A&W History That Not Many Knows

You've all probably remembered the taste of the root beer that quenches your thirst. Well, A&W has been in business since some of you were still little. The question will be when did it all start for this fast-food restaurant and there might be some history that not many know.

Let us see the history behind the brand A&W and how it manages to compete with other fast-food chains.

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Background of A&W Restaurant

A&W started on June 1919 at 13 Pine Street Lodi, California. At the time, Frank Wright was working together with Roy Allen to come up with the best root beer in town for that year.

The reality is that A&W starts to become really popular in the US mainly because of the icy cold mug filled with delightful root beer. At first, the mug will be kept in the freezer before being filled with rootbeer and served to the customers.

How A&W Penetrated The Market

They branded their products with the name A&W Root Beer according to their family names Allen and Wright. In the year 1921, Allen started marketing root beer drinks and it can be said that it was the first successful food franchise.

Later on, in 1924, Allen paid Wright for full ownership of the A&W company and it became the first fast-food franchise in America at the time.

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He is focusing more on the sale of root beers for the franchise to preserve the good quality of the root beers. As years went on and on in 1933, A&W has more than 170 franchises open everywhere.

Changing of A&W Ownership

A&W is a fast-food chain that has since changed ownership numerous times. The first one happens in 1971 when Roy Allen decided to sell his business to Gene Hurtz.

After that, in 1963, Huryz sold A&W company to J. Hungerford Smith company. Many more changes of ownership occurred between the 60s and 70s. Despite all that, the only place to get your hands on A&W Root Beer will be the A&W restaurant. 

In 1962 the first A&W restaurant outside of the US opened in Guam and the business quickly expanded to other countries across Europe and Asia.

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To increase the popularity of A&W, two major mascots were introduced and the Great Root Beer was finally invented in 1974. This is to take part in corporate social responsibility like entertaining the kids in the hospitals.

Soaring High Even More

Credit: IOI City Mall

You might have noticed that your favorite A&W Root Beers are also sold in most convenience stores around. This is because, in 1971, the company decided to supply the A&W Root Beer in bottles so that even more people can enjoy them.

Not just that A&W also sells sodas made by Dr. Pepper and Seven Up Inc. In 1989 A&W has made a collaboration with Carousel Snack bars based in Minnesota to change 200 food chains into A&W Hot Dogs & More. 

By the end of 2000, A&W has changed its new appearance towards becoming more technologically modern. The company has provided drive-thru services and several picnic tables for people to enjoy their delicious food.

In the end, even though the company has changed ownership many times, the owners are more than capable of handling the marketing and strategies so that A&W will continue to expand.

Owning many unique franchises has attracted even more customers across the world and it is definitely something worth learning from A&W history that you now know.

Source:

• A&W Franchising

• A&W Malaysia

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