"A&W Restaurants, Inc. is an American fast food restaurant chain known for its root beer. The company is mainly active in the United States where it offers menus based on fries, hamburgers or hot dogs. Some branches offer drive-thru.
A&W was born in 1919 in Lodi, California when Roy Allen and Frank Wright started a partnership to sell root beer. They named their drinks A&W Root Beer after their names. Two years later, Allen bought out Wright's shares and began franchising its products.
The Canadian subsidiary was sold in 1972 and operates under the name A&W Food Services of Canada.
In 1956, the first A&W drive-thru restaurant in Canada opened on Portage Avenue in Winnipeg. Serving up a delicious combination of savory burgers, onion rings and frosty cups of A&W's famous Root Beer, all from the smiling faces of friendly car jumps. A&W proved to be an instant hit."