Wendy's

Wendy's founder Dave Thomas (July 2, 1932 – January 8, 2002) dropped out of high school but picked up his GED in 1993. His GED class voted him Most Likely to Succeed.

Before he founded Wendy's, Dave Thomas worked for Kentucky Fried Chicken ending up as a Regional Director. He is credited with inventing the famous red and white KFC bucket, and advising Colonel Sanders to appear in his own commercials.

Dave Thomas opened the first Wendy's restaurant on November 15, 1969 in Columbus, Ohio.

Wendy's "old fashioned" burgers were inspired by Thomas's trips to Kewpee Hamburgers in his home town of Kalamazoo, Michigan, which sold square patties.

Wendy's is named after Dave Thomas' daughter, Melinda—she couldn't pronounce Rs and Ls as a kid, calling herself “Wenda.”

Dave Thomas regretted using his daughter's name. Not long before he died he told his daughter: "I should've just named it after myself, because it put a lot of pressure on you."

The first Wendy's franchisee, L.S. Hartzog, signed an agreement for Indianapolis, Indiana in August 1972.

A single Dutch snack restaurant holds the registered name Wendy's since 1988 in the Benelux (Belgium/Netherlands/Luxembourg) region. This has hindered Wendy's attempts to branch out in Europe, even after Wendy's (US) went to court to try to get the trademark registration dropped.

Wendy's moved its headquarters to Dublin, Ohio, on January 29, 2006.

As of late 2025, Wendy's was the world's third largest hamburger fast food chain with over 7,240 locations, following Burger King and McDonald's.

Of the total of 7,240+ locations, 6,825 restaurants are franchised, and 92% of the system-wide restaurants are located in North America.

There are no Wendy's in Europe due to a local Dutch snackbar owner owning the Wendy's trademark in Europe. Since the year 2000, Wendy's has been embroiled in a legal war with the Dutch Wendy's, attempting to acquire a European trademark. Dutch courts, however, side with Dutch Wendy's every time. 

Dave Thomas insisted his favorite meal was a Wendy's Single with cheese, mustard, pickle and onion, fries, a frosty dairy dessert and a Diet Coke.

Dave Thomas appeared in more than 800 commercial advertisements for the Wendy's chain from 1989 to 2002, more than any other company founder in television history.

As a high-school dropout, Dave Thomas was afraid his success would convince teens to drop out of school, so at age 60, he went back and got his GED.

Clara Peller, a retired manicurist, was hired at age 80 as a temp on a commercial set. Her voice and manner brought an acting contract, and she became rich and famous from Wendy's "Where's the beef" campaign.

Peller lost her job in 1985 after doing a Prego ad in which she "found the beef at somewhere other than Wendy's."

Wendy's burgers are square and not circular because square patties have corners that stick out so that customers can easily see the quality of the meat.

Wendy's Bacon Deluxe 

For dessert, Wendy's serve Frostys, which is actually a mixture of chocolate and vanilla flavors. This was because Dave Thomas thought that 100% chocolate would be too overpowering a flavor when paired with a Wendy's burger and fries meal.

Walmart

Walmart is an American multinational retail corporation that operates a chain of hypermarkets, discount department stores, and grocery stores.

By Mike Kalasnik from Fort Mill, USA - Wal-Mart Albemarle Rd Charlotte

HISTORY

The history of Walmart began in 1945 when 26-year-old businessman Sam Walton  (March 29, 1918 – April 5, 1992) purchased a Ben Franklin variety store in Newport, Arkansas with the help of a $20,000 loan from his father-in-law, plus $5,000 he had saved while serving in the Army during World War II.  His primary focus was selling products at low prices to get higher-volume sales at a lower profit margin.

Five years later, Walton purchased a store from Luther E. Harrison in Bentonville, Arkansas, and opened a five and dime store Walton's 5 & 10.

The original Walton's Five and Dime store in Bentonville, By User Bobak 

The first true Walmart opened on July 2, 1962, in Rogers, Arkansas. Called the Wal-Mart Discount City store, it was located at 719 West Walnut Street. It was Walton's assistant, Bob Bogle, who came up with the name "Wal-Mart" for the new chain.

Within five years the Wal-Mart company had grown to 24 stores across the state of Arkansas, and had reached $12.6 million in sales.

In 1968, the Wal-Mart company opened its first stores outside of Arkansas in Sikeston, Missouri and Claremore, Oklahoma.

