Founding and early years On June 20, 1919,
Roy W. Allen opened his first root beer stand in
Lodi, California. The first day was for a homecoming celebration of soldiers who returned from battle in
World War I. The following day, his stand was open for regular customers, selling root beer glasses for 5 cents (). The following year, Allen opened a second stand in
Stockton, California. Four years later, A&W began when Allen and Frank Wright opened their drive-in restaurant in Sacramento, California, combining both of their initials for the name, and selling the root beer from Allen's stand. Curbside service was provided by tray boys and tray girls. In 1924, Allen purchased Frank Wright's stake in the business. In 1925, Allen began
franchising the root beer, while the franchisee added the other menu items and operated at their discretion. Most of the restaurants that opened under this scheme were on the highways of the
Central Valley region, mainly for travelers. A lot of World War I veterans eventually founded A&W franchises throughout the US, while some of their descendants still own franchises. A&W's initial menu relied heavily on root beer and snacks, such as popcorn and peanuts, as well as sandwiches on sliced bread. As of 1933, A&W had a total of 171 stands, A&W survived the
Great Depression and labor shortages during
World War II but benefitted from the post-war recovery of the American economy, with fast food and drive-in restaurants beginning to take shape.
Expansion , which at the time was
under American control. In the following years, the chain branched into other foreign markets, including
Guam (first territory outside of the North American continent to open a restaurant, in 1961), opened by
Scotty Moylan,
Mexico, the
Philippines (some sources say it opened in the 1990s) and
Malaysia. by Al and Geri Lieboff, a couple from
Las Vegas, who got the franchising rights for Malaysia and Singapore. Setting up the chain seemed to be complicated, as they were unable to find a proper site, and in the recruitment process, Malayans had no consent to adorning Western "cabaret girl" style clothes. Already at the time of setup, kids were starting to favor chicken, burgers, and hot dogs rather than rice and curry, and within the next five years, would also see a rise in new locations up to 22 within five years. The first restaurant in Europe opened in
Mannheim (near
Stuttgart),
West Germany in 1962. At the time, a city influenced by US military presence, the restaurant was showing signs of success for its novelty, the first drive-in restaurant in Germany, and had already made headlines in German newspapers. At the time, it was the 2283rd overall founded by the chain. There were already plans to introduce restaurants and drive-ins in other key European markets, such as the United Kingdom, according to the chain's president. Dale Mulder opened up a
Lansing, Michigan A&W franchise in 1961.
United Fruit Co. and United Brands Company subsidiary In 1963, the company was sold again, followed by another sale in 1967 to
United Fruit Co. conglomerate. AMK Corporation purchased United Fruit in 1970. Then AMK formed United Brands Company to hold A&W. There were further fruitless attempts to bring the chain to the mainland: in the 1980s, the Okinawan branch briefly attempted to open restaurants in
Kagoshima Prefecture but ended up limiting itself to Okinawa, while in the 2000s a pilot restaurant existed in
Tokyo, which was quickly withdrawn. 1978 saw the introduction of a standard menu for use in all restaurants in the USA. In the 1970s, A&W had more stores than
McDonald's, with a peak in 1974 of 2,400 units. Negotiations to sell the chain began in November 1981.
