You Probably Didn't Know These Fast Food Chains Are Guinness World Record Holders

Back in the 1950s, Guinness Brewery's managing director, Sir Hugh Beaver, had a thought while arguing with his shooting party about the fastest game bird in Europe. What if the company — known worldwide for its frothy, creamy Irish stout — could help settle such pub disputes? So in 1954, Beaver helped open Guinness Superlatives, which later became Guinness World Records. The beer company no longer owns Guinness World Records (they separated in 1997), but that hasn't stopped Guinness World Records from documenting the incredible, record-breaking accomplishments of people around the world.

And it isn't just people that can break records. Many of those 68,000-plus active record titles (and even those that have been broken) are held by companies. From MGM Studios to the Gevora Hotel in Dubai, companies have made the impossible possible, but our favorite record holders are those that have to do with food, and fast food companies have not disappointed. Join us in exploring nine fast food chains that have made it into the famed Guinness World Records book.

We have two brothers from Wichita, Kansas, to thank for Pizza Hut, which has been slinging pies since 1958. And regardless of where people stand in the pizza chain wars, Pizza Hut has an ultra-cool title to its name that the others do not: creator of the World's Largest Pizza. Teaming up with YouTuber Airrack (aka Eric Decker), Pizza Hut wanted to mark the return in 2023 of The Big New Yorker Pizza to its menu along with Airrack's achievement of hitting 10 million subscribers on YouTube.

The Big New Yorker is a New York-style pizza (meaning foldable, oversized, and topped with parmesan oregano). The World's Largest Pizza was essentially a 14,000-square-foot version of that. According to Pizza Hut, the record-breaking pizza took "approximately 13,653 pounds of dough, 4,948 pounds of sweet marinara sauce, over 8,800 pounds of cheese and roughly 630,496 regular and cupped pepperoni" to assemble. But have no fear, the pizza didn't go to waste. After being assembled at the Los Angeles Convention Center and baked in pieces, it was distributed to local charities for consumption.

We love a Big Gulp and a Slurpie, and we can all thank 7-Eleven for that. Today, convenience shopping is all the rage — and a part of our daily lives — but when the company that would become 7-Eleven was founded, it was groundbreaking. Back in 1927, the Southland Ice Company formed in Dallas, and on top of selling ice blocks for food preservation, it also began selling quick and easy food items to customers. Since then, 7-Eleven has claimed many a title, from the first store to have a self-serve soda fountain and the first convenience store chain to offer to-go coffee cups to being the first convenience store to sell gas.

None of these accolades, however, stacks up to the incredible feat of being named Largest Fast Food Brand by Number of Outlets. In 2017, Guinness World Records honored 7-Eleven with the title. When the record was broken, 7-Eleven had an estimated 63,052 stores. Today, the company's website claims 85,000 stores globally in 19 countries and regions.

Calling all Krispy Kreme lovers! The beloved donut shop has another claim to fame besides its delectable classic glazed donuts — though there are gas station alternatives that might just rival them — and it's big, literally. In 2009, Krispy Kreme was awarded the title of Largest Box of Donuts thanks to the work of the Kuwait Food Co. And whatever size box you're picturing, we promise it's not big enough.

The box, which was an exact replica of the boxes you can pick up at Krispy Kreme stores (and at grocery stores that sell Krispy Kreme donuts), came in at over 19 feet long, 13 feet wide and almost 3 feet deep. Over 2,700 pieces of Krispy Kreme donut deliciousness filled it up, making the record-breaking box weigh in at over 297 pounds. To help put that into context, a leatherback sea turtle — the largest sea turtle species — also weighs around 300 pounds.

Who would have thought you could find pizza at the bottom of the world? That's the case for Domino's Pizza, which can be found in Punta Arenas in Chile. As the capital city of Chile's most southern region, Punta Arenas is nestled in the gorgeous Patagonia region, which is known for its incredible mountainous landscapes and diverse wildlife. And, of course, it's also now home to a Domino's, which is the title holder for the Southernmost Fast Food Restaurant, according to Guinness World Records as of November 2021.

This record-breaking Domino's location is super south, located at 53.1387 S, 70.8898 W. How south is that? It's only 930 miles north of the Antarctic Circle. For comparison, Washington, D.C., is almost 9,000 miles north of the circle. And Guinness World Records does note that some people have differing definitions of fast food — one that doesn't count pizza chains as such — but we certainly think it does.

