Successful Fast-Food Chains, 5-9

See the remainder of our list of successful fast-food chains, beginning with KFC.

5. KFC

Kentucky Fried Chicken was the brainchild of Harland Sanders, who opened his first restaurant during the Great Depression in a gas station in Corbin, Kentucky. In the 1930s, Sanders developed his secret recipe of 11 herbs and spices, which has been touted as one of the best-kept secrets in the world and to this day is locked in a vault in Louisville.

Colonel Sanders, as he was known, sold his empire for $2 million in 1964. Today, KFC is a $10.3 billion franchise with more than 11,000 restaurants in 80 countries. The company employs 750,000 people who serve more than a billion "finger lickin' good" chicken meals each year.

6. Wendy's

Dave Thomas opened the first Wendy's -- named for his daughter -- in Columbus, Ohio, in 1969. In 1970, Thomas introduced the drive-thru window, an innovation that allowed customers to purchase food without leaving their cars. The chain's passion for customer service and quality products has remained unchanged throughout the years. Today, with an annual income of $3.7 billion, Wendy's has more than 9,900 restaurants and 58,000 employees.

7. Domino's Pizza

Brothers Tom and James Monaghan started the first Domino's Pizza in 1960 in Ypsilanti, Michigan, when they purchased a pizza store called DomiNick's for $500. A year later, Tom became the restaurant's sole owner when James traded his share of the business for a Volkswagen Beetle. Tom renamed the store Domino's Pizza and it soon became one of the world's leading pizza chains with more than 8,000 stores in 50 countries. Serving in excess of one million customers a day, Domino's employs more than 140,000 people and brings in an annual income of $1.4 billion.

8. Taco Bell

Glen Bell opened the first Taco Bell in Downey, California, in 1962. In 1964, the first franchise was granted, and in 1969, Taco Bell went public on the stock market. Every year since 2001, company sales have increased 6 percent, and today, sales total more than $1.8 billion. Taco Bell maintains more than 6,000 restaurants worldwide, employing 143,000 workers.

9. Arby's

Founded in Ohio in 1964 by Forest and Leroy Raffel, the name Arby's is a play on R.B., an abbreviation for Raffel Brothers and also for roast beef, the restaurant's specialty. Always ahead of its time, in 1991 Arby's became the first fast-food chain to introduce a light menu, adding three sandwiches and four salads, all of which were under 300 calories and 94 percent fat free. In 1994, the chain banned smoking in all of its restaurants. Arby's currently employs more than 82,000 people at 3,500 stores worldwide and brings in $1.8 billion annually.

CONTRIBUTING WRITERS:

Helen Davies, Marjorie Dorfman, Mary Fons, Deborah Hawkins, Martin Hintz, Linnea Lundgren, David Priess, Julia Clark Robinson, Paul Seaburn, Heidi Stevens, and Steve Theunissen