Taubman Investment Co. subsidiary In 1982,
A. Alfred Taubman purchased A&W and placed it under Taubman Investment Co. Franchisees were being neglected in the United Fruit phase. Taubman opted to withdraw agreements with 100 franchisees that were performing poorly and ousted 80% of its workforce. With this, the new management decided to split its fast-food restaurants into two units the conventional orange roof A&W restaurants, which were still the majority, and A&W Great Food Restaurants. In 1985, A&W began offering the Third Pounder to compete with McDonald's
Quarter Pounder. As advertised, the Third beat the Quarter in taste tests and was less expensive by weight. In his 2007 memoir, former owner A. Alfred Taubman claimed research had revealed that it had been unsuccessful in part due to Americans' widespread
innumeracy, specifically their inability to understand fractions: 1/3 was perceived as smaller than 1/4 (due to the smaller denominator) despite being a larger quantity. The burger was relaunched in 2021 as the 3/9 Pound burger, humorously attempting to capitalize on the now-popular fractions misunderstanding story. In 1985, the chain struggled in Singapore, losing its relevance to newer, larger chains and its dominance in the fried chicken area to KFC. The chain was about to amp up its operations in the Asian region, with a possible launch in Hong Kong as well as three new restaurants in Thailand. On April 21, 1985, its first restaurant opened in
Indonesia, in the
Melawai area of
South Jakarta, its capital. Currently, Indonesia is the chain's largest international market, which as of February 2023 claimed 243 restaurants in 30 cities. A restaurant in
Ximending, Taiwan opened on February 22, 1986. Its two units in
Kuwait were closed in 1988 owing to security concerns. It was in Kuwait, during a US-Malaysia trip, that Kevin Bazner was held hostage in August 1990 when the plane he was on board was set for refueling; he was released in December. Negotiations were held with
Sonic Drive-In for a potential buying of the chain, but the plans fell in October 1986 due to a decline in franchises. Expansion plans were formulated in August 1987 with the opening of twenty new restaurants in a one-year period. On March 6, 1988, the first conventional A&W outlet opened in the Philippines at Fiesta Carnival in
Cubao, followed by a second at Gift Gate Center on November 26. The second restaurant's reputation was damaged by a fire of unknown origin that broke out in May 1990. Nonetheless, the chain expanded with new outlets and products by the end of 1990. The Philippine chain was the first A&W to introduce chicken nuggets, a product that even the American operations wanted from there. The chain also sponsored a team in the
Philippine Basketball League, which they withdrew in 1992.
A&W Great Food Restaurants A new format concept, A&W Great Food Restaurants, was developed. Ten corporate-owned locations were opened to test the concept: a sit-down, upscale, family-theme restaurant with a large salad bar and homemade ice cream. Emphasis in these restaurants was made on low-calorie foods that covered almost the entirety of the foods found in the fast-food spectrum, except pizza. By 1986, there were plans to have 250 to 300 locations within ten years. Some A&W Hot Dogs & More are still operating. In the same year, A&W bought the Burger City chain, converting its nine drive-thru kiosks to A&W units. George E. Michel, who had worked with the Canadian chain for twenty years, was appointed president of the American A&W Restaurants in January 1991, becoming CEO in January 1992. His presidency used its long history as a pretext for nostalgia both in the United States and abroad. In January 1995, operations were taken over by Grotech Capital Partners, for a sum of $20 million, with Feltenstein as the chain's new CEO. An agreement was signed in 1996 with
Walmart to provide restaurants in seven locations. The menu would add items depending on the region, with the rest being its standard fare. That year, its restaurants were renovated to feature an aesthetic referred to by Feltenstein as "contemporary nostalgia". The move mirrored that of
Dairy Queen, which had also opened a test location with a similar feel. A&W also operated restaurants in
Monterrey, a key city in northern Mexico. In 1997, A&W acquired Carousel Snack Bars, including its 175 units in malls. The agreement made the chain the owner of these units, while continuing to franchise restaurants. The chain aimed to increase its presence in the second half of 1996 by opening co-branded locations and nontraditional sites such as gas stations, while abroad it planned an increase in the number of units, having signed development agreements in
Oman and had already opened stores in
Dubai. There were also plans for the opening of units in
Seoul and increasing its presence in Singapore, as well as attempting to target the Latin American market. For the Middle East, it made a licensing comeback after approximately a decade, after leaving the market in the late 80s due to political uncertainties. In early 1997, it announced the opening of locations in colleges and universities. The chain relocated its corporate headquarters to
Farmington Hills on March 30, 1998. As part of an $80 million expansion plan, there were plans to open 500 restaurants in two years and close 100 outdated restaurants. A new location, which had previously housed an A&W site in
