A quick look at QSRs in their early years: in photos

QSRs weren’t always the boxy, gray structures dotting highways across the US. (Case in point: The design evolution of McDonald’s; as restaurant architect Glen Coben told Vox, “One thing that I’ve learned in the industry is that fast-food restaurants are essentially just designed in a lab to produce the biggest returns possible.”)

Call us suckers for nostalgia, but with Retail Brew focusing on the fast-changing world of QSRs this month, we first wanted to take a drive through memory lane.

McDonald’s: The first location opened in 1955 in Des Plaines, Illinois, by Ray Kroc, who would build McDonald’s into the fast-food giant we know today.

Burger King: Originally called “Insta-Burger King” in the 1950s, credit David Edgerton and James McLamore with dropping the “Insta” and expanding the fast-food chain into the second-largest in the US (after McDonald’s).

Wendy’s: Now, if you thought founder Dave Thomas named the chain—which he started in 1969—after one of his children, you’re kind of right. Wendy is apparently a nickname for his daughter Melinda.

White Castle: Often called the first fast-food hamburger chain, Billy Ingram started the biz in 1921 selling his sliders for five cents. (We bet Harold and Kumar wish they stayed at that price…)

Sonic: There’s no shame in eating in your car—Sonic built a whole business around the idea. Its first drive-in opened in 1953, though we’re unsure if customers were helped by roller-skating servers back then.

Pizza Hut: What would become the world’s largest pizza chain was started by two brothers—Dan and Frank Carney—in 1958 after the pair borrowed $600 from their mom.

Popeye’s: The chain has obviously been selling fried chicken from its start, when Alvin C. Copeland Sr. rebranded his “Chicken on the Run” restaurant to “Popeyes” in 1972. But, but, but, its iconic buttermilk biscuits weren’t added to the menu until 1983.

Taco Bell: Founder Glen Bell apparently tried his hand at hamburgers and hot dogs before he focused all of his energy on tacos; he opened the first Taco Bell in 1962 in—where else?—California.

+1: What will the future of QSRs look like? One with lots of drive-thru lanes, if you ask Taco Bell. This week, it opened its Defy concept with four lanes.