The company was incorporated as Wal-Mart, Inc. on October 31, 1969

By 1988, Walmart was the most profitable retailer in the United States, and by October 1989, it had become the largest in terms of revenue, though it did not outsell K-Mart and Sears in terms of value of items purchased until late 1990 or early 1991.

Sam Walton was an avid pilot and used his small aluminium plane to scout new store locations and keep tabs on his stores.

Sam Walton was worth around $8.6 billion when he died on April 5, 1992, but still insisted on having $5 haircuts (leaving no tip).

Vermont was the last U.S. state to get a Walmart, holding out until 1996.

FUN WALMART FACTS

There are more than 8,000 Walmart stores around the world, and over 2 million people work for Wal-Mart.

Wal-Mart was the largest U.S. grocery retailer in 2019, and 65 percent of Wal-Mart's US$510.329 billion sales came from U.S. operations. The company's revenue today is higher than the GDP of Denmark.

The Walton family of Wal-Mart own more wealth than the combined bottom 40 percent of America.

Wal-Mart makes $500 every second.

For every dollar spent in the U.S., 8 cents are spent at Walmart stores.

90% of Americans live within 15 minutes of a Walmart store.

1 in 100 employed Americans is currently working at Walmart.

Walmart employs more people worldwide than there are people living in New Mexico.

There are no Walmarts in New York City.

In 2012, Walmart held a contest, in which the rapper Pitbull would perform in a Walmart with the most likes on its Facebook page. After the #ExilePitbull Twitter campaign, the shop in the remote island town of Kodiak, Alaska, ended up winning.

One of the reasons Walmart failed to establish itself in Germany is that it required its checkout employees to smile at customers. This was however perceived by most Germans as unnerving, as Germans usually don't smile at strangers.

Wal-Mart has its own ‘radio station’ that plays the same music across every store in the United States, complete with DJs, shoutouts, and the like.

In 2005, movie director Robert Greenwald made a documentary movie called Wal-Mart: The High Cost of Low Price. The film presented a negative picture of Wal-Mart's business practices through interviews with former employees, small business owners, and footage of Wal-Mart executives. After this movie was announced, director Ron Galloway made a film that ended up being released at the same time called Why Wal-Mart Works; and Why That Drives Some People C-R-A-Z-Y. This movie had a positive view of Wal-Mart.

Film poster

Shaquille O'Neal holds Walmart's record for the biggest purchase sale in one stop. Shaq spent just over $70,000 on one occasion in 2008.

Police are called to Walmart stores three to four times as often as they are to other big-box retailers like Target. 25% of all arrests in St. Petersburg, Florida and 92% of larceny calls in Granite Falls, North Carolina are attributed to single Walmart locations in each city. 

Johnnie Walker

In 1820 John 'Johnnie' Walker (1805-1857) used part of a legacy to open a grocery, wine and spirits shop in the Scottish town of Kilmarnock, East Ayrshire. He soon made a name for himself by blending whiskies from different distilleries, which tasted better than any of the individual constituents he was using.

When the British Parliament three years later eased the restrictions on licensed distilleries, while at the same time making it harder for the illegal stills to John Walker along with many other Scottish whisky manufacturers found their profits increasing substantially.

Johnnie Walker is now owned by Diageo and sold in almost every country, with annual sales of the equivalent of over 223.7 million 700 ml bottles in 2016 (156.6 million litres).

Until 2013 was the most widely distributed brand of blended Scotch whisky in the world. That year it was overtaken by Officer's Choice commonly known as OC,  an Indian whisky brand. It should be noted most distilled spirits that are labelled as "whisky" in India are actually distilled from fermented molasses with only 10 to 12 per cent consisting of traditional malt whisky,  Outside India, such a drink would more likely be labelled a rum.

Volvo

HISTORY

Volvo was established in 1915 as a subsidiary of SKF, a Swedish ball bearing manufacturer. The name Volvo means "I roll" in Latin, conjugated from "volvere".

The Volvo Group itself considers it started in 1927. The first Volvo car, a Volvo ÖV 4, rolled off the production line at the factory in Hisingen, Gothenburg on April 14, 1927.

OV4 1 Wikipedia

The ÖV 4 was not very successful in the Swedish climate, so the covered version, PV 4, was introduced at the end of 1928. Between 1927 and 1929 a total of 996 cars were manufactured.