Fargo from 1971 to 1980, opened in mid-March 1997 as a pilot restaurant for a new design to be implemented in new locations. Later, due to arrears of franchise fees since 2000, Aidewei lost the A&W trademark in 2002. The eight restaurants weren't operating well and were plagued by mismanagement. An outlet in Yansha with 140 seats in a crowded, strategic location turned out to have limited business, while the restaurant in Anzhen had few customers. The "father of American fast food", as dubbed by the Chinese press, didn't convince the local culture and tastes, especially with the rise of local fast food. In 1997 a small A&W restaurant opened in
Festivalgate in
Osaka, offering standard A&W fare. The restaurant closed in 1999. The first
Qatari restaurant opened on December 18, 1997 (Qatar's
National Day) with Al-Muftah Group as the franchisee. There were also plans to open a second restaurant in the country, as well as two restaurants in
Cairo and six more in the UAE during 1998. The fare was similar to most A&W restaurants, with the addition of local items. At the end of the month, it opened a unit in
Seoul (owned by 2F Enterprises) and one in
Brunei (owned by a subfranchise of A&W Singapore). As of June 1998, A&W only had two restaurants in Mexico. The Cairo branch opened on August 1, 1998, under local franchise American Egyptian Foreign Investments, with
Egypt becoming the seventeenth country outside of the United States to open a location. The first co-branded A&W restaurant, tied with Mexican food chain Amigos, opened in
Lincoln in 1997. There were plans to increase the amount of co-branded locations across Nebraska by four in the second half of 1998. The goal of the co-branded restaurant was to allure more customers who did not prefer Mexican food. On March 16, 1999, it announced the opening of a restaurant in
Dhaka with franchisee Global Suplies Limited due in September that year, with four more planned. The restaurant in Lodi took part in a world record for the largest root beer float of 2562.5 gallons on June 19, 1999, the eve of the eightieth anniversary of the chain. That same year, the chain attempted to enter the
Korean market by finding local partners, aiming to grow in the Korean market in the first half of 2000. The plan was ultimately shelved. A&W merged with
Long John Silver's to form Yorkshire Global Restaurants based in
Lexington, Kentucky in March 1999.
Kevin Bazner was promoted president of the chain in July. In 2000, Yorkshire agreed to test multi-branded locations with
Tricon Global Restaurants. A grocery location opened in February that year in Idaho. By March 2002, the Yorkshire-Tricon multi-branding test consisted of 83 KFC/A&Ws, six KFC/Long John Silver's, and three Taco Bell/Long John Silver's and was considered successful by the companies. In December 2000, A&W announced new openings in less conventional locations, such as casinos, airports, gas stations, convention centers and convenience stores, for 2001, as part of its growth plans. At the time, the chain had more than 1,000 locations in 47 states and over 200 international locations in 14 countries. The chain around the time emphasized its aesthetics on "contemporized nostalgia". It also saw a success in co-branded restaurants, following the success of a trial in
Butte in 1998, which, owing to its success, in the spring of 2000 led to the announcement of the opening of 300 joint KFC-A&W restaurants by 2005. Tricon bought both A&W and LJS in March 2002, shortly before the merger with Yorkshire was finalized.
Yum! Brands subsidiary . In March 2002, Yorkshire merged with Tricon Global Restaurants to form Yum! Brands. Subsequently, in January 2003, Yum! announced that A&W and Long John Silver's would move their operational base from Lexington to
Louisville, as operating the chains from Lexington was considered "impractical and cost-inefficient", preferring to operate all of its chains from Louisville. Under Yum's management, A&W added franchises with a nostalgic look and modern technology. They have a
carhop design with drive-thrus, and some have picnic tables. In September 2001 the Singapore branch was taken over by KUB, who also oversaw the restaurants in Malaysia. At the time of takeover, it had twelve restaurants, but by November 2002, the number had dwindled to eight. Its restaurants had already been downgraded: the Ang Mo Kio restaurant shut down, the Tampines restaurant refused to repair its air conditioning systems, and
cable TV was switched off in all outlets. Food sales had decreased by about 5-12%. The chain quit the Philippine market in 2004 owing to several factors: lack of interest in its standard fare, lack of interest among locals, expensive cost and a general sense of unfamiliarity with local palates. The chain failed to adapt to local tastes and quietly shut down in the summer of 2004. The chain attempted to enter large European markets thanks to joints with KFC. In Germany the first non-military A&W restaurant opened in
Garbsen near
Hanover on May 27, 2003 followed by a second in
Cologne in July. A third in
Berlin was scheduled for early September. A&W opened its first outlet in
Bangladesh on December 15, 2004. The outlet reportedly closed in 2024. Indonesia hit a record milestone, as the hundredth restaurant opened in
Bintaro Utama on October 20, 2004. Most A&W stores that opened in the U.S. during Yum!'s ownership were co-branded with another of Yum!'s chains—
Long John Silver's,
Pizza Hut,
Taco Bell, or
KFC. For its 90th anniversary, A&W announced an expansion plan to open fifteen new drive-ins in a concept the chain dubbed "Three-D Drive In: Drive-In, Drive-Through, Dine-In". Growth was more expeted in the states of Wisconsin, Michigan and Oregon, where some of these Three-D units were set up in 2008.
