1Domino's tattoo
In 2018, the Domino’s in Russia offered up to 100 free pizzas every year for 100 years if a customer got the Domino’s logo tattooed visibly on their body. Initially intended to last a month the promotion proved to be so popular Domino’s ended it after a week with 350 accepted winners.
2. In 2012, Dunkin’ Donuts launched an ad campaign in Seoul, Korea where scent spray devices installed on buses would release a fragrant coffee aroma when triggered by the sound of the Dunkin’ Donuts radio jingle. The campaign reached more than 350,000 people, and its sales near the bus stops increased by 29%.
3. Wendy's chocolate Frosty is actually half chocolate and half vanilla because owner Dave Thomas thought-full chocolate would be too overpowering a flavor paired with their burger and fries meal.
4. A McDonald's Caesar Salad has more calories, fat, and salt than a Double Big Mac burger.
5. A Starbucks hot “venti” latte and “grande” latte each have exactly two shots of espresso. The extra dollar you are paying for the larger size is essentially buying you 4 ounces of frothed milk.
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6Taco Bell
Taco Bell failed to pay two Michigan men who created the Taco Bell Chihuahua mascot and were court-ordered to pay back $42 million in 2009.
7. In 2012, Papa John’s was sued for more than $250 million for spam texting people in the middle of the night.
8. McDonald’s paid Justin Timberlake an estimated $6 million to sing ba-da-ba-ba-bah as part of their “I’m Loving It” campaign.
9. Dominos Pizza ended the "30 Minutes or it's Free" guarantee, in the 1980s, after a delivery driver killed a woman trying to meet the time constraint.
10. Dairy Queen doesn't serve ice cream. To be categorized as ice cream, the minimum butterfat content must be 10% and their product only has only 5% butterfat. Therefore, it is called "soft-serve."
11Häagen-Dazs
The name “Häagen-Dazs” was completely made up by its Polish Jewish founders to sound Danish. The umlaut (¨) does not even exist in Danish and neither does the “zs” letter combination.
12. Whataburger in Texas and What-A-Burger in Virginia opened about the same time in 1950 but didn't know of each other's existence until 1970. They both sued the other, but the court ruled that customers were not likely to be confused about whether the burgers served came from Texas or Virginia.
13. In 1988, Denny's restaurants (which are open 24 hours, 365 days a year) decided to close for Christmas and give their employees a day off. The only problem they faced was that they had no locks on their doors, so they had to outfit 700 locations with new locks so that they would be able to close for the day.
14. McDonald's did away with their spoon-shaped coffee stirrers because people were using them as cocaine spoons.
15. Taco Bell tried twice to enter the Mexican market and failed spectacularly both times as locals decried the food as inauthentic and a joke.
1611-inch Footlongs
In 2013, Subway was sued for selling 11-inch Footlongs. In the settlement, they agreed to pay $525,000 in attorney fees and required their restaurants to now measure bread, so that Footlong and 6-inch sandwiches will indeed be at least 12 inches and 6 inches, respectively.
17. In 2017, a Carl's Jr. in Santa Rosa, California, which was untouched by the surrounding wildfires, suddenly caught fire when staff made 165 hamburgers for the first responders.
18. McDonald's once came up with bubblegum flavored broccoli, in an attempt to get kids to eat healthier. It was never introduced as children found the flavor confusing.
19. In 1984, Burger King ran an ad campaign with a character called “Mister Rodney” touting its superior cooking over McDonald’s. This character closely resembled Mister Rogers and the campaign stopped after Mister Rogers himself called Burger King’s vice president, who had the commercial taken off the air.
20. Taco Bell provides tortillas for NASA to use in lieu of bread, which can cause problems aboard International Space Station as bread crumbs can get caught in instruments. These Taco Bell tortillas are ideal due to their long shelf life.
21Pizza Hut
Pizza Hut delivered to the International Space Station. In 2001, they paid Russia $1 million to transport the pizza into space.
22. Dominos Pizza awards all store managers who achieve $25,000 in sales a week for four consecutive weeks with a customized Rolex watch, in a contest called "The Rolex Challenge."
23. McDonald's sued Irish fast-food chain Supermac for trademark infringement but failed and ended up losing their Big Mac trademark as well because they were unable to prove that they had used the Big Mac trademark in the EU.
24. Panera Bread once tried to stop a Qdoba Mexican Grill from opening nearby by trying to argue that a ‘burrito is a sandwich’ and thus breaking the lease agreement restricting rent from another ‘sandwich shop.’
25. McDonald's was supposed to revamp the Golden Arches in 1960 but a psychologist argued to keep it because it resembled breasts, giving Freudian applications to the subconscious mind of the consumer.