The Old Spaghetti Factory
Sally and Guss (George) Dussin opened their first restaurant, The Old Spaghetti Factory, in Portland, Oregon, on January 10, 1969. They had leased an old warehouse space in the historic Carriage and Baggage building in…
View PostBlaze Pizza
The idea for Blaze Pizza came to Elise Wetzel one day when she was hungry and in a rush. She stopped at a Blaze Pizza restaurant in Pasadena, CA and as she was watching her…
View PostPopeyes Louisiana Kitchen
The story of Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen began in 1972 in the New Orleans suburb of Arabi, when Al Copeland opened Chicken on the Run, serving traditional southern-fried chicken. He had been working in his brother’s…
View PostChipotle Mexican Grill
Steve Ells was born in Indianapolis, Indiana, in 1965 and graduated from the Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, New York, in 1990. He subsequently moved to San Francisco and got a job working…
View PostPerkins Restaurant & Bakery
Matthew Perkins was born in Manes, MO, November 23, 1911. He served in the Army during WW2 and in 1958 opened Perkins Pancake House in the Cincinnati suburb of Silverton, with his brother, Ivan. Their…
View PostArby’s
Arby’s was founded in Boardman, Ohio on July 23, 1964, by brothers Forrest and Leroy Raffel, of New Castle, PA. Forrest “Fuzzy” Raffel was a graduate of Cornell University’s School of Hotel and Restaurant Administration…
View PostAbuelo’s
To understand the story of Abuelo’s, one of the more upscale Mexican restaurants in our country, you first need to go to back to China where the very young founder, James Young fled to Taiwan…
View PostA&W All-American Food
Before we can talk about A&W, can we first discuss root beer, the signature item of the chain that dates back to the colonists? Root beer is made of 16 roots and herbs with the most…
View PostRestaurant discounts: What you need to know
Have you ever wondered why some chain restaurants offer kids eat free, or family promotions and the same restaurant across town doesn’t? Why some restaurants may offer military or Veteran discounts while others in the…
View PostLucille’s Smokehouse Bar-B-Que
Before we can talk about the barbecue at Lucille’s Smokehouse Bar-B-Que and Hof’s Hut, we need to go back to a much simpler time in the 1930s where Dirk and Sjoukje (a Dutch immigrant) Hofman…
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