A&W Root Beer: Which Came First The Soda Or The Restaurant?

Forget the whole debacle of whether the chicken or the egg came first; there's a real-world conundrum that fits the same bill. Nowadays, the A&W brand has spread far and wide, with approximately 460 restaurant locations in the United States alone as of 2024. But of course, it was not always this way, because A&W's humble origins date all the way back to 1919.

A&W has some pretty stellar root beer, even placing high on Chowhound's ranking of popular root beer brands. And as it turns out, this soda with the misleading name has been a foundational piece of A&W's history since the very beginning. That's right, before A&W became a restaurant in any capacity, principal founder Roy W. Allen made some coin with a simple stand selling what would become his signature root beer. Fast forward over a century, and A&W has become a full-force fast food brand, but its root beer remains one of its standout products. So, whether you're enjoying a meal at A&W or simply grabbing a can of its signature soda to enjoy in a bourbon root beer float, you can thank the brand's root beer for its early success, allowing you to enjoy it today.

Roy Allen might have started this particular venture with little more than a root beer cart in Lodi, California, but it wouldn't take long before he brought his entrepreneurial know-how to this humble locale. Since Allen was originally a hotelier, it's no surprise that he brought a philosophy of expansion and growth to his fledgling root beer business too. After finding some success with his root beer operation, Allen partnered with Frank Wright, the "W" to Allen's "A" in 1922, and the two began selling root beer at stands throughout parts of California.

From here, A&W continued to grow into the fast food mainstay that it is today. Even in 1925, after Allen had bought out Wright's shares of their company, A&W was selling locations to franchisees. However, in 1950, things really took off, with about 450 A&W locations serving their goods. In 1956, the first A&W outside of the United States opened, and international growth only expanded from there. 

Now, a little over 100 years later, A&W is so much more than its root beer, but so much of its brand is still tied to its origin — like its adorable mascot the "Rooty the Great Root Bear" and even a record for the largest root beer float back in 1999 in celebration of A&W's 80th anniversary. And considering how much success it's had thanks to its root beer, you really can't blame A&W for leaning into its most iconic product.