You eat there all the time, so you think you know a place. But here are some random, surprising facts about some of your favorite chain restaurants.
- There's a Starbucks inside of the CIA's headquarters - It’s called “Store Number 1” and employees aren’t allowed to write names on cups because of the undercover agents and all.
- The donuts at Dunkin' Donuts make up less than 10% of their sales - Some New England franchisees estimate the sales breakdown to be 65% beverages, 27% sandwiches, bagels, and other eats, and just 8% donuts.
- The Andes Mints you get at Olive Garden are different than what you buy in stores - The traditional Andes have two chocolate layers with a mint layer in between, but Olive Garden’s have two equal layers of mint and chocolate.
- McDonald's kale salad has more calories (730) than their Double Big Mac (680) - And it has more fat and sodium, but less protein. Mind blown!
- Red Lobster lost millions of dollars by offering endless crab in 2003 - The chain lost an average of $1.1-million a month for a while that year.
- Denny's is usually open 24 hours a day, all 365 days of the year - But for Christmas in 1988, they decided to close most locations. The only problem? Many stores didn’t even have locks and keys because they’d never needed them. There were 700 of the 1221 locations that had to install locks for the holiday!
- Chili’s "fajita effect” is real - When an order of sizzling fajitas goes out, the kitchen starts getting more skillets ready because that smell and sound always encourages more orders of them.
- Julia Stewart started as a waitress at IHOP - Now she’s their CEO.
- Someone ordered a burger from In-N-Out with 100 patties and 100 slices of cheese - It was Halloween 2004 and they happily fulfilled the request, but now they have a four patty, four slices of cheese max rule.
- Jason Mraz owns an avocado farm and sells 30,000 pounds per year to Chipotle - Think about that when you’re paying extra for the green goodness.
- Wendy's chocolate Frosty is actually a combination of chocolate and vanilla - Company founder Dave Thomas thought full chocolate would overpower the burgers and fries.
Source: Buzzfeed