Chow List: 8 Fast Food Chains We Still Don’t Have (But Need)

Ever feel like North Idaho is growth-spurting like so much warm ketchup through the crusty spout of a red EZ-squeeze bottle that we simply must have at least one of every national fast food outlet out there? Not quite, my sweet Baconator lover. We’re still wee toddlers on the franchise-o-meter as proved by the below list of 8 popular chains that have yet to break ground in our sunny corner of the forest. It can’t be too long before some of these pop up around town, and there are a few I must admit I’d love to validate…

1.Chick-fil-A
*Chick-fil-A founder S. Truett Cathy is a devout Southern Baptist who has taught Sunday School for over 44 years and whose religious beliefs permeate the company to this day.
* Closed for business on Sundays.
* Second-biggest chicken-based fast-food chain in the United States.
* 1,300 locations in 37 U.S. states
* The first Chick-fil-A opened in Atlanta's Greenbriar Mall in 1967.
* Chick-fil-A offers chicken sandwiches, in both pressure-cooked and grilled versions.
* Side dishes include waffle potato fries, cole slaw, carrot & raisin salad, chicken salad, and fruit salads.
* "EAT MOR CHIKIN" is the chain's most prominent advertising slogan.

2. White Castle
*White Castle is the oldest American hamburger fast food restaurant chain.
* It is known for square burgers, sometimes referred to as "sliders".
* White Castle was founded in 1921 in Wichita, Kansas.
* A customer ordering a "sack of six with both", will receive six burgers with both ketchup and mustard (this is also a reference to White Castle's habit of keeping three bottles of condiments at hand for the burgers: ketchup, mustard, and a combination of the two—or "both").
* You can choose from 3 types of Sliders: Hamburger, Cheeseburger and Double Cheeseburger and sides include crinkle fries and “chicken rings”.
* White Castles are everywhere east of the Mississippi and in the South but have yet to open a single location in the West.

3. In-n-Out Burger
* Founded in Southern California in 1948 by Harry Snyder and his wife Esther, and headquartered in Irvine, CA.
* The Snyders had a simple plan which is still in use today: “Give customers the freshest, highest quality foods you can buy and provide them with friendly service in a sparkling clean environment.”
* In 1999, third company president Guy Snyder died from an overdose of the pain-killer Vicodin.
* In-N-Out has a limited menu consisting of only three different sandwiches: the hamburger, cheeseburger, and "Double-Double" (double meat/double cheese). French fries and fountain drinks are available, as well as three flavors of milkshakes.
* In-N-Out has a dedicated fanbase, and benefits highly from the positive word of mouth spread by its enthusiastic following.
* In-N-Out prints discreet references to Bible verses on their paper utensils.

4. Weinerschnitzel
* Wienerschnitzel is an American fast-food chain founded in 1961 as "Der Wienerschnitzel" that specializes in "hot dogs", but is currently expanding to other items.
* Wienerschnitzel locations are almost entirely limited to California, Texas, and the Southwestern United States.
* The first Wienerschnitzel was opened by John Galardi in 1961. This location, which is still in operation as of today, was a hot dog stand on Pacific Coast Highway.
* Wiener Schnitzel actually means "breaded veal cutlet, Vienna style", a dish that the restaurant chain does not sell.
* Former slogans: “Everybody loves a wiener”, “The world's largest wieners!”, “Just thinkin' about those hot dogs makes me hungry!”

5. Popeye’s Chicken & Biscuits
* Popeyes Mighty Good Fried Chicken first opened in Arabi, Louisiana, a suburb of New Orleans, in 1972 as "Popeye Family Fried Chicken", owned by Al Copeland.
* Copeland claimed he named the stores after the fictional detective Jimmy "Popeye" Doyle in the movie “The French Connection” and not the comic character Popeye the Sailor.
* The restaurants have a distinctive red-and-yellow color scheme.
*TV and radio ads often use New Orleans-style music, along with the trademark Love That Chicken jingle sung by New Orleans funk and R&B musician Dr. John.
* As of 2007, there were 1,507 global locations.

6. Checkers/Rally’s
* Checkers Drive-In Restaurants, Inc. is the largest chain of double drive-thru restaurants in the United States and parent company of both Checkers and Rally's concepts.
* Currently, the company operates more than 815 Checkers and Rally's restaurants in 28 states and the District of Columbia. They both specialize in hamburgers, hot dogs, French fries, and milkshakes.
* Checkers was founded in 1986 in Mobile, Alabama, and Rally's was founded in Louisville, Kentucky in 1985, with its first location in Jeffersonville, Indiana.
* Checkers restaurants follow a retro theme with abundant use of chrome flashing, neon tube lighting, and black and white checkered tiling.
* The slogan of the restaurant from in 1999-2000 was "High performance Human Fuel" and was then changed and used from 2000-2007 to "You gotta eat!"
* The menus of the two restaurants are nearly identical, differing in that Checkers' menu includes additional hamburgers (including the original Champ hamburger). Over time, the Checkers menu grew in size to include chicken and fish sandwiches, chicken strips, and a wider selection of hamburgers

7. Long John Silver’s
* Long John Silver's, Inc. is a United States-based fast-food restaurant that specializes in seafood and fish and chips. It is named after the fictional pirate Long John Silver from the Robert Louis Stevenson book Treasure Island.
* The restaurant, which has over 1200 units worldwide, is a division of Yum! Brands, Inc.
* The first restaurant was opened in 1969 in Lexington, Kentucky.
* The restaurant chain was the subject of some controversy in the late 1990s for a commercial in which a police officer decided not to write a ticket to a motorist who gave him a Long John Silver's fish sandwich. Many police organizations objected to the commercial on the grounds that it depicted a police officer taking a bribe.
* In March 2006, LJS began offering buttered lobster bites, and in the stores signs state "made with real langostino lobster." Many people felt that this was misleading because langostino is not a conventional type of lobster; however the Food and Drug Administration has stated that langostino can be named and marketed as lobster.

8. Quickly
* Quickly is one of the largest tapioca milk tea franchises in the world, with over 2000 locations in Africa, Asia, Europe and North America.
* Quickly Corporation was founded in California in 1996 and began marketing themselves as a New Generation Asian Fusion-style cafe in the USA, as opposed to just a tapioca drink shop.
* Sample Menu Items, beverages: Sesame Slush, Champagne Grape Slush, Kumquat Slush, Wax Gourd Slush, Bubble Milk Tea, Red Bean Milk Tea, Grass Jelly Milk Tea.
*Sample Menu Items, food: Fried Mini Octopus, Fried Pork Intestine, Tea Flavored Egg, Roast Quail, Crispy Popcorn Chicken Rice Bento.