Burger King

Name: Burger King

Type of Food: Burgers, Fries

Interesting Fact: According to the Burger King there are 221184 possible ways to order a Whopper, their signature sandwich. They sell about 1.7 billion of Whoppers each year.

History: In 1954, James McLamore and David Edgerton opened their first Burger King restaurant in Miami Florida. The Original Whopper® Sandwich was introduced in 1957. The great success of the early restaurants made the Burger King concept a natural for international expansion. In 1963, the first international franchise restaurant opened in Puerto Rico, and in 1969 the first Canadian “Home of the Whopper®” opened in Windsor, Ontario. Today, the Burger King system operates more than 11,000 restaurants in all 50 U.S. states and in more than 60 countries and territories across the globe. Approximately 90 percent of Burger King restaurants are owned and operated by independent franchisees.

Website: www.burgerking.com/

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Carl’s Jr

Name: Carl’s Jr.

Type of Food: Breakfast Burritos, Hamburgers, Fries, Salads

Interesting Fact: Along with its sibling restaurant chain Hardee’s, Carl’s Jr. is the fourth largest US burger chain after McDonald’s, Burger King and Wendy’s.

History: In 1941 a young Carl N. Karcher and his wife, Margaret, borrow $311 on their Plymouth automobile, adding $15 in savings to purchase a hot dog cart. One cart quickly grew to four. By 1945, Karcher owned a stand-alone restaurant in Anaheim, California called Carl’s Drive-In Barbecue. In 1956, Karcher opened the first two Carl’s Jr. restaurants in Anaheim, California and Brea, California; so named because they were a smaller version of his drive-in restaurant. Carl’s Jr. quickly expanded, and currently has more than 1,000 locations in 13 U.S. states, as well as in Mexico, Singapore and Russia. The restaurant chain prides themselves on their courteous fast service characterized by its logo, the bright yellow five-pointed Happy Star. CKE’s other chain, Hardee’s, also shares this logo.

Website: www.carlsjrcom

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Chick-fil-A

Name: Chick-fil-A

Type of Food: Chicken

Interesting Facts: It is the second-largest chicken-based fast-food chain in the United States. Chick-fil-A’s slogan, “We Didn’t Invent the Chicken, Just the Chicken Sandwich,” is based on a true story: at a time when hamburgers dominated fast-food menus since the beginning,Chick-fil-A was credited with creating and inventing the chicken sandwich.

History: Chick-fil-A got it’s start in 1946 as the Dwarf Grill, a restaurant opened by Truett Cathy in the Atlanta suburb of Hapeville in 1946. This restaurants original location was  near a now defunct Ford plant.During the next couple of years, Cathy worked on his recipes, and is credited with inventing the first chicken sandwich in 1964. Cathy discovered that pressure cooking the chicken in peanut oil allowed for a fast serving time, and could give him something more unique than another burger joint ( aproccess still used today). The original sandwich also came with simply two pickles because that was the only condiment he had on hand when the sandwiches were created. With popularity of this item, the first Chick-fil-A opened in Atlanta’s Greenbriar Mall in 1967. The initial growth strategy was through Chick-fil-A locations in shopping malls. There are 375 mall locations at this time. Since 1986, most of Chick-fil-A’s growth has been in freestanding units (as of May 2009, the chain has over 775 freestanding units). In total Chick-fil-A has 1430 locations in 38 states.

Website: www.chick-fil-a.com

View the menu: here

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Chipotle

Name: Chipotle

Type of Food: Tacos, Burritos, Fajitas

Interesting Facts: In 2001, Chipotle released a mission statement called “Food With Integrity”, which highlighted Chipotle’s commitment to naturally raised meat, organic produce, and dairy without added hormones. All of Chipotle’s chicken and pork are naturally raised (i.e., open-range, antibiotic free, and with a vegetarian diet), as well as 50% of the beef. Also, approximately 30% of the beans are organically grown.

History: In 1993, Steve Ells opened the first Chipotle in Denver, Colorado in a former Dolly Madison Ice Cream Store near the University of Denver campus using an $85,000 loan from his father.

In 1998, McDonald’s made an initial minority investment in the company. By 2001, they had grown to be Chipotle’s largest investor.McDonald’s investment allowed the firm to quickly expand, from 16 restaurants in 1998 to over 500 by 2005. On January 26, 2006, Chipotle made its IPO, after increasing the share price twice due to high pre-IPO demand. In its first day as a public company, the stock rose exactly 100%, resulting in the best U.S.-based IPO in six years, and the second-best IPO for a restaurant after Boston Chicken (now Boston Market). The money from the offering was then used to fund new store growth.

In October 2006, McDonald’s fully divested its investment in Chipotle, part of a larger initiative to divest all of its non-core business restaurants

As of March 2009, 830 restaurants have since opened throughout the United States and Canada.All are company-owned, rather than franchised. Founder Steve Ells still serves as chairman and CEO of the company.

Website: www.chipotle.com

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Chuck E. Cheese’s

Name: Chuck E. Cheese’s

Type of Food: Focus on Pizza, but also offers buffalo wings, sandwiches, breadsticks, mozzarella sticks, cinnamon sticks, and salads.

Interesting Fact: Chuck E. Cheese specializes in birthday parties for those 1-12 years of age.

History: The business was founded in 1977 by Atari founder Nolan Bushnell as the Chuck E. Cheese’s Pizza Time Theatre, and featured singing animatronic characters. As of January 1, 2006, The company operated over 500 restaurants in the United States and other countries.

Website: www.chuckecheese.com

View the menu: here

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