The first truck, the "Series 1", debuted in January 1928. It was an immediate success and attracted attention outside Sweden.

In 1959, one of Volvo's engineers, Nils Bohlin, invented the 3-point seat belt. Instead of keeping the design proprietary and profiting from it, Volvo made the unprecedented decision to open the patent (or provide a free license) to all other car manufacturers. The company's reasoning was that the invention was so significant for road safety that it had more value as a life-saving tool than as a source of corporate profit. Volvo's guiding principle is safety, and they prioritized the saving of lives globally over financial gain

It is now a standard safety feature in all cars and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration says that the seat belt saves about 11,000 lives per year. .

When redesigning its seats in the 1960s, Volvo worked with orthopaedic surgeons to create a design that would reduce driving induced back pain.

Volvo was responsible for the first child-friendly car seat in 1967.

Debuting as Volvo's first widely successful sports car, the P1800 saw nearly 50,000 models roll off the production line before its 1973 finale. The car's fame was fueled by its appearance on the British TV series The Saint, driven by the pre-James Bond Roger Moore. The show aired from 1962 to 1969.

The Saint logo next to P958-X2 at Volvo Museum. By Jarvin 

Volvo renamed their Cream Yellow paint color for their 1995 850 T-5R "Faded Yellow" in Australia. This was because they knew the paint would eventually fade under the Australian sun due to the technology at the time.

In 2004, Volvo created a concept car for women in which the pedals adjusted for high heels and the headrest could accommodate a ponytail.

Ford bought the Volvo car company in 1999. In March 2010, Ford signed a deal to sell Volvo to China's biggest multinational automotive manufacturing company Geely for $1.8 billion.

Today there are two companies: Volvo Cars that produces standard size cars and Volvo Group that produces trucks, boat engines, buses and more.

FUN VOLVO FACTS

It takes and 90 hours to make a Volvo. 700 are produced in Gothenburg every day.

North Korea ordered 1,000 Volvos from Sweden in 1974 and has yet to pay it off, resulting in a debt of 2.2 billion kronor ($322 million). Every six months the company sends an invoice to Pyongyang,

Volvo's crash test cars are subject to the same machinery that tests the structural integrity of buildings during earthquakes.

Irv Gordon, a science teacher from Long Island, drove over three million miles in his Volvo P1800, which he bought in 1966. The former New York school master held a Guinness Book of World Records certification for having registered the greatest number of miles driven by an owner in one car. By the time Gordon died, on November 15, 2018, the car had driven more than 3.2 million miles. 

Irv Gordon's 1800S approaching 3,000,000 miles. By Doug Coldwell

Source Daily Mail

Volkswagen

Volkswagen is a German automaker whose headquarters are in Wolfsburg, Lower Saxony.

Pixiebay

HISTORY

Austrian Ferdinand Porsche was a well-known designer for high-end vehicles and race cars. In 1934 Adolf Hitler asked his fellow Austrian to dream up a basic vehicle able to transport two adults and three children. The car needed to be able to travel at least 100 km/h, or about 60 mph, and use no more than 7 liters of gasoline for 100 kilometers (about 40 mpg). It would be available to citizens of the Third Reich through a savings plan at 990 Reichsmark ($396 in 1930s U.S. dollars).

Volkswagen ("people's car" in German) was established on May 28, 1937 by the German Labour Front (Deutsche Arbeitsfront) in Berlin.

The result was the Volkswagen Beetle, which was designed by Ferdinand Porsche and a team of engineers. A handful were made, but by the time the Wolfsburg factory was finished in 1938, World War II was starting and the company concentrated on making military vehicles instead.

Volkswagen was sued by the Czechoslovakian car maker Tatra before World War II because the original Beetle was so similar to the Tatra 97. Porsche was willing to settle but Hitler cancelled their proposals saying he would "would settle the matter." After Germany invaded Czechoslovakia, T97 production was stopped. After the Second World War Tatra resumed its lawsuit. In 1965 Volkswagen settled it by paying Tatra 1,000,000 DM in compensation

During World War II, a bomb landed, but didn't explode, inside the German Volkswagen factory. If it had exploded, the post-war Beetles that we commonly see would have never existed.

Mass production of the Volkswagen Beetle did not actually begin in Germany until after the war in 1945 when the United Kingdom army reopened the Wolfsburg factory.