A Great American Brand LLC in 2016 In January 2011, Yum! Brands announced its intention to sell A&W along with Long John Silver's. Citing poor sales for both divisions and overshadowing by its other chains, In September 2011, Yum! announced that it would sell the chain to A Great American Brand, a consortium of various A&W franchisees in the United States and overseas. The sale was finalized on December 19, 2011, under the leadership of returning CEO Kevin M. Bazner. Administration of A Great American Brand was divided between the national A&W franchisee association, the largest overseas franchisee and Bazner. With the purchase, A&W relocated its headquarters back to Lexington, employing a staff of 30 in late 2011, aiming to double to 60 within a five-year period while setting a growth target after that. Potential targets for growth were going to be small towns, as well as non-conventional locations, such as shopping malls, airports and universities. The chain had 1,200 restaurants at the time, 850 of which were in the US, with the remaining primarily in Asia. The chain, instead of competing heavily against larger chains, continued to rely on its core strength, smaller cities and towns of the USA. The following summer, 250 of A&W's restaurants began hand-breading their chicken tenders, moving towards higher-quality menu items and expanding their chicken category. In April 2014, the Hand-Breaded Chicken Tender Texas Toast Sandwich was added to the menu as a limited-time offering, along with a campaign to create the world's longest branded
hashtag. In June 2014, A&W launched two new flavors of its Polar Swirl dessert treat:
Sour Patch Kids and
Nutter Butter. In October 2013, A&W opened its first new concept restaurant, A&W Burgers Chicken Floats. The new concept focuses on fresh made-to-order food and heavily emphasizes customer service. The menu features burgers made with fresh beef and a choice of toppings, hand-breaded chicken tenders, all-beef hot dogs, and several sides. The new management gave A&W a significant boost in the number of locations, with 2017 scheduled to have more openings than closures. For 2018, A&W projected an increase in its franchising operations and opening new restaurants. In April 2019, A&W returned to Singapore after a 16-year absence, its first location being at
Jewel Changi Airport. In June 2019, the A&W chain started moving its headquarters to the
University of Kentucky Coldstream Research Campus in 2019. A&W announced in March 2022 that it was going to withdraw from the Thai market due to economic losses. The restaurants shut down on March 20. A franchise was given to western New York in early 2023, with three locations, the first of which in
Niagara Falls, set to open between May and June of that year. There are nearly 1,000 A&W Restaurants worldwide that are owned or franchised through A Great American Brand, with approximately 475 of these restaurants located in the U.S. as of October 2024. In November 2024, the chain announced its entrance to the
Milwaukee and
Madison markets in
Wisconsin. Betsy Schmandt took over the role of A&W's CEO and president from Kevin Bazner on March 4, 2025; Bazner continues as a chairman. Her strategy centers on "newstalgia", in an attempt at increasing the brand's relevance with younger people, by improving its marketing, as well as offering a more consistent brand identity, as well as more consistent operations. In April, an agreement was signed to open three restaurants in the
Memphis metropolitan area, with the first of the three locations, the one in Millington, scheduled to open by the end of 2025. ==Operations==