Fast Food Funnies (Facts or Foibles!)

On any given day, 37% of adults in the United States pick up a greasy bag of treats from their local fast-food joint. Fast food has been blamed for all kinds of societal ills, particularly ones that are nutrition-related, but we keep eating it anyway. Whether you consume fast food every day or avoid it at all costs, you might not know these six facts about some of America’s most popular fast-food chains.

In Australia, Burger King Is Called Hungry Jack’s

Like many fast-food restaurants, Burger King expands with franchising  — individual locations with separate owners who license the larger brand’s identity and business model. When the first Burger King franchise hit Australia in 1971, there was already a local (unrelated) restaurant called Burger King, trademark and all. So Canadian Australian entrepreneur Jack Cowin decided to call his new restaurant Hungry Jack’s, even though it was otherwise identical to any other Burger King.

Over the next couple of decades, Hungry Jack’s expanded throughout Australia, but when the Australian Burger King trademark expired in the mid-’90s, things got a little weird. The American Burger King bought the naming rights, and the head office opened a bunch of different Burger King locations under the Burger King name, then tried to terminate its agreement with Hungry Jack’s. 

After a 2001 court case, Hungry Jack’s retained the right to Burger King’s Australian presence.  It’s still called Hungry Jack’s today.

Colonel Sanders Opened a Competing Fried Chicken Spot

Harland Sanders, better known as Colonel Sanders, opened his first restaurant, Sanders Court & Café, in Kentucky in 1940. He licensed his chicken recipe in 1952 to a restaurant in Utah, which became the first KFC franchise. By 1963, the chain had 600 franchised locations.   Sanders sold his company to food conglomerate Heublein Inc. in 1964, but maintained a promotional role in the brand as “goodwill ambassador.”

By the time the 1970s rolled around, he didn’t have a lot of goodwill left. The new corporate ownership had changed the recipes, and the quality had, in his words, “slipped mightily”.  So Sanders and his wife Claudia decided to open their own sit-down restaurant, originally called The Colonel’s Lady, and began talks of franchising the new concept 1972.  Heublein sued, claiming it had exclusive rights to the Colonel’s name, and the Sanderses countersued, claiming that Heublein was interfering with their business operations. They eventually settled out of court for $1 million.

Subway Used to Be Called Pete’s Super Submarines

Subway started as a partnership between a 17-year-old kid named Fred DeLuca, who needed to raise money for college, and Dr. Peter Buck, a family friend who was able to lend him $1,000. Their sandwich shop, Pete’s Super Submarines, opened in August 1965. The pair opened a second store in 1966, and in 1968 changed their business’s name to Subway.

White Castle Sold Paper Hats to Other Restaurants

White Castle, founded in Wichita, Kansas,  in the 1920s, grew in clever ways — including creating other businesses to meet its needs. In 1932, co-founder Billy Ingram grew frustrated with how quickly linen caps looked dingy and gray, and devised a machine to make paper ones; he then started manufacturing them under the subsidiary Paperlynen. That business expanded quickly beyond White Castle; the company made 240,000 hats the first year and 42 million by 1955. The hats shipped all over the world, including to other restaurants. Paperlynen even manufactured hats for Dwight D. Eisenhower’s 1956 presidential campaign.

That’s not the only part of the White Castle economy to exceed its scope. In 1934, the business launched a subsidiary called Porcelain Steel Buildings to construct its iconic castles, and that subsidiary ended up manufacturing amphibious vehicles during World War II (and, after the war was over, lawn equipment from the spare parts).

McDonald’s Chicken Nuggets Come in Four Shapes

Think McDonald’s chicken nuggets shapes develop randomly from the raw pink goo?

Think again!

The nuggets actually have four shapes, although they’re all a little rough around the edges: the boot, the bow tie, the ball, and the bell. They come out of a rotating mold and everything. After getting shaped and dropped on a conveyor belt, they’re breaded and slightly cooked before going out to restaurants, where they’ll finish cooking and be served to customers.

There Is No Taco Bell in Mexico (But Not for Lack of Trying)

Taco Bell has locations all around the world, but they can’t break into Mexico — the country that very loosely inspired the restaurant’s fare. They’ve attempted twice, trying to correct for the difference between Taco Bell’s approximation of a taco and an actual Mexican taco.

The first attempt in 1992 was met with confusion because customers didn’t know exactly what they were ordering. Crispy tacos are very rare in Mexico, so Taco Bell had to rename the dish a Tacostada — a blend of “taco” and “tostada,” which has toppings on top of a flat, crisp tortilla. The effort was still unsuccessful, and Taco Bell pulled out of Mexico two years later.

The chain tried again in 2007. This time, they decided to embrace their Americanness by adding French fries and soft serve ice cream to the menu, but they were again unsuccessful. The closest thing that Mexico has to a Taco Bell is a little independent taco stand coincidentally called Taco Bell, which has nothing to do with the chain.

And there you have it! ThAnks to Interesting Facts!