70 Fun Facts About Restaurant

What is the maximum number of Michelin stars a restaurant can hold?

Three stars is the top Michelin rating, defined as 'exceptional cuisine, worth a special journey'; the next rung down means 'worth a detour' and the lowest 'a very good restaurant in its category'.

Burger King's signature sandwich, added to the menu in 1957, is called what?

The Whopper was created in 1957 by co-founder James McLamore, who wanted a bigger burger than rivals offered; it originally sold for 37 cents.

The Michelin Guide, which awards restaurant stars, was originally published by a company that makes what?

Tyres are Michelin's business: brothers André and Édouard Michelin gave the 1900 guide away free to get France's few thousand motorists driving more and wearing out more rubber.

Every Chick-fil-A restaurant is closed on which day of the week?

Sunday closing dates from founder Truett Cathy's first diner, the Dwarf Grill, opened in Hapeville, Georgia in 1946; the devout Southern Baptist wanted staff to have a day for rest and worship.

What is the name of Wendy's signature soft-serve frozen dessert?

The Frosty has been served since the first Wendy's opened in Columbus, Ohio in 1969; the original flavour is a chocolate-vanilla blend chosen so it would not overpower a burger.

Wendy's founder Dave Thomas named the chain after whom?

His daughter Melinda Lou Thomas, nicknamed Wendy because she pronounced her own name 'Wenda' as a small child, was eight when the first restaurant opened in Columbus, Ohio in 1969.

Starbucks opened its first store in 1971 at which Seattle landmark, originally selling only coffee beans?

Pike Place Market's original 1971 store sold only whole beans and brewing equipment; Howard Schultz bought the company in 1987 and turned it into an espresso-bar chain.

Which parent company owns Taco Bell, alongside KFC and Pizza Hut?

Yum! Brands was spun out of PepsiCo in 1997 as Tricon Global Restaurants and adopted the Yum! Brands name in 2002; it is headquartered in Louisville, Kentucky.

The Four Seasons restaurant opened in 1959 inside which Manhattan skyscraper?

The Seagram Building, Mies van der Rohe's bronze-clad tower on Park Avenue, housed the Four Seasons from 1959 to 2016; Philip Johnson designed the restaurant's Grill Room and Pool Room.

Louis' Lunch in New Haven, Connecticut claims to have invented which dish in 1900?

The hamburger, as Louis' Lunch tells it, was born in 1900 when owner Louis Lassen slipped a ground-beef patty between two slices of toast for a customer in a hurry.

Ray Kroc was selling what when he visited the McDonald brothers' San Bernardino restaurant in 1954?

Milkshake mixers were Kroc's line: he sold the Prince Castle Multimixer, which whipped several shakes at once, and the brothers' order for eight of them drew him west; he opened his own outlet in Des Plaines, Illinois in 1955.

Which chain overtook McDonald's in 2011 to have the most locations of any brand?

Subway passed McDonald's store count in 2011. It began in 1965 as Pete's Super Submarines in Bridgeport, Connecticut, funded by a $1,000 loan from a family friend.

Delmonico's, often called America's first fine-dining restaurant, opened in 1827 in which city?

When it rebuilt on a grand scale after the Great Fire of New York, diners were told the columns by the door had been shipped from the ruins of Pompeii.

Pizza Hut was started in 1958 by two brothers studying at a university in which US state?

Kansas is home to Wichita, where brothers Dan and Frank Carney, students at Wichita State University, opened the first Pizza Hut in 1958 with $600 borrowed from their mother.

The first Hard Rock Cafe opened in 1971 in which city?

London's Old Park Lane hosted the first Hard Rock Cafe, opened by Americans Isaac Tigrett and Peter Morton; the memorabilia tradition began in 1979 when Eric Clapton hung a red Fender above his favourite seat.

Outback Steakhouse, the Australian-themed chain, was founded in 1988 in which US city?

Tampa, Florida was home to the first Outback Steakhouse, opened in March 1988 by founders including Chris Sullivan and Bob Basham, none of whom had been to Australia; Crocodile Dundee had made the theme fashionable.

Which Chicago restaurant, opened by Grant Achatz in 2005, became famous for edible helium balloons?

Alinea opened in May 2005 in Chicago's Lincoln Park under chef Grant Achatz and partner Nick Kokonas; Gourmet magazine named it America's best restaurant in 2006, and its edible green-apple helium balloon became a signature.

Caesar salad was invented on 4 July 1924 in a restaurant in which city?

Tijuana was where Italian-born Caesar Cardini ran his restaurant for Americans dodging Prohibition; a Fourth of July rush in 1924 ran his kitchen low and he improvised the salad tableside.

