This is a list of notable drive-in restaurants.
A drive-in restaurant is one where a customer can drive in with an automobile for service. For example, customers park their vehicles and are usually served by staff who walk out to take orders and return with food, encouraging diners to remain parked while they eat. Often, the restaurant staff attach a serving tray to a window of the vehicle.
It is usually distinguished from a drive-through. At a drive-through restaurant, conversely, customers wait in a line and pass by one or more windows to order, pay, and receive their food.
A fast-food restaurant, also known as a quick-service restaurant (QSR) within the industry, is a specific type of restaurant that serves fast-food cuisine and has minimal table service. The food served in fast-food restaurants is typically part of a "meat-sweet diet", offered from a limited menu, cooked in bulk in advance and kept hot, finished and packaged to order, and usually available for take away, though seating may be provided. Fast-food restaurants are typically part of a restaurant chain or franchise operation that provides standardized ingredients and/or partially prepared foods and supplies to each restaurant through controlled supply channels. The term "fast food" was recognized in a dictionary by Merriam–Webster in 1951.
A filling station is a facility that sells fuel and engine lubricants for motor vehicles. The most common fuels sold in the 2010s were gasoline and diesel fuel.
Burgerville is a privately held American restaurant chain in Oregon and southwest Washington, owned by The Holland Inc. As the chain's name suggests, Burgerville's sandwich menu consists mostly of hamburgers. As of May 2005, all Burgerville locations were within a 180-mile (290-km) radius, mostly in the Portland metropolitan area. The chain had annual revenue of around $75 million in 2010, at which time it had 39 locations and about 1,500 employees.
A drive-in is a facility where one can drive in with an automobile for service. At a drive-in restaurant, for example, customers park their vehicles and are usually served by staff who walk or rollerskate out to take orders and return with food, encouraging diners to remain parked while they eat. Drive-in theaters have a large screen and a car parking area for film-goers.
In-N-Out Burger is an American regional chain of fast food restaurants with locations primarily in California and to a lesser extent the Southwest from Oregon to Texas. It was founded in Baldwin Park, California, in 1948 by Harry (1913–1976) and Esther Snyder (1920–2006). The chain is currently headquartered in Irvine, California and has expanded outside Southern California into the rest of California, as well as into Arizona, Nevada, Utah, Texas, Oregon, and Colorado, and is planning expansions into Idaho and Tennessee. The current owner is Lynsi Snyder, the Snyders' only grandchild.
A cafeteria, sometimes called a canteen outside the U.S. and Canada, is a type of food service location in which there is little or no waiting staff table service, whether a restaurant or within an institution such as a large office building or school; a school dining location is also referred to as a dining hall or lunchroom. Cafeterias are different from coffeehouses, although the English term came from the Spanish term cafetería, which carries the same meaning.
Steak 'n Shake Operations, Inc. is an American casual restaurant chain concentrated primarily in the Midwestern United States with locations also in the South, Mid-Atlantic and Western United States, Europe, and the Middle East. The company is headquartered in Indianapolis, Indiana and is a wholly owned subsidiary of Biglari Holdings. As of 2018, 628 Steak 'n Shake restaurants were in operation; of those 414 are corporate-owned, and 214 franchised. The company has since attempted to convert to a fully franchised model. Restaurant locations have sit-down, drive-thru, and front-window service; they provide a hybrid of fast-food to-go and diner-style sit-down service. Many locations are open 24 hours a day, seven days per week. The menu features primarily burgers and hand-dipped milkshakes; other entrees, side items, and drinks are also available.
Burger Chef was an American fast-food restaurant chain. It began operating in 1954 in Indianapolis, Indiana, expanded throughout the United States, and at its peak in 1973 had 1,050 locations, including some in Canada. The chain featured several signature items, such as the Big Shef and Super Shef hamburgers.
A drive-through or drive-thru, is a type of take-out service provided by a business that allows customers to purchase products without leaving their cars. The format was pioneered in the United States in the 1930s, and has since spread to other countries.
A carhop is a waiter or waitress who brings fast food to people in their cars at drive-in restaurants. Carhops usually work on foot but sometimes use roller skates, as depicted in movies such as American Graffiti and television shows such as Happy Days. Carhops have long been associated with hot rods.
A baker is someone who primarily bakes bread.
A food cart is a mobile kitchen set up on the street to prepare and sell street food to passers-by. Food carts are often found in cities worldwide selling food of every kind.
Restaurants fall into several industry classifications, based upon menu style, preparation methods and pricing, as well as the means by which the food is served to the customer. This article mainly describes the situation in the US, while categorisation differs widely around the world.
B-K Root Beer is an independent chain of drive-in fast-food restaurants, distinguished by their draft root beer and root beer floats. A midwestern chain, B-K restaurants are located in Indiana, Michigan, and Ohio. B-K stands for "Bergerson & Kenefick". The first one was built in Wabash, Indiana, in 1940.
Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives is an American food reality television series that premiered on April 23, 2007, on the Food Network. It is hosted by Guy Fieri. The show originally began as a one-off special that aired on November 6, 2006. The show features a "road trip" concept, similar to Road Tasted, Giada's Weekend Getaways, and $40 a Day. Fieri travels around the United States, Canada, and Mexico looking at various diners, drive-in restaurants, and dive bars. He has also featured restaurants in European cities, including London and Florence, as well as in Cuba.
Mug-n-Bun is a drive-in restaurant in Speedway, Indiana in Marion County, Indiana in the United States. Founded in 1960, Mug-n-Bun is the oldest operating drive-in restaurant in Marion County. The drive-in also operates an onsite pizzeria behind the main restaurant.