The Netherlands – FEBO
FEBO is a chain of Dutch walk-up fast food restaurants of the automatiek type. Founded in 1941 in Amsterdam, FEBO is most notable for this automatiek format: a counter is available for purchasing French fries, beverages, and hamburgers. Other FEBO snacks can be bought from the automats. The primary automat-vended items are krokets, frikandellen, hamburgers, “cheese soufflés” and such.
A kroket, a typical food from FEBO.
FEBO from the street.
Argentina – California Burrito Co.
California Burrito Co is a fast food restaurant chain selling gourmet burritos. It was started by Jordan Metzner and Sam Nadler in 2006 in Buenos Aires[1]. There are now 4 stores in Buenos Aires, 1 store in Medellin, Colombia and 1 in Cordoba, Argentina.
Australia — Oporto
Oporto is an Australian-based fast-food franchise with a Portuguese-theme. Oporto specialises in Portuguese style chicken (properly known as Galinha à Africana), burgers, chips and spicy chilli sauce. Oporto has more than 100 ‘eat in’ or ‘take-away’ restaurants in Australia, New Zealand, China and the United Kingdom, although a large majority of these are located in New South Wales.
Here’s one of their commercials:
Brazil – Bob’s
Bob’s is the first Brazilian fast food chain, founded in 1952 by the American Brazilian tennis champion Robert Falkenburg, Wimbledon tourney winner in 1948. The first store was open in the borough of Copacabana in Rio de Janeiro. Falkenburg (also known as “Bob”) was the first person to introduce the fast-food concept in Brazil.[citation needed] The first store in Rio, introduced for the first time in the country Hot Dogs, Hamburgers, milkshakes and sundaes. In 1972, however, Falkenburg sold the franchise to the Brazilian Fast Food Corporation (BFFC).
Video taken at Bob’s (interesting):
Costa Rica – Rostipollos
RostiPollos is a restaurant franchise founded in Costa Rica by Nicaraguan businessman Mauricio Mendieta. The franchise specializes in roast chicken dishes, with sides such as salads and fries in a more Central American style. (The name “RostiPollos” roughly translates as “roasty chicken.”) Entrees reflect traditional Central American cuisine. The first restaurant was opened in the wealthy Escazú district of San José, Costa Rica in 1983 by the husband-and-wife team of Mauricio Mendieta Herdocia and Ivania Espinosa [1]. As Mauricio Mendieta is Nicaraguan, the restaurant claims to be the first Nicaraguan restaurant to have franchises.
And here’s a really cool commercial from them:
People’s Republic of China – Mr. Lee
Mr. Lee (Simplified Chinese: 李先生; Hanyu Pinyin: Lǐ Xiān Sheng) is a popular fast-food chain in mainland China, specializing in beef noodle soup and other Chinese-style fast food. The chain was formerly called California Beef Noodle King U.S.A. (simplified Chinese: 美国加州牛肉面大王; pinyin: Měiguó Jiāzhōu niúròumiàn dà wáng). The first franchise was opened in Beijing in 1988 by a Californian Chinese-American, Li Beiqi (Chinese: 李北祺; pinyin: Lǐ Běiqí), also known as “Mr. Lee.” Li’s face can be seen as part of the company logo, in a style similar to KFC’s Colonel Sanders logo. Today, there are several hundred franchises are present in many major north-eastern Chinese cities. Notable locations include Shanghai, Nanjing, Tianjin, Harbin, Changchun, Qingdao and Shenyang.[1] Mr. Lee competes with foreign franchises such as KFC and McDonald’s with lower prices and a greater appeal towards Chinese tastes.
Finland – Hesburger
Hesburger (commonly known in Finland as hese) is a fast-food chain based in Turku, Finland. Today, it is the largest Finnish hamburger restaurant chain, with a larger presence in the Finnish market than U.S.-based McDonald’s. With only 12 outlets in 1992, Hesburger expanded to over 200 restaurants in 60 towns across Finland over the following decade, absorbing rival chain Carrols in 2002. Hesburger has also expanded to international markets, opening outlets in the Baltic states and Germany.[1] There was a Hesburger in Syria for a short period, but it was closed as unprofitable. In the spring of 2006, Hesburger had 204 restaurants in Finland, 25 in Latvia, 23 in Estonia, 17 in Lithuania, four in Germany and two in Russia. Hesburger continues with attempts to penetrate the Middle East markets, via contracts with local companies.
Also watch this hilarious commercial:
Ireland – Abrakebabra
Abrakebabra is a franchise chain of Irish fast food restaurants owned by Abrakebabra Investments and was established in 1982. When the first Abrakebabra restaurant was opened it attracted a young market because of its late opening hours, good music and its new food concepts such as kebabs and taco fries. In recent years Abrakebabra have begun to open at earlier times and in new locations like shopping centres, catering to a wider market. It has over 55 successful franchisees bringing in an annual turnover of over €30,000,000. It is owned in partnership with entrepreneur Graeme Beere and promoter Denis Desmond.
I guess Colin Ferrell is a fan.
Japan – Yoshinoya
Yoshinoya was established in Japan in 1899, is the largest chain of beef bowl (or gyūdon) restaurants and one of the leading Japanese fast food chains. Its motto is “Tasty, low-priced, and quick”.[1] It has its headquarters in the Da Vinci Shinjuku Building (ダヴィンチ新宿ビル, Davinchi Shinjuku Biru?) in Shinjuku, Tokyo. In its restaurants in Japan, tables are often counters, and in that case they take orders over those counters. Chopsticks are ready to provide. Orders might include standard-serving (nami, or namimori, 並盛), large-serving (ōmori, 大盛), or extra-large-serving (tokumori, 特盛) beef bowls, pork bowls (butadon, 豚丼), raw eggs (to stir and pour on top, sometimes mixed with soy sauce), miso soup, and pickles (called oshinkō [お新香] in its menu, kind of asazuke). They also serve red ginger (beni shōga), spice, and Japanese tea (ocha, お茶) free of charge. Some menus including raw eggs and miso soup can be taken out.[5]Some customers make special requests such as “tsuyu-daku” (extra sauce/gravy), less commonly “negi-daku” (extra onions), and vice versa, “tsuyu-nuki” (without sauce/gravy), or “negi-nuki” (without onions), all of which need no extra charge.Its beef bowl is sometimes called “Yoshi-gyū” by its enthusiasts in Japan as a contraction meaning Yoshinoya’s gyūdon, which they also use for calling the restaurant itself.The kanji of “yoshi” in the name Yoshinoya is slightly different from “吉” and has a part of “土” instead of “士”, which is not included in standard Japanese computer fonts.
Nigeria – Mr. Biggs
Mr. Bigg’s is Nigeria’s first chain of fast food restaurants. Owned by conglomerate United African Company of Nigeria PLC, there are currently around 170 locations in Nigeria, including the country’s first drive-through restaurant, with another four locations in Ghana. Mr. Bigg’s specialty is the meat pie. A common lunch might also include scotch eggs, a sugared donut, chicken, and a soft drink. While western fare such as hamburgers is served, Nigerian delicacies such as jollof rice and moin moin are more popular. Birthday cakes are also a popular product, and Mr. Bigg’s bakery offers cakes and pastries
Looks yummy, that’s heritage beef and plaintains.
So which one’s your favorite?