Which Copenhagen restaurant, opened by René Redzepi in 2003, led New Nordic cuisine?

Noma opened in 2003 in a converted warehouse in Copenhagen's Christianshavn; it topped the World's 50 Best Restaurants list in 2010, 2011, 2012, 2014 and 2021.

Guy Fieri's Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives began airing on Food Network in which year?

2007 was the year Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives launched as a weekly series, in April; Fieri had won the second season of The Next Food Network Star in 2006, and a one-off pilot special aired that November.

Which chain, founded in Wichita in 1921 and famous for 'sliders', is considered America's first fast-food chain?

White Castle was founded in 1921 by cook Walter Anderson and insurance man Billy Ingram; its small square burgers, steam-grilled over onions, and gleaming white buildings were meant to convince customers that ground beef was clean.

Burger King's Australian outlets trade under what different name because of a trademark dispute?

Hungry Jack's was chosen by franchisee Jack Cowin in 1971 because an Adelaide takeaway already held the Burger King trademark; the name came from a Pillsbury pancake-mix brand, Pillsbury then owning Burger King.

Before founding Taco Bell in 1962, Glen Bell ran what kind of eatery in San Bernardino?

A hot dog stand called Bell's Drive-In, opened in 1948, was Glen Bell's first business; he studied the hard-shell tacos at the Mitla Cafe across the street and began selling his own in 1951.

Which US agency informally gauges storm damage by whether Waffle House is open?

FEMA administrator Craig Fugate popularised the 'Waffle House Index' after the 2011 tornado season: green means open with a full menu, yellow a limited menu on generator power, red closed.

Rainforest Cafe opened its first location in 1994 inside what?

The Mall of America in Bloomington, Minnesota housed the first Rainforest Cafe, opened by Steven Schussler and Lyle Berman in October 1994; Landry's bought the chain in 2000.

Nathan's Famous began in 1916 as a Coney Island stand selling hot dogs for how much?

Five cents bought a Nathan's hot dog in 1916, half the dime charged by Feltman's, where Nathan Handwerker had worked; he opened his stand with $300 in savings.

Which chef, working with César Ritz at the Savoy, created the kitchen 'brigade' system?

Auguste Escoffier, the 'king of chefs and chef of kings', drew on his army service to organise cooks into stations under a chef de partie, and his 1903 Le Guide Culinaire codified French cuisine.

Nando's, the flame-grilled peri-peri chicken chain, was founded in 1987 in which city?

Johannesburg was where Fernando Duarte and Robbie Brozin bought Chickenland, a Portuguese-Mozambican takeaway in the suburb of Rosettenville, in 1987; the name is Duarte's nickname and the logo the Rooster of Barcelos.

Zagat, the diner-survey restaurant guide founded in 1979, was bought in 2011 by which company?

Google bought Zagat in September 2011 for a reported $151 million, then sold it to The Infatuation in 2018; Tim and Nina Zagat had begun by polling friends about Manhattan restaurants in 1979.

Which restaurant menu innovation did Howard Johnson's build its 1930s brand on?

28 flavours of ice cream was the boast on every Howard Johnson's sign; founder Howard Deering Johnson began with a Quincy, Massachusetts soda fountain in 1925 and franchised his first restaurant in 1935.

Which rocking-chair-porched chain was founded in 1969 by a Shell Oil representative beside a Tennessee interstate?

Cracker Barrel's first store opened in September 1969 by an Interstate 40 exit in Lebanon, Tennessee, where Dan Evins modelled it on the country stores of his childhood and sold Shell petrol alongside.

In 1943 San Francisco eateries offered 'Pet Pakits' for leftovers, an early form of what?

The doggy bag grew from wartime thrift: food shortages made waste shameful, and the 1943 'Pet Pakit' cartons, nominally for feeding pets the scraps, let diners carry home leftovers for themselves.

Since 1997, which Michelin award flags good-value restaurants?

The Bib Gourmand, introduced in 1997, takes its name from Bibendum, Michelin's rotund mascot, and marks restaurants offering 'exceptionally good food at moderate prices'.

Which Boston restaurant, open since 1826, is the oldest continuously operating in the US?

Union Oyster House opened in 1826 in a Boston building dating from about 1716; Daniel Webster was a regular at its semicircular oyster bar, and it became a National Historic Landmark in 2003.

Oysters Rockefeller was invented at which New Orleans restaurant, family-run since 1840?

Antoine's, founded in 1840 by Antoine Alciatore, saw his son Jules create Oysters Rockefeller in 1899, naming it for John D. Rockefeller because the sauce was so rich; the kitchen also invented pompano en papillote.

