Directory for Hamburgers/Traditional

Farmer Boys

During the 1970s, brothers Makis and Chris Havadjias worked in restaurants to earn money for college. They helped the owners of one of those restaurants rebuild the establishment, and later bought it. With the experience they gained at that first restaurant, the brothers bought a poorly performing restaurant in Perris, California, that they built into [...]

Culver Franchising System Inc.

After working with his parents in their restaurants, Craig Culver decided it was time to open one for himself. In 1984 Culver, with the help of his wife Lea and parents George and Ruth, transformed the A&W his parents owned since the sixties into Culver’s Frozen Custard.Its founder’s family inspired the menu for the initial [...]

Nathan’s Famous Inc.

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Checkers Drive-In Restaurants Inc.

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Arby’s

Arby’s was founded in Youngstown, Ohio in 1964 by Forrest and Leroy Raffel, owners of a restaurant equipment business called Raffel Brothers. The two believed there was a market opportunity for a fast food franchise based on a food other than hamburgers. One rainy night, the brothers found their niche: roast beef sandwiches. The first [...]

Dairy Queen

Dairy Queen’s famous soft serve formula was developed by John Fremont McCullough and his son Bradley in 1938. Ice cream manufacturer McCullough had been experimenting based on his belief that ice cream tasted better when it was soft and fresh instead of hard and frozen. When he perfected his new recipe, more than 1,600 people [...]

Sonic Drive In Restaurants

Sonic Drive In Restaurants bring back the feel of the 1950′s by offering fast food that is ordered from your car and delivered in the parking lot by a roller-skate-wearing carhop. They began when Troy Smith, a WWII veteran, purchased the Top Hat Drive-In, a root beer stand in Shawnee, Oklahoma. He teamed up with [...]

McDonald’s

McDonald’s golden arches are an internationally-recognized symbol for the fast, reliable, and tasty service of hamburgers, fries, chicken, breakfast items, milkshakes, and salads. It all started in 1954 when Ray Kroc, a milkshake mixer salesman, visited McDonald’s hamburger stand, owned by brothers Dick and Mac McDonald, in 1954. He had heard that they were running [...]