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A&W Restaurants

A&W Restaurants, Inc. is a chain of fast-food restaurants distinguished by its draft root beer, root beer floats and burgers. Its origins date back to 1919 when Roy W. Allen opened a walk-up root beer stand in Lodi, California. Allen's employee Frank Wright partnered with him and founded this first restaurant in Sacramento, California, in 1923. The company name was taken respectively from the initials of their last names—Allen and Wright. The company became famous in the United States for its "frosty mugs," where the mugs would be kept in the freezer and eventually get filled with A&W Root Beer before they were served to customers.