Fast-paced society rarely leaves time to eat, much less cook a meal. To compensate for the lack of "Mom's kitchen table," diners tend to seek the comforting reliability of what they know. Chain restaurants provide recognition factors of a familiar menu and décor, regardless of their location. Restaurant chains have a long and diverse history.
One of the icons of chain restaurant history
Beginnings
Germany is credited with the earliest precursor to chain restaurants, called automats. Instead of counters and a wait staff, diners would find an entire wall of small compartments displaying food behind individual glass doors. Customers placed coins in a slot to release the door and retrieve choices. In 1902, as told by Frank Hardart's granddaughter, he and partner Joseph Horn built the first Horn and Hardart Automat in Philadelphia, and by 1912 had expanded automats into New York City. By continuing the same name and food service at each location, they created the process of owning a multi-city chain of restaurants.
Lunch Counters and Soda Fountains
In 1910, Frank G. Shattuck parlayed his candy and confectioner's shops into restaurant counters, the most famous of which was located on New York City's Fifth Avenue in 1926. During that same era, retail mogul F. W. Woolworth grew his five-and-dime stores into a retail empire. Achieving success with a lunch counter in his Liverpool, U.K. location, he added the eateries to his many U.S. locations, making him a department-store chain restaurateur as well.
Full Service Dining
Delmonico's restaurant, also in New York City, opened in 1827 and grew to four in-city locations by 1923. According to Delmonico's website, this restaurant chain has the distinction of being the oldest fine-dining-style establishment in the U.S. The Brown Derby was the West Coast's earliest eatery chain. First started in 1926, this Los Angeles restaurant was able to multiply its locations after gaining enormous popularity with the Hollywood movie industry elite. Three years later, Howard Johnson expanded his soda fountain business namesake eatery/motor lodge empire. His chain eventually grew to empirical status by opening multiple locations along America's burgeoning network of post-WWII highways.
Fast Food
Nathan's Famous hot dog chain started in 1916 with a single concession stand on the Coney Island boardwalk and expanded to over 300 units in multiple cities. 1921 and 1922 gave birth to White Castle Hamburgers and A&W Root Beer stands. Probably the most prolific chain restaurant of all (not just fast-food style) would be McDonald's Hamburgers. Ray Kroc purchased a small independent burger joint in the 1950s and parlayed it into the long-reigning number one fast food chain, with locations all over the world. Kroc died in 1984, but his hamburger empire is still listed on the Quick Serve Restaurant official top ten as the number one chain restaurant.
Big Business
Over a century after the first chain restaurant systems began in the U.S., the chain restaurant system is more popular than ever. The major difference in the 21st century is that most chains are no longer mom-and-pop owned expansions, but franchises and large restaurant group owned and operated eateries.
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