Fast Food GiveawaysKansas has played a role in the development of the fast food industry.Many historians have pointed out that Fred Harvey's restaurants along the routes of the Atchison, Topeka, and Santa Fe Railway was the first restaurant chain in the United States, and the Harvey Houses are one of the first examples of food served fast. Several regional fast food chains started in Kansas, and two of them have grown to national importance. Both began in Wichita--White Castle in 1921 and Pizza Hut in 1958. 
White Castle sprang from the grill of itinerant fry cook Walter Anderson, who operated his own hamburger shop in Wichita. In May, 1921, Anderson teamed up with local businessman E.W. "Billy" Ingram, who provided the capital for the first White Castle restaurant with the idea it would be the first of many shops. White Castle quickly expanded beyond Wichita. While it would never be a truly "national" chain, it operated hamburger shops in several major cities. By limiting the menu largely to hamburgers and beverages, White Castle had its success in doing only a few things but doing them well. This White Castle mug, probably dating from the 1930s, was acquired by the Kansas Museum of History to document the firm's early roots in the state. Ironically, White Castle closed its original stores in Kansas in 1938. It attempted a failed return to the Kansas City area in the 1990s. White Castle does not currently operate in the state of Kansas. 
On June 15, 1958, brothers Frank and Dan Carney took advantage of the "pizza craze" sweeping the country by opening the first Pizza Hut in Wichita. A year later the first Pizza Hut franchise opened in Topeka, and the move to become a national chain was on. One of the first symbols of the company was "Pizza Hut Pete," shown here in the form of a bank that was a promotional giveaway to customers. "Pete" was used by the company into the mid-1970s, when the familiar red roof logo began to appear. "Pete" might simply have outlived his usefulness, or perhaps he was seen as too much of an Italian stereotype to be an effective image for the company. The bank was acquired by the museum in 1989.
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