and Maurice McDonaldactually owned it first. They opened a drive-in barbecue place in 1940 called McDonald’s Bar-B-Q in San Bernardino, California and shortened it to McDonald’s in 1948.

Pizza Hut - With McDonald’s and KFC as business models, Dan and Frank Carney started Pizza Hut in an old bar in Wichita, Kansas and took over the pizza world.

Subway - It began as a sandwich shop in Bridgeport, Connecticut in 1965, started by Fred DeLuca, who was trying to finance his education.

Wendy's - Dave Thomas worked with Colonel Sanders to get KFC started before branching out in 1969 to start Wendy’s, named for his daughter.


Sponsored Content

Sponsored Content