Evidence library
Fast-food timeline
Thirty-four selected milestones that keep a first shop, a chain, a franchise and a rollout from becoming the same date.
Edition 3 · Research cutoff: · 34 records
Selected documented company, restaurant, service, and menu milestones. Not exhaustive and not a ranking of oldest continuously operating chains.
Source-linked editorial compilation. Prior 31 record ids preserved. Source numbers refer to fastfood_history_sources_v3.json. Not a ranking of oldest chains; original, chain, franchise, and rollout dates are not interchangeable.
The records
| Date | Entity | Event | Place | What the record supports | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1899 (year) | Yoshinoya | first shop | Nihonbashi fish market, Tokyo, Japan | Family-run shop opens. Not a claim that a chain already existed in 1899. | Source 38 ↗ |
| 1968 (year) | Yoshinoya | chain development | Shimbashi, Tokyo, Japan | Second restaurant opens for chain development. Corporate history describes this as the second store. | Source 38 ↗ |
| 1975-02 (month) | Yoshinoya | first market entry restaurant | Denver, United States | First U.S. restaurant opens. Separate from the 1973 procurement subsidiary and later Los Angeles locations. | Source 39 ↗ |
| 1902 (year) | Horn & Hardart Automat | city debut | Philadelphia, United States | Automat opens in Philadelphia. Adapts a German concept; not the global invention of automated dining. | Source 6 ↗ |
| 1912 (year) | Horn & Hardart Automat | city debut | New York, United States | Automat opens in New York. Different city and milestone from 1902 Philadelphia. | Source 6 ↗ |
| 1919 (year) | A&W | precursor stand | Lodi, California, United States | Roy Allen opens a root-beer stand. Does not establish a hamburger franchise at that date. | Source 37 ↗ |
| 1926 (year) | A&W | franchising start company account | United States | Consulted company history dates the start of franchising to 1926. Earlier syrup-franchising dates appear in secondary summaries. Definition and archival reconciliation remain open; retain attribution. | Source 37 ↗ |
| 1921 (year) | White Castle | business origin | Wichita, Kansas, United States | White Castle begins. Pioneering hamburger-chain history, not invention of every quick meal. | Source 7 ↗ |
| 1924 (year) | White Castle | incorporation | United States | Business incorporates. Legal milestone distinct from the first restaurant. | Source 7 ↗ |
| 1940 (year) | McDonald’s | first restaurant | San Bernardino, California, United States | The brothers open their drive-in. Not the 1948 service redesign or Kroc’s later restaurant. | Source 10 ↗ |
| 1948-12 (month) | McDonald’s | service redesign | San Bernardino, California, United States | Speedee Service System introduced. Redesign milestone, not original founding date. | Source 10 ↗ |
| 1955 (year) | McDonald’s | kroc restaurant opening | Des Plaines, Illinois, United States | Kroc opens his restaurant. The brothers’ restaurant and franchising activity predate this event. | Source 10 ↗ |
| 1965 (year) | McDonald’s: Filet-O-Fish | national menu rollout | United States | Filet-O-Fish reaches the national menu. Not the date of all local development or testing; company credits Lou Groen. | Source 10 ↗ |
| 1968 (year) | McDonald’s: Big Mac | national menu rollout | United States | Big Mac reaches the national menu. Not the date of every earlier local sale; company credits Jim Delligatti. | Source 10 ↗ |
| 1975 (year) | McDonald’s: Egg McMuffin | national menu rollout | United States | Egg McMuffin reaches the national menu. Not a claim about invention of fast-food breakfast; company credits Herb Peterson. | Source 10 ↗ |
| 1983 (year) | McDonald’s: Chicken McNuggets | all us restaurants rollout | United States | Chicken McNuggets available at all U.S. restaurants in the corporate chronology. Not a claim about the first chicken nugget. | Source 10 ↗ |
