Taco Bell (1962)Glen Bell opened a stand selling tacos in 1951-1952 which he later sold before starting a restaurant named Taco Bell in 1964. By 1967, the company rapidly expanded and opened its 100th restaurant.

Subway (1968)The Subway Franchise Story. ... Frederick Adrian "Fred" DeLuca was born in Brooklyn, New York in 1947, lived in public housing in the Bronx, then moved to Schenectady and ultimately to Bridgeport, Connecticut. ... He is among a host of franchise founders who started poor and, like Dave ...

Harley-Davidson (1903)Harley and the Davidson brothers started their first factory and produced about 50 motorcycles that year. The business became so successful that it was one of the only 2 major American motorcycle manufacturers that survived the Great Depression.

Boeing (1930)The company’s first plane was the Boeing Model 1. In 1917, the name was changed to Boeing Airplane Company and it was successful at obtaining orders from the U.S. Navy for 50 planes.

Walmart (1962)Sam Walton opened a store selling products at low prices to get higher-volume sales at a lower profit margin. He portrayed his business mission as being a crusade for the consumer to help get them the lowest prices.

Burger King (1953)After visiting the McDonald brothers’ original store, Keith J. Kramer and his wife’s uncle, Matthew Burns, opened their first restaurant in 1953 and named it Insta-Burger King

Coca-Cola (1912)American pharmacist John Stith Pemberton invented the drink in the late 19th century as a purported over-the-counter medicine

Dairy Queen (1940) The ice cream soft-serve formula was developed in 1938 by John Fremont McCullough and his son Alex. They believed in their product and managed to successfully convince their friend and loyal customer Sherb Noble to start selling it in his ice cream store in Kankakee, Illinois. In just one day of selling the stuff, Noble dished out more than 1,600 servings of the new dessert within 2 hours.

Ford (circa 1900/1921)Ford believed that he could mass produce cars and make them accessible for everyone. To realize his dream,In 1898, James Cash Penney began working for a small chain of stores called the Golden Rule stores. Impressed by his work ethic and salesmanship, the owners of the store offered him one-third partnership in a new store they had opened. he founded the Detroit Automobile Company in 1899 which was rechristened as the Henry Ford Company in 1901

went on to be a founder of the company that we all know today as the Ford Motor Company. And yes, he did succeed in making cars affordable.

JCPenney (1902)In 1898, James Cash Penney began working for a small chain of stores called the Golden Rule stores. Impressed by his work ethic and salesmanship, the owners of the store offered him one-third partnership in a new store they had opened.

Thomas was innovative and his suggestions helped ailing KFC stores to become profitable. By 1968, Thomas had increased sales in 4 KFC restaurants so much that he sold his share back to Sanders for more than $1.5 million. Using this money, he founded Wendy’s the next year, naming it after his 8-year-old daughter, Melinda Lou “Wendy” Thomas.

In 1893, American pharmacist, Caleb Bradham developed a drink at his drugstore that would aid in digestion. He named it “Brad’s Drink”. 5 years later, however, he changed the name to Pepsi-Cola after the Greek word for digestion that sounded like “Pepsi” and “cola” after the kola nut. By 1904, the sales of the drink had increased to 19,848 gallons a year.

Amazon founder, Jeff Bezos, left his job as vice-president of D. E. Shaw & Co., a Wall Street firm to try and make a mark for himself in the Internet business boom. Bezos went on to start a company in his home garage that he called “Cadaver”. But a few months later when he heard a lawyer mispronounce the name, he decided to change it. The new name was Amazon, which he chose because it was a place that was “exotic and different”. It started as an online bookstore but gradually went on to become the online store we all know it to be today.

Levi Strauss & Co. (1880) Levi Strauss started a wholesale business of importing and selling fine dry goods from his brothers in New York including clothing, bedding, combs, purses, and handkerchiefs. Later he started making tents and subsequently, jeans.

From his experience, William Rosenberg found that donuts and coffee were the 2 most popular items selling at factories and construction sites. To capitalize on this business’s potential, he opened “Open Kettle” in 1948, a restaurant that sold donuts and coffee in Quincy, Massachusetts. However, after a discussion with company executives in 1950, the name was changed to Dunkin’ Donuts.