1949 Volkswagen "split rear window" Sedan

Originally known as the Volkswagen Type 1, the car’s curves and rounded top led to its being nicknamed the 'Bug.' Volkswagen themselves started referring to the car as the VW Beetle in the late 1960s.

Americans shunned the Beetle when it was introduced in the States in 1949: Only two were sold in the first year. But after that, sales grew quickly. After six years of selling cars in the United States, the German automaker founded Volkswagen of America in Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey in 1955 to standardize its dealer and service network.  By the 1960s, Beetlemania had taken off as hundreds of thousands of Bugs were sold every year, topping out at 570,000 in 1970.

Iin 1963 a VW Beetle donated by the manufacturer became the first car in the Antarctic. It proved so good for Antarctic use, being able to withstand temperatures below -50°C and winds above 150 km/h, that it was nicknamed "Red Terror" by the users.

By February 17, 1972, more than 15 million Volkswagen Beetle cars had been sold exceeding those of the Ford Model-T making it the world's most popular model.

The original Volkswagen Beetle would temporarily float on water because of a sealed steel bottom with nothing exposed beneath it. Volkswagen even created a 1972 TV ad which demonstrated its ability to float.

The last Volkswagen Beetle made in Germany left Volkswagen 's plant in Emden in 1978. Beetle production in Latin America continues until 2003.

Volkswagen presented the first-generation Golf in May 1974 as a modern front-wheel-drive, long-range replacement for the Volkswagen Beetle.

Volkswagen Golf 3-door (Europe)By Rudolf Stricker - Own work,

The Volkswagen Golf GTI debuted in 1976 a couple of years after the Golf was launched. With a souped-up engine and go-faster stripes, it became the car of choice for teens, who were soon "pimping" their rides with under-lighting and racing seats. It spawned a generation of imitators, from the Fiat Uno Turbo to the Suzuki Swift Sport.

Historically, the Golf is Volkswagen's best-selling model and is among the world's top three best-selling models, with more than 30 million built by June 2013.

When the small sedan segment started to grow in the United States at the end of the 1970s, Volkswagen realized that the hatchback body style lacked some of the appeal to those who preferred the traditional three-box configuration. Their solution was to borrow the Golf's platform, slap on a trunk, and offer it as both a coupe and a four-door sedan. The result was the 1981 MK1 Jetta, which, like its hatch sibling, was designed by Girogetto Giugiaro.

The classic Volkswagen Beetle was produced in Mexico from 1955 where it was used as a taxi. The last 'old style' Volkswagen Beetle rolled off the assembly line in Mexico in 2003. The Mexican government effectively ended the Beetle's production because street gangs would often raid two-door cars as the passenger in the back couldn't escape.

The last original Beetle, #21,529,464 was assembled and immediately retired on July 31, 2003, in Puebla, Mexico, at the Volkswagen de Mexico manufacturing plant. It can now be found at Volkswagen's AutoMuseum.

The Type 1 Beetle was in production between 1938 and 2003, a whopping 65 years, the longest a vehicle has been produced in history. 

In 1998 Volkswagen introduced the "New Beetle", built on the contemporary Golf platform with styling recalling the original Type 1. It was succeeded in 2011 by the Beetle (A5), the last variant of the Beetle. Production ceased altogether by 2019.

In September 2015, Volkswagen admitted to illegally using installed software to change emissions test results for 11 million of its diesel engine cars sold between 2009 and 2015. This resulted in engines passing U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) standards and having vehicles emitting up to 40 times the legal limit of nitrogen oxides. It also brought into question whether VW diesel engines were actually cleaner for the environment than regular gasoline engines.

FUN VOLKSWAGEN FACTS

Many of Volkswagen's most famous models are named after winds: The Golf refers to the Gulf Stream, Passat means "trade wind," Jetta is German for "jet stream." 

Between 1973 and 1975 Volkswagen produced the Jeans Beetle, which had all-denim trim.

Children's TV presenter Peter Duncan attempted to ‘drive' over the Irish Sea in an amphibious Volkswagen Beetle for his new show Duncan Dares on March 9, 1985, but broke down and was towed to safety.

The record number of people crammed into a 1998 Volkswagen Bug and still able to close all doors is 18. They were college students.

Volkswagen owns Audi, Bentley, Bugatti, Lamborghini, Porsche, SEAT, Skoda, Ducati, MAN, and Scania.

Volkswagen was the world's largest automaker by worldwide sales in 2016 and 2017. The group's main market is in China, which delivers 40% of its sales and profits.

