189 articles
Friendly's
Friendly's is an American family restaurant and ice cream chain founded in 1935 in Springfield, Massachusetts by the Blake brothers. Once 850 restaurants, now about 87 in 11 Eastern states; restaurants under Brix/Legacy Brands, ice cream brand owned by Dairy Farmers of America.
Fuddruckers
Fuddruckers is an American fast-casual burger chain founded by Phil Romano in San Antonio, Texas, known for fresh never-frozen beef, on-site baked buns, and a Build Your Own produce bar; now owned by Nicholas Perkins' Black Titan Franchise Systems since 2021.
Godfather's Pizza
Godfather's Pizza, American pizza franchise founded 1973 in Omaha, Nebraska by Willy Theisen and Greg Johnson; 632 locations by 1982, second-largest U.S. pizza chain then; distinct from the 1972 Canadian chain.
Golden Corral
Golden Corral: American buffet-and-grill restaurant chain founded 1971, first opened 1973 in Fayetteville, NC; Raleigh, NC headquartered franchisor, over 150 buffet items, Camp Corral military charity, CEO Lance Trenary since 2015.
Greggs
Greggs is a British bakery and food-on-the-go chain founded by John Gregg in Newcastle upon Tyne in 1939, with more than 2,700 shops selling baked goods and sandwiches.
Grimace Shake
Grimace Shake: McDonald's limited-time purple berry milkshake from the June 12, 2023 Grimace Birthday Meal, famous for the TikTok trend of drinkers faking death, which drove sales and Purchase Intent among TikTok users from 25% to 32%.
Hamburger University
Hamburger University is McDonald's global manager-training school, founded by Fred Turner in 1961 in Elk Grove Village, Illinois. Campuses in Tokyo, Shanghai, London and elsewhere; ACE-recommended credits; Hamburgerology credentials; 275,000+ graduates.
Happy Meal
Happy Meal: McDonald's children's meal with a toy premium, originating as Guatemala's "Ronald's menu" and launched nationally in the U.S. in June 1979; studied for effects on children's food choices and targeted by nutrition regulations.
Hard Rock Cafe
Hard Rock Cafe, also known as Hard Rock Cafe International, is a music-themed restaurant chain founded in London in 1971, known for its rock-and-roll memorabilia and city-name merchandise.
Hardee's
Hardee's, founded by Wilber Hardee in Greenville, North Carolina on September 3, 1960, is an American fast-food chain of charbroiled burgers and Made From Scratch biscuits, owned by CKE Restaurants (Roark Capital) and sister to Carl's Jr., concentrated in the Midwest and Southeast.
Harry J. Sonneborn
Harry J. Sonneborn, former Tastee-Freez finance vice president and McDonald's first president and CEO (1959-1967), devised the Franchise Realty Corporation real estate model, making McDonald's landlord to its franchisees and its main income source rent, not burgers.
Herman Cain
Herman Cain (1945-2020) was an American businessman, Godfather's Pizza CEO, Kansas City Fed chairman, and 2012 Republican presidential candidate known for his 9-9-9 flat tax plan; his campaign ended after sexual harassment allegations, and he died of COVID-19 after a Trump rally.
History of Burger King
History of Burger King: the American fast-food hamburger chain founded as Insta-Burger King in Jacksonville in 1953, reestablished in Miami in 1954 by McLamore and Edgerton, owner of the Whopper, and passed through Pillsbury, Diageo, 3G Capital, and Restaurant Brands International.
History of KFC
History of KFC (Kentucky Fried Chicken): founded by Harland Sanders from his 1930 Corbin, Kentucky service station; first franchise 1952 in Salt Lake City; sold 1964 for $2 million; PepsiCo buyout 1986; China entry 1987; now 30,000+ restaurants in 150 countries under Yum! Brands.
History of McDonald's
History of McDonald's: founded 1940 in San Bernardino by Richard and Maurice McDonald, franchised and expanded by Ray Kroc from 1955, bought out in 1961 for $2.7 million; now over 40,000 restaurants in 120+ countries serving about 70 million meals daily.
