A&W Restaurants
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| A&W Restaurants, Inc. | |
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| Type | Wholly owned subsidiary |
| Founded | 1922 |
| Headquarters | Louisville, Kentucky |
| Industry | Fast Food |
| Products | Hot dogs, root beer |
| Parent | Yum! Brands |
| Website | awrestaurants.com |
A&W Restaurants, Inc. is a chain of fast-food restaurants, distinguished by its draft root beer and root beer floats. It is a fast food franchise company in the United States and Canada, serving a typical fast food menu of hamburgers and french fries, as well as hot dogs. A number of its outlets are drive-in restaurants with carhops. The company name was taken from the last name initials of partners Roy Allen and Frank Wright. The chain is currently owned by Yum! Brands.
Contents |
[edit] Corporate profile
[edit] History
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Please help improve this section by expanding it. Further information might be found on the talk page or at requests for expansion. (March 2007) |
A&W began in 1919 in Lodi, California, when Roy Allen took on partnership with Frank Wright to help him with the root beer business he had started in 1919. They branded their product A&W Root Beer after their last names. Two years later, Allen bought out Wright and began franchising his product. His profits came from a small franchise fee and concentrate sales.
By 1960, they had 2000 stores. In 1971, a beverage division was started, supplying bottled A&W products to grocery stores. The soft drinks sold under this brand are root beer and cream soda, made by Dr Pepper/Seven Up, Inc.
In 1989, A&W made an agreement with Minnesota-based chain Carousel Snack Bars to convert that chain's 200 locations (mostly kiosks in shopping malls) to "A&W Hot Dogs & More".[1][2] Some A&W Hot Dogs & More locations are still in operation today.
In the United States and Southeast Asia, A&W is currently a Yum! Brands, Inc. company. Most A&W locations that have opened in the U.S. in recent years have been co-branded with one of Yum!'s other chains—Long John Silver's, Pizza Hut, Taco Bell, or Kentucky Fried Chicken.
[edit] Countries with A&W restaurants
[edit] Australia
Until 2003, Tasmania did not have any A&W stores. However, a trial run was tried, with A&W being combined with KFC stores, offering both store menus in the one location. The trial ended in late 2004, with the A&W branches closing down. In March 2005, A&W opened a joint-branch with Long John Silvers in Kings Park, New South Wales. All Australian A&W restaurants closed in early 2007, due to poor sales.
[edit] Bangladesh
A&W opened its first outlet in Bangladesh on 15 December 2004. This 170-seat outlet is located at Gulshan 1, Dhaka is the largest A&W outlet in South Asia. The food served is 100% halal and is very popular with the local youth population, with root beer being the driving force of the large number of sales. A&W Bangladesh serves an "All you can eat offer" during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan and "Baishakhi Bonanza" during the Bengali new year.
[edit] Canada
The Canadian chain of A&W restaurants are operated by a separate company, called A&W Food Services of Canada Inc. While originally part of the American operation, the Canadian company no longer has any corporate connection to the American chain.
The first A&W drive-in restaurant in Canada opened on Portage Avenue in Winnipeg in 1956.
[edit] Cuba
In 2003, Guantanamo Bay Naval Base opened a combined KFC, Taco Bell and A&W restaurant at the bowling alley, and a Pizza Hut Express at the Wind Jammer Restaurant.[citation needed] All the restaurants on the installation are franchises owned and operated by the Department of the Navy, and all proceeds from these restaurants are used to support morale, welfare and recreation (MWR) activities for service personnel and their families. These fast food restaurants are on base, and not accessible to Cubans.
[edit] Egypt
During 2006, all A&W outlets closed. Before that, there were at least 4 outlets in Egypt;
- Heliopolis, Cairo
- Heliopolis Sporting Club, El Sherouk City
- Nasr City, Cairo
- Green Plaza Mall, Alexandria
[edit] Germany
There were 3 combined KFC/A&W restaurants (formerly Cologne (Hohe Straße, closed in 2005, now a KFC-only location) and in Garbsen near Hannover, closed in 2005). As of 2006, the only combined KFC/A&W location in Germany is at Kurt-Schumacher-Damm 25, Berlin ([1]). This example shows the same difficulty faced by A&W in Australia and in the UK.
[edit] Indonesia
A&W has a large presence in Indonesia, operating over 200 outlets. Business appears to be strong and successful, however a bomb which exploded in November 2006 at one outlet damaged the firm's reputation as a safe restaurant chain.[citation needed]
[edit] Japan
First opened in 1963, A&W drive-in restaurants were the first fast-food franchise to appear in Japan. Currently, they are found in Okinawa Prefecture, the southernmost prefecture of Japan, and at the Misawa Air Base Base Exchange food court. A dining room outlet opened in the Festival Gate amusement park in Osaka in 1997, but closed within a year.