Sources, The Independent, Autoguide, MentalFloss

UPS (United Parcel Service)

UPS (United Parcel Service) started as The "American Messenger Company" in Seattle, Washington.
The company was birthed by two teenagers, Jim Casey and Claude Ryan on August 28, 1907 with one bicycle and $100 borrowed from a friend.

Most deliveries in these early days were made on foot by Jim´s brother George and a handful of other teenagers. Bicycles were used for longer trips.

The company acquired its first delivery car, a converted Model T Ford in 1913. The same year Casey and Ryan merged with a competitor, Evert McCabe, and formed Merchants Parcel Delivery.

Casey wanted yellow vehicles, but he was told they’d be hard to keep clean. They chose Pullman Brown instead - a colour that hides dirt, mud, and grime, and is still used on UPS trucks today.

Merchants Parcel Delivery delivery vehicles in 1916

Ryan left the company in 1917. Two years later Casey began expanding the business outside Seattle, opening operations in Oakland, California.

Also in 1919 the company changed its name to United Parcel Service. The word "United" served as a reminder that the company´s operations in each city were part of the same organisation, "Parcel" identified the nature of the business, "Service" indicated what was offered.

Ford Model T UPS delivery vehicle in 1921

Chicago became the first city outside California in which UPS offered common carrier service in 1953.

UPS had systematically fought from the 1950s to obtain authorization to ship freely in all of the United States. Not until 1975 did UPS clear away regulatory barriers to operate in all 48 states. Finally UPS were able to forge the "Golden Link" becoming the first package delivery company to serve every address in the Continental United States.

UPS went international in 1975 establishing operations in the Canadian city of Toronto. The following year operations were established in Germany.

In 1988, UPS received authorization from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to operate its own aircraft, thereby officially becoming an airline. UPS Airlines became the fastest-growing airline in FAA history and today is the tenth largest airline in the United States.

UPS Boeing 747-400BCF landing at Hong Kong in 2014. By byeangel from Tsingtao, China - 880

In 1991, UPS moved its headquarters to Sandy Springs, Georgia, a suburb of Atlanta.

On November 10, 1999, UPS went public in the largest initial public offering (IPO) in United States history at the time. The company raised $5.47 billion by selling 109.4 million shares of stock representing a 10% stake in the company. The IPO was met with strong demand from investors, and the stock price soared on its first day of trading, closing up 35%.

UPS went public in order to raise capital to fund its expansion plans. The company was growing rapidly at the time, thanks to the boom in e-commerce. UPS used the proceeds from the IPO to invest in new technology and infrastructure, 

UPS is today the largest package delivery company in the world. It delivers more than 14 million packages a day to more than 200 countries and territories.

The company uses brown uniforms and delivery trucks. The company trademarked the color so other delivery companies cannot use a brown logo.

UPS delivery van with packages 2013. By MobiusDaXter

UPS drivers wore green uniforms when they started in West Germany because the locals associated the "brown shirts" with the Nazis.

United Parcel Service drivers that go 25 years without an accident get a bomber jacket, a special patch, and are inducted into the UPS "Circle of Honor."

UPS trucks don't come with air conditioning which is why they drive with open doors.

UPS uses route optimization software to save nearly $100,000,000 a year in fuel costs, mostly by eliminating left turns whenever possible.

UPS drivers don't take the shortest routes. Instead it uses route optimization software which optimizes each route by eliminating left-hand turns whenever possible. As result, UPS claims it save nearly $100,000,000 a year in fuel costs, emits 20,000 tonnes less carbon dioxide and delivers 350,000 more packages every year.

Source UPS

Unilever

Unilever is one of the world's largest conglomerates. It is controlled by two parent Unilever holding companies, one based in London, the other in Rotterdam.

Unilever R&D Centre in Port Sunlight, United Kingdom. By Rept0n1x

In 1885 William Hesketh Lever (September 19, 1851 – May 7, 1925) with his brother James bought a small soap works in Warrington in North West England and founded Lever Brothers as a factory to make soap.

Lever Brothers began manufacturing Sunlight Soap, the world's first packaged, branded laundry soap. They were one of the first companies to use glycerin and vegetable oils such as palm oil, rather than tallow to manufacture soap.

