tesg's guide to big chain road food consumption

CHAIN -- A&W
Owner -- Yum! Brands, Inc (NYSE:  YUM)
Primary Operating Region -- 47 states and 17 countries
Number of Locations --  485 US, 209 International (under YUM) (December 2004)

A&W Root Beer came in frosty glass mugs served right to your car window along with an All American Hamburger or hot dog.  This was the way it was meant to be.  Across America, this was the way it was.  It was soooo simple.

Roy Allen purchased what is still the A&W Root Beer recipe from a pharmacist in Arizona (pharmacists are pretty much responsible for the existence of soda pop across the board) in 1919.  He then began opening stands to sell the root beer, including what is thought to be the first "drive-in" in Sacramento, CA.  A&W today claims itself as "the longest running quick service franchise chain in America".

In 1922, Allen took on a partner named Frank Wright, an employee at Allen's original stand in Lodi.  The partners' initials are the "A" and "W" of A&W.  Wright was out of the picture by 1924 and Allen was franchising.  Allen retired and sold the chain to a Nebraskan in 1950.  He sold the chain in 1963.  They were sold in 1970.  A&W was sold again in 1982, then again in 1994.  Most recently, A&W was a part of Yorkshire Global Restaurants, which came to be out of the purchase of Long John Silver's out of bankruptcy.  Confused yet?  It gets better...Yorkshire was sold in 2002 to Tricon Global!  Who in the hell are they?  They're the company who changed  their name to YUM!  

I SWEAR I'm not making this up.

Tricon Global came to be when PepsiCo spun off its restaurant division.  Their existing brands are KFC, Pizza Hut, and Taco Bell.  They added A&W and LJS so they can co-brand locations more than they already do.  Fish, hot dogs, tacos, and an A&W Root Beer.  Call it the "Grease Cafe".

This, by the way, doesn't even apply to the A&W's of Canada, which are a completely separate animal.

At its high point in the 1960's, there were over 2000 locations.  That number went down significantly through the 80's.  A&W took some time to breathe (in between ownership changes).  Unfortunately, this heavily affected the drive-ins.  A&W was still around to be sure, in one form or another.  "A&W Hot Dogs & More" came to be out of the purchase of a mall hot dog chain. A&W Root Beer (and Creme Soda) has been available in supermarkets since 1971.  Cadbury-Schweppes, who distribute the grocery soda, actually are the owners of the A&W trademark.  The A&W restaurants have exclusive rights to serve draft A&W root beer.

Now, new A&W's are becoming easier to find.  Many locations have popped up as part of gas station/convenience stores.  A&W/Long John Silvers standalone locations have also started appearing.  And Paul Browning, who used to run the best Burger Chef tribute site on the net, recently sent me pictures of a BRAND NEW A&W DRIVE-IN!!!

So is the food any good?  Who the heck knows. 

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