[edit] Kuwait
There were two A&W outlets in Kuwait up until 2003 when both closed.
[edit] Malaysia
A&W's first store in Asia Pacific opened at Kuala Lumpur's Batu Road (now known as Jalan Tuanku Abdul Rahman) in 1963. It was also the first fast food corporation from the United States to set foot in the country. However, A&W had a declining business era from 1997 - 2000. The most famous A&W outlet in Malaysia is undoubtedly the drive-in outlet near Taman Jaya, Petaling Jaya, a satellite city of Kuala Lumpur. It opened in 1965 and quickly became a favourite gathering place for students, especially from the nearby Assunta and La Salle Secondary Schools. The unique A&W root beer mug was often "collected" by these young customers. It was also a favorite filming location for Malaysian movies during the 1970s and early 1980s. Customers from the 1970s will recall Tuesdays as Coney Dog Day.
During the mid-1980s, A&W also operated a second Petaling Jaya outlet at the Atria Shopping Complex in Section SS22 Damansara Jaya. In Penang, A&W had an outlet at KOMTAR and Penang International Airport and has since been closed down, but new stores have been opened at malls around Penang. During the 1990s, A&W operated an outlet at Terminal 3 of the former Subang International Airport. This outlet ceased operations when the Kuala Lumpur International Airport shifted from Subang to KLIA in 1998.
To date, several more A&W outlets have been opened in Malaysia, mostly in shopping malls. The largest A&W mall outlet is located in Suria KLCC, the most prominent shopping complex in Malaysia. An A&W outlet opened for a number of years in Likas Square, Kota Kinabalu , but was closed down in 2004.
Just like in Bangladesh, the food at Malaysian A&W outlets is 100% halal.
[edit] Pakistan
A&W opened at Zamzama in Karachi. It was the first store opened in South Asia. However, this restaurant is now closed.
[edit] Philippines
The Philippines had a number of A&W outlets starting in the 1960s.[3] These were all located in Metro Manila, and all were closed by 2004.
[edit] Qatar
In the gulf Arab state of Qatar there are at least two A&W outlets. The first one was opened in the late 1990s near the shopping district of Al Sadd area adjacent to the Baskin Robbins outlet. This outlet is very popular among nationals and expatriates alike. There is a second outlet in the Doha International Airport.
[edit] Singapore
The first A&W store opened at Dunearn Road in Singapore in 1966 as the first fast food restaurant from the U.S.A. in that country. The chain expanded in the later years, including one at Singapore Zoo which closed in 1999. The chain's Singapore operations dwindled by the beginning of the 21st century, and by 2002 it had only 7 outlets around the island. A&W finally closed in 2003.
[edit] Thailand
There are a few A&W outlets appearing in Thailand. They are located in populated areas and are quite popular. A full location list is available here: [2]
[edit] United Arab Emirates
There used to be at least 3 A&W outlets in UAE, however they have all recently been replaced with Marrybrown restaurants. To date, it is unknown why all the A&W outlets were replaced. The very first A&W outlet was opened in 1996, at a large shopping mall called Bur Juman Centre, located in Dubai. Two other outlets were opened soon after at the Um Sequim Spinneys, and at the Thunder Bowl. It is believed that business was doing well in these outlets, until they started to be replaced in 2006. This situation is very similar to Egypt (above) where all 3 A&W outlets there also closed down in 2006.
[edit] United Kingdom
There were a few A&W outlets in the United Kingdom, all of which shared retail space with KFC such as Ashton - under - lyne, Derby, Clayton and Glasgow. An A&W shared space with a Long John Silvers outlet in Walsall, which opened in 2004. These outlets have now all closed.
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ^ http://www.awrootbeer.com/hist_hist3.htm A&W Root Beer - History & Collectables
- ^ http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m3190/is_n17_v25/ai_10659563 A&W prexy sets pace for growth in the '90's - A&W Restaurants; George Michel
- ^ Business World Philippines: Philippine brands set foot on foreign shores by Jemileen U. Nuqui and Veronica C. Silva, November 25, 2003
1. ^ http://www.awrootbeer.com/hist_hist3.htm A&W Root Beer - History & Collectables
2. ^ http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m3190/is_n17_v25/ai_10659563 A&W prexy sets pace for growth in the '90's - A&W Restaurants; George Michel
3. ^ BusinessWorld Philippines: Philippine brands set foot on foreign shores by Jemileen U. Nuqui and Veronica C. Silva, November 25, 2003]
[edit] External links
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