Everybody knows her face. The fire-red pigtails, the blue bows, the dusting of freckles. Wendy, the namesake and iconic logo of the fast food hamburger giant, is a genuine piece of Americana, spotted on nearly every highway and in every city across the country.

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Carl’s Jr. finds its origins in the purchase of a hot dog cart in 1941. Carl Karcher and his wife, Margaret, invested all they had and successfully opened Carl’s Drive-in Barbeque. Less than 5 years later. Carl’s Jr. came along when the couple opened smaller locations of the original barbeque restaurant during the 1950s. Corporate headquarters for Carl’s Jr. are currently located in Anaheim, California.

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Take one look at the black-and-white spotted Chick-fil-A mascot and you’d probably never guess that the original name of founder Samuel Truett Cathy’s first restaurant was the Dwarf Grill. Opened in 1946 in Hapeville, Georgia, the Dwarf Grill transformed into the Dwarf House and then became the popular “Eat Mor Chikin” chain of today.

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Home of the “Pizza! Pizza!” Little Caesars ranks third in the big pizza pie race, trailing Domino’s and Pizza Hut. Little Caesars is headquartered in Detroit, Michigan.

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Panera Bread Company is a chain of bakery-café fast-casual restaurants found throughout the U.S. and Canada. What many do not know is that it was the first of its kind – the first upscale bakery-café, at a time when the only the fastest, most convenient restaurants dominated the market. Since it was first opened 35 years ago, Panera has grown from one tiny cookie store into a company with over 2000 bakery-cafes and annual sales of over $5 billion.

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