Which McDonald's sandwich did Cincinnati franchisee Lou Groen create in 1962?

The Filet-O-Fish was devised in 1962 by Lou Groen, whose Cincinnati franchise served a largely Catholic neighbourhood that shunned meat on Fridays in Lent; it joined the national menu in 1965.

In 2001 Pizza Hut pulled off a publicity stunt by having a pizza delivered to what destination?

The International Space Station received the pizza in May 2001 aboard a Russian Progress resupply craft; Pizza Hut paid roughly a million dollars and used salami, since pepperoni would not survive the trip.

Tom Monaghan's brother traded his half of the future Domino's Pizza to Tom in exchange for what?

A Volkswagen Beetle, the used car the brothers delivered pizzas in, was what Jim Monaghan took for his half of DomiNick's in 1961; Tom renamed the business Domino's in 1965.

Which chain, founded in 1965 in Manhattan, is often credited as one of America's first singles bars?

TGI Fridays began when Alan Stillman bought a First Avenue bar with $10,000, half borrowed from his mother, hoping to meet the airline stewardesses in his neighbourhood; the name is short for 'Thank God It's Friday'.

Why did Hooters' six founders incorporate their Clearwater, Florida chain on 1 April 1983?

They expected it to fail, so the six founders picked April Fools' Day as a joke on themselves; the owl logo plays on the other meaning of the name.

Katz's Delicatessen on the Lower East Side charges a penalty fee if a customer loses what?

Their entry ticket, handed to every customer at the door, tallies what they order, and losing it costs a $50 fee; the deli, open since 1888, staged the famous When Harry Met Sally scene.

Nachos are named after which restaurant worker, who improvised them for US officers' wives in 1943?

Ignacio Anaya, nicknamed 'Nacho', was maître d' at the Victory Club in Piedras Negras; with the cook absent, he fried tortilla pieces and topped them with cheese and pickled jalapeños.

Thomas Keller's Yountville, California restaurant is named after what former business in its building?

A steam laundry run by a French family occupied the 1900 stone building in the early twentieth century; Sally and Don Schmitt opened it as The French Laundry in 1978, and Keller bought it in 1994.

Le Procope, opened in Paris in 1686 by a Sicilian cook, is famous as one of the world's oldest what?

Cafés of the modern kind date from Le Procope, founded by Sicilian Francesco Procopio dei Coltelli; Voltaire, Rousseau and Diderot drank coffee there, and Benjamin Franklin visited during his years in Paris.

In-N-Out's 1948 drive-through was the first in California to let drivers order via what?

A two-way speaker box, built by founder Harry Snyder himself, let drivers order at the Baldwin Park stand he opened with his wife Esther in October 1948; the first menu had burgers, fries and drinks.

Which Madrid restaurant, founded in 1725, is listed by Guinness as the oldest in the world?

Sobrino de Botín, on Calle de Cuchilleros, roasts suckling pig in a wood-fired oven dating from its 1725 opening; Hemingway has Jake and Brett dine there in the last pages of The Sun Also Rises.

The Big Mac was created in 1967 by franchisee Jim Delligatti in which state?

Pennsylvania franchisee Jim Delligatti launched the Big Mac in Uniontown in 1967 for 45 cents; it went nationwide in 1968, and The Economist later built its Big Mac Index on the sandwich's near-universal availability.

Colonel Sanders was commissioned as an honorary Kentucky Colonel in 1935 by whom?

The state governor, Ruby Laffoon, commissioned Sanders as a Kentucky Colonel in 1935, when he was running a roadside café at a Shell station in Corbin; Governor Lawrence Wetherby renewed the honour in 1950.

What did Denny's discover when it closed for Christmas for the first time in 1988?

Many restaurants had no locks because Denny's had been open around the clock for decades; the 1988 Christmas closure was the chain's first, and some outlets had to have locks fitted before staff could leave.

Recognisably modern restaurants first appeared in Kaifeng and Hangzhou during which Chinese dynasty?

Song dynasty cities such as Kaifeng and later Hangzhou had, from the eleventh century, establishments with menus, waiters and a choice of dishes; Paris had no equivalent until the 1760s.

A restaurant in St Peter's Abbey in which Austrian city claims to have served since AD 803?

Salzburg's St Peter Stiftskeller sits inside the Benedictine abbey founded by St Rupert around 696; its 803 claim rests on a mention by Charlemagne's scholar Alcuin, and it is famed for the Salzburger Nockerl dessert.

The first Kentucky Fried Chicken franchise opened in 1952 in which state?

Franchisee Pete Harman in South Salt Lake also introduced the cardboard bucket in 1957, and the recipe of 11 herbs and spices remains a trade secret.