Lever Brothers built a substantial business empire with many well-known brands such as Lux and Lifebuoy. They created Lifebuoy soap in 1895 and sold it as an antiseptic soap. Lever Brothers first coined the term "B.O." for bad odor as part of their marketing company for the soap.

In 1887, William Lever bought some land on the Wirral in Cheshire between the River Mersey and the railway line at Bebington. This site became Port Sunlight where he not only built his works but also a model village to house his employees adjoining the soap factory. Between 1899 and 1914, 800 houses were built to house a population of 3,500 with high architectural standards and many community facilities.

An example of Port Sunlight architecture.By Rich Daley,

Lever Brothers began margarine production 1914. The spread had originally been created in 1869 by the French Province chemist Hippolyte Mège-Mouriès. Two years later he sold the patent to Antoon Jurgens a company based in Oss, Netherlands. Through a series of mergers Jurgens' company became Margarine Unie in 1927. Unilever was founded on September 2, 1929, by the merger of Margarine Unie and Lever Brothers.

During the second half of the 20th century Unilever increasingly diversified from being a maker of products made of oils and fats, and expanded its operations worldwide.

Unilever's American business Lever Brothers of U.S. began manufacturing detergents after World War II. Surf detergent was introduced in 1952 by Crosfields of Warrington, a subsidiary company of Lever Brothers in the United Kingdom, and introduced to the US seven years later.  It became so popular in some parts of the world that 'surf' is the word for detergent in Urdu.

In 1978, National Starch was acquired by Unilever for $487 million, marking the largest ever foreign-acquisition of a US company at that point.

Unilever acquired about 80 companies during 1980s including Brooke Bond (makers of PG Tips tea) in 1984 and Chesebrough-Ponds (maker of Ragú, Pond's, Aqua-Net, Cutex, and Vaseline) in 1987.

Unilever promotes realistic body images in its Dove "Campaign for Real Beauty" commercials but uses skinny female models to promote its Axe line of products to men.

Today, Unilever owns over 400 brands, and reported a turnover of €60.8 billion in 2024.

Unilever is the world's biggest ice cream maker. It sells $4 billion under its Heartbrand name –known as Wall's in the UK. It also owns ice cream brands Ben & Jerry's, Klondike, Popsicle and Breyers.

Toyota

While still a department of Toyota Industries, Toyota created its first product, the Type A engine in 1934, and its first passenger car in 1936, the Toyota AA.

Toyota Standard Sedan AA 1936. By BsBsBs

Toyota Motors was founded by Kiichiro Toyoda on August 28, 1937, as a spinoff from his father's company Toyota Industries to create automobiles.

The first vehicles were originally sold under the name "Toyoda"  from the family name of Kiichirō Toyoda. In 1936 the company decided for a new name and held a competition. Toyota was chosen out of the 27,000 entries because the number of strokes to write Toyota in Japanese (eight) was thought to bring luck and prosperity.

The Toyota Land Cruiser originated after the Imperial Japanese Army captured an American Jeep during World War II and ordered Toyota to reverse-engineer it. 

Introduced in 1966, the Toyota Corolla was the first mass-market car to have a radio fitted as standard. 

The Toyota Corolla was also the first Japanese car to threaten the American and European dominance of the industry, thanks to its efficiency. The Corolla was the best-selling motor vehicle worldwide by 1974 and has continued since then to be one of the best-selling cars in the world. 

The first commercial hybrid car, the Toyota Prius, first went on sale in Japan on December 10, 1997 and was launched worldwide three years later. 

The first Prius, model NHW10. By Benespit 

Since becoming fashionable among ecologically aware Hollywood celebrities the Toyota Prius has inspired a legion of impressionable "civilian" consumers to follow suit. Toyota Motor Company announced on March 11, 2009 it had sold over 1 million gas-electric hybrid vehicles in the U.S.

As of January 2017, the Prius liftback is the world's top selling hybrid car with almost 4 million units sold.

A Swiss couple Emil and Liliana Schmid have earned their place in the Guinness Book of Records for the longest driven journey in the same car. As of April 4, 2017 they had driven 741,065 km (460,476 miles) and traveled across 186 countries in the same Toyota Land Cruiser in a journey that started on October 18, 1984 and is still ongoing.

Today the Toyota Motor Corporation produces vehicles under five brands - the Toyota brand, Hino, Lexus, Ranz, and Daihatsu.

Toyota is the largest automobile manufacturer (by production) ahead of the Volkswagen Group and General Motors. In 2012 Toyota became the world's first automobile manufacturer to produce more than 10 million vehicles per year.

