Fun Facts about Best to Worst Fast Food states (Post 272)

50. VermontVermont regularly wins all the “healthiest state” awards. 

49. Alaska This state is legitimately home to some of McDonald's best employees.  

48. Maine They have 25 Tim Hortons

47. Montana  Helena marks the Westernmost place where you can get Hardee’s before it’s transformed into Carl’s Jr.  

46. Rhode Island  The Talking Heads are from there, and David Byrne often sings about fast food.  

45. New Hampshire Dick and “Mac” McDonald, the brothers who opened the original McDonald’s in 1940, grew up and are both buried in Manchester, New Hampshire.

 44. South Dakota There are approximately 3 million heads of cattle in South Dakota — or about 4cows per person

43. Delaware Capriotti’s has expanded to 14 other states (and DC). 

42. Oregon Hipsters in Portland started planning road trips late last year when In-N-Out announced it might open a location in 2015… five hours South of Stumptown.

41. North Dakota Since the fracking boom, fast-food demand has grown so much that some McDonald’s are starting people at $14/hour, plus a signing bonus. 

40. Washington Vancouver-based Burgerville was one of the first fast-food joints to focus on local, seasonal ingredients. 

39. Wyoming Taco John’s coined the term “West Mex,” which is like Tex-Mex, but with more meat and fried potatoes.

38. Connecticut Subway’s original name, Pete’s Submarines, was dropped because people thought it sounded like “pizza marines.”

37. Mississippi According to Health mag, Mississippians spend 62%  of their dining-out budget on fast food. 

36. West Virginia Tudor’s Biscuit World originated in Charleston, West VA in 1980.

35. Iowa An assistant football coach at University of Iowa left his 200k a year job last year to open a Culver’s franchise. This is a real thing that happened. 

34. Indiana Lee Cummings, the founder of Lee’s Famous Chicken, was related to KFC’s head honcho, and much of his inspiration came from cooking in his Indiana home. 

33. Arkansas Slim Chickens’ first location was in Fayetteville. 

 32. Maryland Hip Hop Fish & Chicken started here, and now they’ve got 12 locations.

31. New Mexico Blake’s Lotaburger has its own construction business so they can build their franchises in-house. 

30. South Carolina Former Hootie/current country star Darius Rucker, an SC native, followed up the 16-time platinum success of Cracked Rear View by dressing up as a psychedelic cowboy and singing in a Burger King commercial. 

29. Massachusetts Dunkin’, surprisingly, isn’t the only donut shop to have started here.

28. Idaho Idaho produces approximately 14 billion pounds of potatoes a year… 4 billion more than its closest competitor, Washington.

27. Minnesota Austin, MN is home of the Spam museum, a monument to the canned meat 

26. Pennsylvania Tony Luke’s has opened a location as far away as Bahrain. 

 25. Hawaii The Zippy’s chain sells over 110 tons of their original-recipe chili each month

24. Nebraska Runza will FedEx their sandwiches almost anywhere in the country

23. Utah Arctic Circle is in seven states and claims to have invented fry sauce

22. Missouri Winstead’s had a drive-in even before Sonic existed

21. New Jersey Cluck-U Chicken started in New Brunswick in 1985. 

20. Kansas  Pizza Hut,  has entered into a partnership with Taco Bells throughout the country. 

 19. Wisconsin In 2014, Wisconsin produced 2,842,456,000lbs of cheese.

18. Nevada When White Castle opened in Vegas, they were forced to close and restock. .

17. Illinois Potbelly’s got a whole secret menu

16. Arizona Alice Cooper — who grew up in Phoenix — was recently inducted into the White Castle Hall of Fame

15. New York Shake Shack began as a mere hot dog cart in Madison Square Park.

14. North Carolina Fresh biscuits are made every 20 minutes at Biscuitville, which seems to be the perfect timing to finish one, eat a fresh one, and repeat forever.

13. Florida Burger King has a restaurant in all 50 states (and over 70 other countries).  

12. Tennessee The first order at Krystal, back in 1932, was six Krystals and a cup of coffee for $.35

11. Virginia Five Guys refers to the founder’s five sons.

10. Oklahoma Shawnee, OK is the birthplace of Sonic, which used to be called Top Hat

9. Michigan The Boston Cooler — a shake-like fast-food drink combining ice cream and Vernor’s ginger ale — is named not for Affleck Country, but rather for the Detroit street

.8. Colorado Chipotle started a block away from the campus of Denver University.  

7. Louisiana Popeyes was originally called “Chicken on the Run.” The chicken did not run out. Ever. Rebranding came within a few months

.6. Kentucky Colonel Harland Sanders left his home at the age of 13 and had a bunch of different jobs before he found his clucking calling.

5. Georgia The odd honor of largest drive-in fast-food chain in America falls to The Varsity. 

 4. Ohio Columbus is one of the biggest test markets for new fast-food products, so you can go ahead and thank them for everything new you eat

3. Alabama Dixie’s got the fifth-lowest fast-food to regular restaurant ratio in America, but one of the most varied selections.

2. California The founder of Wienerschnitzel only started thinking about getting into the fast-food business because the founder of Taco Bell owed him money, and offered to pay him back by letting him get an ownership stake in one of his taco shops.

1. Texas

The founder of Whataburger wanted to make a burger that required both hands and would have customers screaming “What a burger!” after the first bite.