| 1937 (year) | Mitla Café | restaurant origin | San Bernardino, California, United States | Mitla Café begins its documented restaurant history. Earlier food and community institution; not a Taco Bell outlet. | Source 40 ↗ |
| 1962 (year) | Taco Bell | brand restaurant origin | Downey, California, United States | First Taco Bell restaurant opens. Does not date invention of tacos or all of Glen Bell’s prior businesses. | Source 15 ↗ |
| 1930 (year) | KFC / Sanders business | precursor food business | Corbin, Kentucky, United States | Sanders’ chicken-business origin in the corporate account. Distinct from franchising and from the broader history of fried chicken. | Source 14 ↗ |
| 1952 (year) | KFC | first franchise | Near Salt Lake City, Utah, United States | First franchise in the company chronology. Not the original Corbin business. | Source 14 ↗ |
| 1987 (year) | KFC, mainland China | first market entry restaurant | Beijing, China | KFC opens its first mainland Chinese restaurant. Geography-specific market entry. | Source 42 ↗ |
| 1958 (year) | Pizza Hut | first restaurant | Wichita, Kansas, United States | Dan and Frank Carney open their restaurant. Regional official brand history; early dine-in format. | Source 36 ↗ |
| 1990 (year) | Pizza Hut, China | first market entry restaurant | Beijing, China | Pizza Hut opens in Beijing. Market-entry date, not global brand founding. | Source 42 ↗ |
| 1954 (year) | Burger King / Miami partnership | partnership | Miami, Florida, United States | James McLamore and David Edgerton partnership in the founder-family timeline. Not a resolution of all predecessor-business founding claims. | Source 13 ↗ |
| 1957 (year) | Burger King: Whopper | product introduction | United States | Whopper milestone in the founder-family timeline. Product introduction distinct from business origin. | Source 13 ↗ |
| 1965 (year) | Subway / first sandwich shop | precursor shop | Bridgeport, Connecticut, United States | Fred DeLuca and Peter Buck begin their sandwich business. First shop does not necessarily establish use of the later brand name at that date. | Source 17 ↗ |
| 1974 (year) | Subway | franchising start | United States | Company begins franchising in its chronology. Separate from the first Connecticut restaurants. | Source 17 ↗ |
| 1969 (year) | Wendy’s | first restaurant | Columbus, Ohio, United States | Dave Thomas opens the first restaurant. No claim that the quick-service format itself was invented here. | Source 35 ↗ |
| 1978 (year) | Jollibee | business transformation | Philippines | Transformation into Jollibee after the earlier ice-cream-parlor business. Do not silently substitute for the opening date of every precursor operation. | Source 18 ↗ |
| 1987 (year) | Nando’s | company origin | Rosettenville, Johannesburg, South Africa | Origin described in the company heritage narrative. Corporate heritage narrative, not a full history of peri-peri chicken. | Source 21 ↗ |
| 1993 (year) | Chipotle | first restaurant | Denver, Colorado, United States | First Chipotle restaurant opens. Company filing supports the origin date, not a claim to invent all fast casual. | Source 32 ↗ |
| 1994-08-22 | Pizza Hut / SCO PizzaNet | pilot announcement | Santa Cruz, California, United States | Joint release announces an online-ordering pilot; payment occurs at delivery. Not independent proof of a worldwide first. The release announces launch that day; it does not measure completed orders or success. | Source 44 ↗ |
| 1989-12-10 | Slow Food | manifesto endorsement | International movement | Delegates from fifteen countries endorse the founding manifesto, according to the reproduced movement account. Movement testimony about its own origins and values; not an evaluation of program outcomes. | Source 45 ↗ |
| 2010-08-05 | Rachel Laudan: In Praise of Fast Food | public essay publication | Utne, English-language publication | Published essay challenges nostalgia for preindustrial food and emphasizes the work behind meals. Date of the consulted published excerpt, not the original appearance of every argument or the anthology publication date. | Source 46 ↗ |