Where Was Maid Rite Restaurant The First One?

In 1926, Fred Angell founded the first Maid-Rite sandwich shop in Muscatine, Iowa. The concept was initially a walk-up restaurant, but later expanded to include drive-up windows. The first franchise was opened in Durant, Iowa, which still maintains a Maid-Rite restaurant. The founder’s grandson, William Angell, led the growth of Maid-Rite franchises throughout the United States under his direction.

The first Maid-Rite sandwich was invented in 1926 by local butcher Fred Angell, who combined a special cut and grind of meat with a secret set of spices to create the famous Iowa sandwich. Ye Olde Tavern in Sioux City, Iowa, began selling its own version of the loosemeat sandwich in 1924, leading to the “tavern” name Wikipedia gives it. In 1926, Floyd Angell started the first Maid-Rite location in eastern Iowa.

The reach of Maid-Rite has a long arc, including favorable reviews on Yelp and TripAdvisor. In the early 1920s, two men from Quincy began the restaurant in a converted caboose in a time when east-west railroads were in operation. The first Maid-Rite franchise was purchased by Cliff Taylor for $300 in 1928.

Maid-Rite is an American casual dining franchise restaurant chain that has been making delicious Maid-Rite sandwiches since 1926. Originating in the midwest of the United States, specifically Iowa, this “loose meat” sandwich and others like it are supposedly the precursor to the original Maid-Rite sandwich. The first drive-thru window in the U.S. was built in 1921 and is located along historic U.S. Route 66. The National Register of Historic Places lists the building as the first drive-thru in the U.S. Established in 1924.