3 Famous Fast Food Restaurants That Got Their Start In Wichita, Kansas

Among its municipal bragging rights, Wichita, Kansas has a few claims to fame. It was the birthplace of Emmy and Golden Globe award-winning actress Kirstie Alley, for instance, and is credited as being the city where the very first electric guitar was ever played. But it is within the culinary realm where the largest city in Kansas really shines: Wichita is known as the birthplace of multiple fast food empires.

Three well-known fast food chains began in this famous city — namely, international pizza giant Pizza Hut, steakburger joint Freddy's Frozen Custard & Steakburgers, and slider specialty spot White Castle. Incidentally, the offerings of both burger chains ranked among the best fast food burgers, according to Reddit users. Before becoming widespread successes, these quick-bite companies experienced humble beginnings in that thriving Kansas metropolis, each one starting out as a family business.

First among the lineup was White Castle, launching in 1921 as a family-owned establishment. This burger joint actually holds the title of being the very first fast food chain in the United States, though many mistakenly believe McDonald's came first. Pizza Hut was next to emerge in Wichita, debuting in 1958, when a mother loaned $600 to her two sons so they could start a pizza business. Freddy's was last to emerge, getting its start in 2002 when another pair of brothers, together with a business partner, founded the franchise and named it after their hardworking father, Freddy Simon.

Of the three Wichita-born chains, Pizza Hut is without doubt the biggest success story, boasting over 20,000 franchise locations across the globe in 2024 (via Statista). It is a proud establisher of many firsts, including being the first national restaurant to offer internet-based delivery ordering, way back in 1994. The Hut impressively logged the very first outer space pizza delivery, sending a pizza by rocket to the International Space Station in 2001. Fifteen years later, the pizza joint achieved a world record by delivering a pie to the summit of Mt. Kilimanjaro. The delightful innovation that is stuffed crust also originated at Pizza Hut. Okay, maybe that's a bit lackluster compared to space travel and scaling mountains. But, all the same, we are so glad stuffed crust — now an official type of pizza all its own — now exists.

Freddy's Frozen Custard & Steakburgers has also achieved great success, with more than 550 restaurants as of January 2025 and over 130 new locations in the works through 2026, per PR Newswire. Though a relatively new kid on the block, Freddy's has become one of the fastest-growing franchises in the nation.

Bringing up the rear with just over 300 locations, but by no means an outlier, White Castle has many claims to glory, including being credited as the original inventor of the slider. While some debate still rages as to whether it was really the first to offer and name those mini burgers, TIME magazine ranked the restaurant's version of the sandwich as the number one most influential burger of all time.