As kids, we were all kings and queens when sitting inside a Burger King restaurant thanks to the famous wearable paper crowns available to customers. Over the years, Burger King has made changes to its ever-so-popular crown — and to its famous mascot, the King — but none quite as flashy, or large, as what happened in 2011. That was the year when the Burger King crown was supersized in Staten Island, New York, as part of Burger King's new BK Crown/MC Program for Kids.

Grand Central Marketing worked with Burger King to create an aluminum sculpture version of the Burger King crown that weighed in at over 1,000 pounds. Around 640 aluminum rivets were used to affix nine aluminum panels, and the world record was achieved during the Statue of Liberty's 125th birthday. As a birthday gift to Lady Liberty herself, Burger King donated $125,000 to Lady Liberty's restoration fund.

Can a burrito ever be too big? We don't think so, and neither did El Pollo Loco, especially since the Mexican adjacent fast food restaurant earned its spot in Guinness World Records history for creating the World's Largest Burrito. As with several other world records that we've noted, the big burrito effort was for the benefit of charity — namely, an Orange County, California, children's charity. Plus, sections of the burrito were sponsored by various companies to help support the construction and financing of the burrito.

El Pollo Loco is known for handheld burritos, but the world's largest distinction comes with a big size increase. In fact, the record-breaking burrito was said to have been over 4,200 pounds (had it been weighed) and was over 3,000 feet long. If that sounds crazy, we agree, but it sounds (slightly) more manageable of a feat considering the extra-long, quite hefty burrito was only 3 inches wide.

Arby's — a fast food restaurant with a love-it-or-hate-it reputation — is the home of the curly fry and roast beef sandwich and two world records at the complete opposite ends of the spectrum. The achievements of Smallest Advertisement and Largest Advertising Poster were achieved in 2018 as a celebration of the partnership between Arby's and Coca-Cola. The Smallest Advertisement was printed on a sesame seed (the kind that tops the chain's buns) using an ion beam wielded by Georgia Tech engineers. The advertisement measured 38.3 microns x 19.2 micros, a much smaller ad than its largest one.

As a continuation of the celebration of Arby's and Coca-Cola, a poster was placed in a field in Monowi, Nebraska, which is known as the smallest town in the U.S. That poster, announcing the two brands partnering together, wound up being 211,315 square feet. Spanning nearly five acres, the poster earned Arby's a spot as the creator of the Largest Advertisement Poster in the world.

Perhaps you've heard the phrase, "oneth by land, twoeth by sea." In this case, the oneth by land is a pizza delivery that earned Pizza Hut the honor of the Highest Altitude Pizza Delivery on Land. What exactly does this mean? Well, the record-breaking pizza delivery was done as a promotional moment celebrating Tanzania's first Pizza Hut and marking Pizza Hut's footprint in 100 countries. And guess what else is in Tanzania that could help a person achieve such a record? That's right, Mt. Kilimanjaro.

Yum! Brands (the owner of Pizza Hut) and Pizza Hut Africa partnered to support the general manager of Pizza Hut Africa and several employees as they trekked up Mt. Kilimanjaro with a classic pepperoni pizza. The pizza traveled over 462 miles from where it was made to the summit, which reaches 19,341 feet above sea level, where the climbers enjoyed their slices. While there will probably only ever be that one pizza eaten so high, we know that the average person (those not climbing huge mountains) is snacking on pizza quite regularly, thanks to data from Pizza Hut.

The Dairy Queen Blizzard is a fan favorite, known most famously perhaps for the upside down tilt each cup is given as it's served to prove its thick consistency. While Blizzards come in four sizes from mini to large, there's actually a fifth size, even if it was only a one-time thing. In 2005, Dairy Queen went about creating the World's Largest Soft Serve Dessert at the Eastfield Mall in Springfield, Massachusetts It's noted as being a soft serve dessert since Dairy Queen doesn't sell real ice cream, at least according to the U.S. government.

The final product stood at over 22 feet tall and weighed in at an incredible 8,224.85 pounds. Blizzard flavors are always changing, but the largest happened to be made with Oreos, which is still on the menu today. As with other records, the event surrounding the record-breaking Blizzard raised funds for the Children's Miracle Network charity.