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In 1919, Roy Allen opened a root beer stand in Lodi, California.
He later partnered with Frank Wright, forming A&W—named from their initials.
The business grew from a single drink counter into America's oldest restaurant chain, largely with the help of its signature root beer.
A&W debuted their "frosty mug" service in 1919.
The restaurant chain stored heavy glass mugs in freezers at 34 degrees Fahrenheit, creating a thick layer of frost on the exterior.
When servers filled these mugs with root beer, the cold glass produced a layer of fine ice crystals in the drink.
The frosted mugs solved a practical problem: they kept root beer cold twice as long as regular glasses.
The frost also provided a tactile experience—customers gripped mugs that felt like they'd been carved from ice.
The mugs became A&W's trademark dish.
A&W opened its first overseas restaurant in Okinawa in 1963, when the U.S. military controlled the island.
Root beer floats and hamburgers joined rice and soba noodles on the streets of Naha.
The restaurant chain followed U.S. military bases across the Pacific, serving familiar tastes of home to stationed troops while introducing local residents to drive-in dining.
In 1963, a regular customer at A&W's Lansing, Michigan location kept ordering a cheeseburger with a specific request: "Add bacon."
The restaurant's management spotted a business opportunity.
They standardized the combination and added the bacon cheeseburger to their menu—making A&W the inventor of the bacon cheeseburger.
By 1974, A&W operated 2,400 restaurants across America—more locations than McDonald's at the time.
The chain's root beer stands had evolved into full-service restaurants, drawing customers with frosted mugs and made-to-order burgers.
But in the following years, A&W lost ground to competitors who streamlined operations and standardized their menus.
As other chains adopted drive-thrus and quick-service models, A&W's table service and varied franchising approaches became liabilities and old-timey.
In 1985, A&W Restaurants launched a new burger containing one-third pound of beef to compete with McDonald's Quarter Pounder.
A&W priced their burger below McDonald's and used larger beef patties.
The product failed.
Many customers thought 1/3 pound contained less meat than 1/4 pound.
They saw the "3" in "third" as smaller than the "4" in "quarter," leading them to view A&W's burger as both more expensive and smaller than the Quarter Pounder.
This mathematical error sank A&W's attempt to gain market share in the fast-food burger market.
A&W's famous mascot Rooty the Root Bear started in Canada.
The company launched him in 1974, where he appeared in TV commercials and restaurant displays across Canadian provinces.
His success there convinced A&W's marketing team to expand his presence.
They brought him to U.S. restaurants and later to A&W locations throughout Asia.
In 1993, Cadbury Beverages bought A&W Root Beer, adding the brand to its portfolio of soft drinks.
Fifteen years later, in 2008, Cadbury split its U.S. beverage division into a separate company called Dr Pepper Snapple Group.
This split moved A&W Root Beer from Cadbury's ownership to Dr Pepper Snapple Group's control.
By December 2021, A&W had grown into a restaurant chain with 900 locations worldwide, including 600 in the United States.
The company's June 20, 2019 centennial celebration marked a rare achievement in the restaurant industry, where 60% of establishments close within their first year and 80% shut down within five years.
Throughout its history, A&W has maintained its core product—root beer served in frosted glass mugs—while adapting its menu to changing tastes.
Each mug still contains the same root beer recipe that Allen developed in 1919, made fresh daily in each restaurant using real cane sugar, bark, berries, spices, and herbs.
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