Howard Johnson's
Howard Johnson's, the American roadside restaurant and motor lodge chain founded in 1925 in Quincy, Massachusetts by Howard Deering Johnson, famous for orange roofs and 28 ice cream flavors; last restaurant closed in Lake George, New York in 2022, hotels now a Wyndham brand.
IHOP
IHOP (International House of Pancakes), American family-dining chain founded July 7, 1958 in Toluca Lake, California by Al and Jerry Lapin; known for pancakes and all-day breakfast, 1,824 restaurants, 99% franchised, owned by Dine Brands Global.
Ike's Love & Sandwiches (restaurant)
Ike's Love & Sandwiches is an American sandwich shop chain founded in 2007 in San Francisco, known for hot sandwiches on Dutch Crunch bread with Dirty Sauce.
In-N-Out Burger
In-N-Out Burger: American fast-food chain founded 1948 in Baldwin Park, California, by Harry and Esther Snyder as the state's first drive-thru hamburger stand; family-owned by Lynsi Snyder, non-franchised, 400+ locations, fresh never-frozen beef and no freezers or microwaves.
International availability of McDonald's products
International availability of McDonald's products: how the chain sells a standardized core menu, like the Big Mac, in over 100 countries while adapting items such as India's McAloo Tikki and Japan's Teriyaki Burger to local tastes, religion, and sourcing.
Isaac Tigrett
Isaac Burton Tigrett, American entrepreneur from Jackson, Tennessee, co-founded the Hard Rock Cafe in London in 1971 with Peter Morton and founded the House of Blues in 1992; later a Sai Baba follower and hospital philanthropist.
J. Willard Marriott
J. Willard Marriott (1900-1985), Utah-born founder of Marriott International, opened a nine-seat A&W root beer stand in Washington, D.C. in 1927 that became Hot Shoppes, then airline catering and the Twin Bridges hotel, growing into a global lodging company.
Jack in the Box
Jack in the Box, also Jack in the Box Inc. (NASDAQ: JACK), is a San Diego-founded American fast-food hamburger chain, a drive-thru pioneer with about 2,100 restaurants, ~90% franchised, concentrated in California and Texas, known for its all-day menu, clown mascot, the 1993 E. coli outbreak, and the 2025 sale of Del Taco.
Jared Fogle
Jared Fogle, the "Subway Guy," lost 245 pounds on a Subway diet and was Subway's spokesman from 2000 to 2015, then pleaded guilty to child pornography and sex crimes and received a 15.5-year federal sentence.
Jersey Mike's Subs
Jersey Mike's Subs, founded as Mike's Subs in Point Pleasant, New Jersey in 1956, is a fast-casual submarine sandwich franchisor bought by Peter Cancro in 1975, franchised since 1987, majority-owned by Blackstone from 2025, and NYSE-listed as JMKE since 2026.
Jimmy John Liautaud
Jimmy John Liautaud (born 1964) is the American founder of Jimmy John's sandwich chain, started in 1983 in Charleston, Illinois with a $25,000 father loan; sold stakes to Roark Capital and Inspire Brands by 2019; Forbes net worth $2.6 billion.
Jimmy John's
Jimmy John's: American sandwich chain founded 1983 by Jimmy John Liautaud in Charleston, Illinois; over 2,600 U.S. locations, franchised, owned by Inspire Brands since 2019.
Joan Kroc
Joan Kroc (1928-2003), widow of McDonald's founder Ray Kroc, was an American philanthropist whose bequests included $1.5 billion to the Salvation Army for Kroc Centers and $225 million to NPR.
John C. Miller
John C. Miller (John Chester Miller, 1907–1991) was an American historian of the American Revolution; Harvard-trained under Samuel Eliot Morison, taught at Bryn Mawr and Stanford, held the Edgar E. Robinson professorship, and wrote Sam Adams, Origins of the American Revolution, and The Wolf by the Ears.
John Schnatter
John Schnatter, known as Papa John, is the American founder of Papa John's pizza, which he started in 1984 from a broom closet at his father's tavern in Jeffersonville, Indiana; he led it to IPO and global scale before resigning as chairman in 2018.