In 2017, Toyota's corporate structure consisted of 364,445 employees worldwide and, as of October 2016, it was the fifth-largest company in the world by revenue.

Toyota Motor unseated General Motors as the top-selling automaker in the United States in 2021, becoming the first manufacturer based outside the country to achieve that feat in the industry’s history.

The Toyota Supra which Brian drives at the end of Furious 7 actually belonged to the late actor Paul Walker.

Source The Independent

Television station and network

A television station is a commercial business or organization that transmits video content via radio waves directly from a transmitter on the earth's surface to television sets.

A television network is a network that provides television programming to many television stations.

Today, more than fifty national broadcasting networks exist in the US. The largest broadcast television networks are the traditional Big Three television networks (ABC, CBS and NBC). Many other large networks exist, however, notably Fox and The CW which air original programming for two hours each night instead of three like the original "Big Three" do.

By ABC, NBC, CBS, Fox, The CW -Wikipedia

In 1928, WRGB (then W2XB) was started as the world's first television station. It broadcast from the General Electric facility in Schenectady, New York. It was popularly known as "WGY Television".

CBS's New York City station, W2XAB, began broadcasting the first regular seven-day television schedule in the United States on July 21, 1931. The station's first broadcast featured New York Mayor Jimmy Walker, Kate Smith, and George Gershwin. W2XAB was an experimental station, and its broadcasts were limited to a small area of New York City. However, it is considered to be the first television station in the United States to broadcast a regular schedule of programs.

W2XAB was eventually granted a commercial license and became WCBS-TV on July 1, 1941. WCBS-TV is now one of the most-watched television stations in the United States. It is owned by the CBS Corporation and is affiliated with the CBS television network.

The world's first public television service was started from the BBC station at the Alexandra Palace, in North London, on November 2, 1936. Two competing systems, Marconi-EMI's 405-line system and John Logie Baird's 240-line system, were installed, each with its own broadcast studio and were transmitted on alternate weeks until the 405-line system was chosen in 1937. 

Alexandra Palace continued as the BBC's main transmitting center for London until 1956, interrupted only by the Second World War when the transmitter found an alternative use jamming German bombers' navigation systems. 

Alexandra Palace Wikipedia

NBC inaugurated its regularly scheduled television service in New York City in 1939, broadcasting President Franklin D. Roosevelt's New York World's Fair opening day ceremonial address.

RCA, originally the Radio Corporation of America, sold the NBC Blue radio network to Edward Noble for $8-million in 1943. Noble renamed the network the American Broadcasting Company, ABC. 

KTLA, Channel 5, in Hollywood, began operation as the first commercial television station west of the Mississippi River in 1947.

Canada's first television station, CBFT-TV, opened in Montreal in 1952.

The first public television station in the United States officially begins broadcasting as KUHT from the campus of the University of Houston in 1953.

Commercial television came to the United Kingdom when the television channel ITV went live for the first time on September 22, 1955 breaking the BBC's monopoly. The launch night broadcast to around 100,000 homes began at 7.15pm, with a four-minute trailer announcing "Commercial television is here!" The channel then showed a five-minute opening film about London and the history of British broadcasting. ITV then moved to a live broadcast from London’s Guildhall, where a gala dinner was being held to celebrate the start of independent television. The rest of ITV's schedule that night included an hour of drama excerpts, a variety show, a boxing fight, and news broadcasts. A five-minute religious program called Epilogue brought the night to a close at 11pm.

The first ever advert broadcast on ITV was for Gibbs toothpaste.

The world's first all-color tv station debuted in Chicago on April 15, 1956, when WMAQ-TV (also known as NBC Channel 5) became the world's first TV station to broadcast exclusively in color. The first color telecast from the station on that date was Wide, Wide World, which was transmitted to 110 NBC stations across the country. 

CNN was launched on June 1, 1980 by American media proprietor Ted Turner as a cable news channel. CNN is widely credited with introducing the concept of 24-hour news coverage. Its services are available to more than 1.5 billion people in over 212 countries and territories.

NBC, Fox, and ABC, who are seemingly TV rivals, are also co-owners of Hulu. 30% each, plus 10% owned by TBS.

Source BT 

Tavern

It was the ancient Sumerians who originated the social custom of gathering in a tavern to drink their beer and wine. The tavern keeper was usually a woman, females having a higher social status there than in other current civilizations. 

