Pizza Hut is an American multinational restaurant chain and international franchise founded in 1958 in Wichita, Kansas by Dan and Frank Carney. They serve their signature pan pizza and other dishes including pasta, breadsticks and dessert at dine-in, take-out and delivery chain locations. They also serve chicken wings on their WingStreet menu.
Yum! Brands, Inc., formerly Tricon Global Restaurants, Inc., is an American fast food corporation listed on the Fortune 1000. Yum! operates the brands KFC, Pizza Hut, Taco Bell, and The Habit Burger Grill, except in China, where the brands are operated by a separate company, Yum China. Yum! previously also owned Long John Silver's and A&W Restaurants.
Sonic Corporation, founded as Sonic Drive-In and more commonly known as Sonic or "The Drive-In", is an American drive-in fast food restaurant chain owned by Inspire Brands, the parent company of Arby's and Buffalo Wild Wings. Sonic, founded by Troy N. Smith Sr., opened its first location in 1953, under the name Top Hat Drive-In. Originally a walk-up root beer stand outside a log cabin steakhouse selling soda, hamburgers, and hotdogs, Sonic currently has 3,545 locations in the United States. Sonic is known for its use of carhops on roller skates, and hosts an annual competition to determine the top skating carhop in the company. The company's core products include the "Chili Cheese Coney", "Sonic Cheeseburger Combo", "Sonic Blasts", "Master Shakes", and "Wacky Pack Kids Meals". The company also has a breakfast menu.
Arby's is an American fast food sandwich restaurant chain with more than 3,300 restaurants system wide and third in terms of revenue. In October 2017, Food & Wine called Arby's "America's second largest sandwich chain ".
Jimmy John's is an American sandwich chain headquartered in Champaign, Illinois. The business was founded by Jimmy John Liautaud in 1983. After Liautaud graduated from high school, his father gave him a choice to either join the military or start a business. Liautaud, choosing the latter, initially decided to start a hot dog business, but changed to opening a sandwich business due to costs.
Buffalo Wild Wings is an American casual dining restaurant and sports bar franchise in the United States, Canada, India, Mexico, Panama, Philippines, Saudi Arabia, and United Arab Emirates which specializes in Buffalo wings and sauces.
Dunn BrothersCoffee is a franchise company of coffeehouses founded in St. Paul, Minnesota, in December 1987 by brothers Ed and Dan Dunn. As of September 2022, Dunn Brothers Coffee has 57 locations throughout the country.
Cicis is an American chain of buffet restaurants based in Coppell, Texas, specializing in pizza. The company was founded in 1985, and started franchising by 1987. There are 299 franchised and corporately owned restaurants in 24 states. In November 2015, the company began a new marketing campaign which included the renaming of the company to Cicis, along with the addition of a new logo and redesigned website.
Restaurant Brands New Zealand Limited, trading as Restaurant Brands, is a New Zealand fast food company. Restaurant Brands currently operates and owns the master franchising rights for the Carl's Jr., KFC, Pizza Hut, and Taco Bell brands in New Zealand. Restaurant Brands operates most of New Zealand's stores for the brands they own rights to and provides management and support services to New Zealand's independent franchisees of the remaining stores. All stores are required to maintain the policy of the head international stores.
Sally J. Smith is president and former chief executive officer of Buffalo Wild Wings, Inc.
Love's Travel Stops & Country Stores, doing business as Love's, is an American family-owned chain of more than 600 truck stop and convenience stores in 42 states in the United States. The company is privately owned and headquartered in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. Love's ranked No. 17 on the 2019 Forbes list of America's largest private companies. Love's has two primary kinds of stores: country stores and travel stops. Country stores are fueling stations with a convenience store attached. The larger travel stops are located along highways and offer additional amenities such as food from restaurant chains such as Arby's, Baskin-Robbins, Bojangles, Burger King, Chester's, Dairy Queen, Del Taco, Dunkin', Friendly's, Godfather's Pizza, Green Burrito, McDonald's, Taco John's, Subway, Taco Bell, Wendy's, Hardee’s/Carls Jr., trucking supplies, showers and RV dump stations. Love's had 25,000 employees in 2018.
Roark Capital Group is an American private equity firm with over $33 billion in assets under management. The firm is focused on leveraged buyout investments in middle-market companies, primarily in the franchise/multi-location, restaurant and food, health and wellness, and business services sectors. It is named for Howard Roark, the protagonist in Ayn Rand's novel The Fountainhead. The firm claims that its name is not meant to connote any particular political philosophy but instead signify the firm's admiration for the iconoclastic qualities of independence and self-assurance embodied by the central figure in The Fountainhead.
Pie Five Pizza is an American fast casual restaurant chain specializing in personal pizza. The brand is owned by Rave Restaurant Group, which also owns Pizza Inn. As of July 2021, Pie Five operates 33 restaurants with locations in the following states: Arkansas, California, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Mississippi, Missouri, Oklahoma, Oregon, and Texas.
Inspire Brands, Inc. is an American holding company and the owner and franchisor of the Arby's, Buffalo Wild Wings, Sonic Drive-In, Jimmy John's, Mister Donut, Dunkin' Donuts and Baskin-Robbins restaurant chains. Inspire operates Support Centers in Atlanta, Oklahoma City, Champaign, Minneapolis, and Canton, Massachusetts. Inspire Brands is majority-owned by affiliates of Roark Capital Group.
Paul J. Brown is an American businessman and the co-founder and chief executive officer of Inspire Brands. He is the former chief executive officer of Arby’s.
James Bodenstedt is the former President and CEO of MUY! Brands, an operator of franchised restaurants, including Wendy's and the Yum! Brands of Taco Bell, KFC, Pizza Hut, and others. He and his wife are major donors to President Donald Trump's 2020 election campaign, donating more than $1 million. MUY! Brands and its subsidiaries were among the first companies to receive coronavirus relief aid by the Trump administration.
Robert “Rob” M. Lynch is an American businessman and the current CEO of Papa John's Pizza. He was announced as the successor to founder John Schnatter in August 2019. Lynch had previously served as the president of Arby's, famously spearheading the chain's “We Have the Meats” campaign.
