Did you know there were a bunch of fast food restaurants that started right here in the South? Some of them you might have known. However, some of them might surprise you. What shouldn’t surprise you is the fact that people from the South love these restaurants. And if you live in the South, or you’ve been here for a while, odds are you’ve been to at least one of these spots.
The South Gave Us These Fast Food Restaurants
According to an article on VinePair, these fast food restaurants all began south of the Mason-Dixon Line. Georgia, North Carolina, and Louisiana are responsible for most of the places on this list. I will say this, most of the places on this list involve chicken. That will probably give you at least a clue as to what some of the restaurants on this list are.
I can tell you, I have eaten at all of these places on multiple occasions. In fact, most of these are some of my go-to places. Also, I can say that we have multiple locations of these particular fast food restaurants here in the CSRA.
There are a few places that we love that didn’t start in the South though. McDonalds and Taco Bell both started in California. Sonic started in Oklahoma, which I guess you could still consider the South. Dunkin started in Massachusetts. Even though these places weren’t born in the South, we still love them!
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Here are some of your favorite fast food restaurants that were born right here in the South.
Chick-fil-A
I’m sure you already knew this one, but it had to make the list. Chick-fil-A was started in Fayetteville, Georgia back in 1946. The original location was called The Dwarf House. 20 years later the first official Chick-fil-A was opened in Atlanta.
HOUSTON, TEXAS – JULY 05: (Photo by Brandon Bell/Getty Images)
Hardee's
As if one biscuit place in North Carolina wasn’t enough, let’s throw in another one. Hardee’s was also founded in North Carolina. Greenville, North Carolina to be exact. The first Hardee’s opened back in 1960. We used to go to Hardee’s all of the time when I was a kid, mostly to collect the California Raisins figures that we thought were going to be worth a fortune.
COLUMBUS, GA – NOVEMBER 17: A Hardee’s Monster Thickburger at a restaurant in Columbus, Georgia on November 17, 2004. (Photo by Erik S. Lesser/Getty Images)
Popeye's
See what I meant when I said that most of the fast food restaurants that started in the South had to do with chicken? Here’s another one for you. Popeye’s began in Arabi, Louisiana back in 1976. Now they have over 3700 locations in the United States.
MIAMI, FL – FEBRUARY 21: A Popeyes restaurant is seen on February 21, 2017 in Miami, Florida. (Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images)
Burger King
The final fast food restaurant on the list is Burger King. It started in Miami, Florida back in the early 1950s. I know that Miami isn’t really Southern, but geographically it falls in the South so I added it to the list. Can you believe Burger King has over 19,000 locations throughout the world? That’s a lot of Whoppers!
BURBANK, CALIFORNIA – JANUARY 17: The Burger King logo is displayed at a Burger King fast food restaurant on January 17, 2024 in Burbank, California. (Photo by Mario Tama/Getty Images)
