Chili's Grill & Bar is a restaurant chain founded by Larry Lavine. The chain has over 1400 casual dining restaurants, mostly located in the United States and Canada. Chili's is currently owned by Brinker International, which also owns On the Border Mexican Grill & Cantina, Maggiano's Little Italy, and Romano's Macaroni Grill.

Chili's first location, a converted postal station on Greenville Avenue in Dallas, Texas, opened on March 13, 1975. Lavine's concept was to create an informal full-service dining restaurant with a menu featuring different types of hamburgers offered at an affordable price. The brand proved successful, and by the early 1980s there were 22 more Chili's locations in the region, all featuring similar Southwest decor.

In 1983, Lavine sold the company to restaurant executive Norman E. Brinker, formerly of the Pillsbury restaurant group. Chili's now has locations in all 50 U.S. states and 24 international locations.

Pizza Hut is an American restaurant chain and international franchise based in Addison, Texas (a northern suburb of Dallas), offering different styles of pizza along with side dishes including pasta, buffalo wings, breadsticks, and garlic bread. Pizza Hut is a subsidiary of Yum! Brands, Inc., the world's largest restaurant company, with approximately 34,000 restaurants, delivery-carry out units, and kiosks in 100 countries.

Pizza Hut is split into several restaurant formats; the original family-style "Red Roof" dine-in locations, delivery locations that offer a carry-out, delivery, and dine-in options, and the store front delivery and carry-out locations. Many full-size Pizza Hut locations offer lunch buffet, with "all-you-can-eat" pizza, salad, breadsticks, and a special pasta. Additionally, Pizza Hut also has a number of other business concepts that are different from the store type; Pizza Hut "Bistro" locations are Red Roofs which offer an expanded menu and slightly more upscale options.

Finally, "Pizza Hut Express" and "The Hut" locations are fast food restaurants. They offer a limited menu with many products not found at traditional Pizza Huts. These type of stores are often paired in a colocated location with a sibling brand such as Wing Street, KFC or Taco Bell, they can also be found on college campuses, food courts, theme parks, and in stores such as Target.

Papa John's Pizza (NASDAQ: PZZA) is the third largest take-out and delivery pizza restaurant chain in the United States, behind Pizza Hut and Domino's Pizza. It is based in Louisville, Kentucky. Papa John's slogan is "Better Ingredients. Better Pizza."

The founder of Papa John's, John Schnatter, began his pizza career at Rocky's Sub Pub in Jeffersonville, Indiana while attending Jeffersonville High School. John graduated from Jeffersonville High in 1980, and continued his association with the pizza business while attending Ball State University, working as a delivery driver for Greek's Pizzeria in Muncie. Upon graduating, he began working for his father, who was co-owner of the bar Mick's Lounge in Jeffersonville. In 1983, he sold his car (a 1971 Chevrolet Camaro Z28) to buy out the other owner of the bar, and started serving pizza to customers. Business started picking up.

In 2009, with the pizzeria chain firmly established, Schnatter set out to find his beloved '71 Camaro. After a few months, the original buyers of the car saw Schnatter mention his search for the car in a TV interview. They had sold the car only five years prior for $4,000 to Jeffrey Robinson of Flatwoods, Ky., who collected the $250,000 reward for returning it to Schnatter. The buyers Schnatter had sold the car to in 1983 were paid a $25,000 finder's fee.

The corporation credits its growth to great customer service, quality products, and menu simplicity, in contrast with other chains' focus on low prices. Fewer options in crust styles and side dishes simplify inventory management and are meant to allow greater focus on what options there are. However, since the mid-1990s, Papa John's has followed the industry trend and greatly expanded its menu options, adding thin-crust, pan pizza, and whole wheat crust options (available in one size only); "Robusto", barbecue, and Alfredo; 10 specialty pizzas, many with new toppings and new cheeses; chicken strips and three flavors of chicken wings; many dessert pastries, such as Apple pie; and new variations of bread sticks and cheese sticks.

The thin crust has been advertised as crispier than others (similar to St. Louis-style pizza) and the "Robusto" sauce introduced with the pan crust has chunky tomato pieces and more vibrant spice notes. To simplify in-store operations and to provide product consistency between stores, many functions such as dough production are carried out by an off-site commissary system similar to that of most other fast food chains.

Starbucks Corporation (NASDAQ: SBUX) is an international coffee and coffeehouse chain based in Seattle, Washington, United States. Starbucks is the largest coffeehouse company in the world, with 16,120 stores in 49 countries, including around 11,000 in the United States, followed by nearly 1,000 in Canada and more than 800 in Japan. Starbucks sells drip brewed coffee, espresso-based hot drinks, other hot and cold drinks, snacks, and items such as mugs and coffee beans. Through the Starbucks Entertainment division and Hear Music brand, the company also markets books, music, and film. Many of the company's products are seasonal or specific to the locality of the store. Starbucks-brand ice cream and coffee are also offered at grocery stores.

From Starbucks' founding in later forms in Seattle as a local coffee bean roaster and retailer, the company has expanded rapidly. In the 1990s, Starbucks was opening a new store every workday, a pace that continued into the 2000s. The first store outside the United States or Canada opened in the mid-'90s, and overseas stores now constitute almost one third of Starbucks' stores. The company plans to open a net of 900 new stores outside of the United States in 2009, but has announced 900 store closures in the United States since 2008.

Starbucks has been a frequent target of protests on issues such as fair-trade policies, labor relations, environmental impact, perceived anti-competitive practices, and rumors of support for the Israeli military.

Outback Steakhouse is an American casual dining restaurant chain based in Tampa, Florida, with over 900 locations in 21 countries throughout North and South America, Europe, Asia, and Australia. It specializes in USDA Choice and Prime steaks and other offerings in an Australian-inspired environment.



Founded in February 1988 in Tampa, Florida, by Bob Basham, Chris T. Sullivan, Trudy Cooper and Tim Gannon, it is owned and operated in the United States by OSI Restaurant Partners, and by franchise and venture agreements internationally. In 1997, it entered the South Korean market through the franchise agreement with Aussie Chung Inc. Currently, there are 101 Outback Steakhouse locations throughout South Korea. On June 14, 2007, OSI Restaurant Partners completed a stock repurchase plan, and the company is now privately held.

In March 2009, Outback closed all 9 locations in Ontario, but 3 remaining stores in Alberta continue to operate in the Canadian unit. Canadian Outback restaurants began in 1996.