Ruth Fertel bought a New Orleans steakhouse in 1965 founded by an entrepreneur with which surname?

Matulich was the surname of Chris Matulich, who opened Chris Steak House in 1927; Fertel mortgaged her home to buy it in 1965, and after a 1976 fire forced a move she became Ruth's Chris.

Rao's, the East Harlem Italian restaurant famous for near-impossible reservations, opened in what year?

1896 was when Charles Rao opened the ten-table restaurant at 114th Street and Pleasant Avenue; its tables are held by regulars on standing bookings, and Frank Pellegrino later co-owned it.

The world's first automat, with coin-operated food windows, opened in 1895 in which city?

Horn & Hardart brought the idea to Philadelphia in 1902 with machines shipped from the same Berlin factory, and once ran forty of them in Manhattan alone.

El Bulli received over two million requests each season for how many places?

8,000 diners a season was all El Bulli could seat, opening roughly six months a year under Ferran Adrià near Roses on the Costa Brava; it closed as a restaurant on 30 July 2011.

The first drive-through, Red's Giant Hamburg, opened in 1947 in which Missouri city?

Springfield's Red's Giant Hamburg, on Route 66, opened its drive-through window in 1947 under Sheldon 'Red' Chaney; McDonald's did not add one until 1975, in Sierra Vista, Arizona.

The title 'sommelier' derives from an Old Provençal word for a person who did what?

Drove pack animals is the root sense: a saumalier handled the beasts of burden carrying a lord's supplies, and the word came to mean the officer in charge of provisions and then of wine.

What price did flyers advertise for Herb McDonald's first Las Vegas all-you-can-eat buffet in 1946?

One dollar bought the Buckaroo Buffet at the El Rancho Vegas, where publicist Herb McDonald laid out cold cuts late at night to keep gamblers from leaving; other casinos soon copied the idea.

In which city did Walter Scott sell food from a horse-drawn wagon in 1872, starting the American diner?

Providence, Rhode Island was where Walter Scott parked his wagon outside the Providence Journal offices, selling sandwiches, pies and coffee to night workers after the restaurants had closed.

The Texas chuckwagon, ancestor of the food truck, was created in 1866 by which rancher?

Charles Goodnight rebuilt a surplus Studebaker army wagon with a hinged 'chuck box' of shelves and drawers to feed cowboys on the 1866 drive that opened the Goodnight-Loving Trail.

What was the ancient Roman counter-service eatery, a forerunner of fast food, called?

Thermopolium, from Greek for 'a place where something hot is sold', describes Pompeii's counters with dolia jars set into the masonry for serving hot food and wine; dozens survive there.

Who opened La Grande Taverne de Londres, often called Paris's first luxury restaurant?

Antoine Beauvilliers, a former officer of the Comte de Provence's household, ran the restaurant in the rue de Richelieu; Brillat-Savarin praised him as the first to offer an elegant room, smart waiters and a fine cellar.

Roughly how many copies of the first, free Michelin Guide were handed out in 1900?

35,000 copies were printed for the 1900 debut, a pocket guide of nearly 400 pages listing mechanics, petrol sellers, hotels and maps, and given away free until 1920.

What prompted André Michelin to start charging for the guide in 1920?

Seeing copies propping up a workbench in a garage convinced André Michelin that 'man only truly respects what he pays for'; the 1920 edition sold for 7 francs and dropped paid advertising.

In which year did the Michelin Guide begin awarding stars to restaurants?

1926 brought the first Michelin stars, when a single star marked a 'fine dining establishment'; the fuller ranking followed in the early 1930s, with Paris rated from 1933.

Which city's debut Michelin Guide, for the 2008 edition, awarded more stars than any other city's?

Tokyo's first guide, the 2008 edition, awarded 191 stars to 150 restaurants, more than any other city and well ahead of Paris, which had been the star capital.

Which British chef first earned Michelin's top rating, then handed back his stars in 1999?

Marco Pierre White reached the top rating in 1995 at The Restaurant in the Hyde Park Hotel, Knightsbridge, aged 33, and gave the stars back in 1999, saying he was being judged by people with less knowledge than him.

What award did the Michelin Guide begin giving to hotels in 2024?

Keys, given in tiers like the stars, were introduced in France in April 2024 and extended to other countries that year; criteria include architecture, service, character, value and contribution to the setting.

Commercial production of American 'lunch wagons' began in 1887 in which Massachusetts city?

Worcester was where Thomas H. Buckley's factory turned out lunch wagons by the hundred, including his ornate 'White House Cafe' models, and shipped them to operators across the country.