Can you guess the American restaurant chain which has been in business the longest?
I did not get it right. I didn’t know the oldest chain was that old.
The top six were started before 1950:
1. , est 1919
2. White Castle, est 1921
3. DQ, est 1940
4. McDonald’s, est 1948
4. Dunkin’, est 1948
4. In-N-Out, est 1948
From the comments section:
But White Castle is credited with being the first chain. A&W was not A&W until 1923. The “A” part did have a root beer stand in 1919, but it was not A&W.
White Castle was founded as White Castle in 1921. But even there, one of the owners ran a series of eateries prior to forming White Castle and those go back to 1916.
So White Castle wins either way.
But White Castle is credited with being the first chain. A&W Was not A&W until 1923. The “A” part did have a root beer stand in 1919, but it was not A&W.
White Castle was founded as White Castle in 1921. But even there, one of the owners ran a series of eateries prior to forming White Castle and those go back to 1916.
So White Castle wins either way….
I can see the reason for confusion. Most restaurant and hotel chains started up after long automobile travel became popular (Route 66) and chains provided a guarantee of quality for people who didn’t know the local restaurants. In economics terms, this was first discussed by George Akerlof and it led to greater appreciation of the concepts of ‘asymmetrical information’ (the local restaurant knows more about their quality than you do) and ‘signalling’ (which has since been overused with everybody claiming somebody or other is ‘virtue signalling.’)
Hotel and restaurant chains are a form of signalling: people know the quality is more or less the same in every franchise in that chain.
George Akerlof’s signature research article was known as the ‘market for lemons’ (used cars.)
When I was an employee of Marriott Corp, one of the things I had an opportunity to do was read J.Willard Marriott’s autobiography. One of the things I discovered was that prior to opening his first Hot Shoppe in the Washington DC area, he and his wife had dabbled in the A & W operation. He was one of the first to discover that hot mugs direct out of the dishwasher would shatter when plunged into ice water! Many people thought that he and his wife started A & W (Alice and Willard) but that was not so. The actual founders were Allen and William somebody, their last name escapes me.
The Hot Shoppes that Willard started, actually in competition with A & W, thrived and were eventually blended with his first lodging property, and the rest is history.
My guess was Howard Johnson’s but it turns out A&W started earlier and Howard Johnson’s started in the 1920’s. What I hadn’t realized is that Howard Johnson’s restaurants no longer exist, with the exception of one remaining restaurant opened limited hours in Lake George. It’s kind of hard to call one part time restaurant a chain. I haven’t been to one since I was a kid, but I just kind of assumed they still existed somewhere. My dad loved to tell the joke about a guy who went to a Howard Johnson’s because it had 28 flavors of ice cream. Then he ordered vanilla. My favorite Mets player was Howard Johnson because of his mix of power and speed and because he was always willing to change positions and play anywhere the Mets needed him to play, though he didn’t play that well out of position. I always thought Howard Johnson’s restaurants or motels should have hired him as a spokesperson. Maybe the restaurants would still be open if they had. They might have at least had an ice cream stand at Citi Field.