Taverns called "stabularia" were used for food and accommodation by travelers in the Roman Empire, but no upwardly mobile Roman or his beast would be seen in them. However at night time on the quiet side streets of Rome, men of all ranks could be spotted sneaking into alternative taverns called "lupanar" to dine, drink, and gamble. 

The Romans had been building roads connecting the major towns and cities since their arrival in Britain. One consequence of this was the appearance of the first British taverns, in which the weary traveler could obtain refreshment. These tabernae where food was sold and wine was drunk, was open to Romans only, not the native population.

Pompeii: Taberna of Iunianus (I.6.12). By Mentnafunangann - Own work,

In 8th century England, taverns had become so popular the Archbishop of York was forced to forbid priests to eat and drink in them. Instead monks went into the brewing business themselves and set up hostelries for pilgrims. 

To cut down time spent travelling to buy food and drink, Italian architect Filippo Brunelleschi (1377 – April 15, 1446) setup a tavern for his builders on the construction site.

Tavern Scene by Flemish artist David Teniers c. 1658

By the late 15th century there was a tavern or ale house for every 150 inhabitants of Britain. 

In Britain an act was passed in 1496 against "vacabounds and beggers", which contained a clause regulating alehouses. The different types of drinking establishments was strictly annotated. An ale house could sell only beer, while a tavern had to serve food as well as drink. 

For centuries the English tavern had provided food and drink for travellers. By the mid 16th century, due to the development of providing a daily meal at a fixed time townsmen of all but the lowest classes were utilizing their facilities for dining out. Most taverns offer a good dinner for one shilling (about 7 cents) or less, with wine and ales as extras.

After Dutch settlers started settling in North America, public drinking places started springing up. In Boston, the first tavern to be granted a license to sell wine and liquor by the Massachusetts Bay Colony's General Court started business on March 4, 1634. Ran by Samuel Cole it was called Cole's Inn. It was referenced by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow in his play John Endicott set in the 1660s as the Three Mariners. 

Over time, the words "tavern" and "inn" became interchangeable and synonymous. In England, inns started to be referred to as public houses or pubs and by the 19th century the word "tavern" had begun to be seen as old fashioned. However, taverns remain a popular part of fantasy stories and games. The term is still commonly used in the United States.

Source Food For Thought by Ed Pearce

Taco Bell

Taco Bell is an American fast food restaurant chain that serves Tex-Mex foods.

Taco Bell, Taos New Mexico - 2011. By John Phelan 

Former U.S. marine Glen Bell started his first hot dog stand, called Bell's Drive-In, in San Bernardino in 1948.

Glen Bell funded his hot dog stand by selling his sister's refrigerator for start-up cash.

In late 1951, Bell sold the hot dog stand and built a second stand that sold hot dogs and hamburgers. 

Glen Bell regularly ate at a popular Mexican restaurant across the road. He attempted to reverse-engineer their taco recipe, before eventually persuading the owners to show him how they were prepared. With this knowledge, he started selling in early 1952 tacos at a stand named Taco-Tia from a side window. Priced 19 cents each, it wasn't long, they were outselling the burgers and hot dogs.

Glen Bell

Bell opened his first stand-alone Mexican restaurant on March 21, 1962. A friend convinced him to be a little egotistical and call his restaurant Taco Bell. Bell franchised his restaurant two years later.

Bell's company grew rapidly, and by 1967 the 100th Taco Bell restaurant had opened.

The 868 Taco Bell restaurant chain was sold to PepsiCo in 1978 for $125 million in stock.

In 1996 as an April Fools Day hoax, Taco Bell printed in six major American newspapers that it had bought The Liberty Bell and was renaming it The Taco Liberty Bell. The joke achieved $25 million in free publicity. 

NASA used Taco Bell tortillas for Space Shuttle missions - bread had too many crumbs so they used tortillas instead, and NASA started making space tortillas. Taco Bell made a tortilla in the 90s with a nine month shelf life, so NASA started using those instead.

In March 2012, Taco Bell teamed up with Frito Lay and created the Doritos Locos Tacos, which is a taco with a Dorito Nacho Cheese flavored taco shell. The success of the Doritos Locos Taco allowed Taco Bell to hire 15,000 new employees.

Taco Bell Cool Ranch Doritos Locos Tacos Closeup | by theimpulsivebuy

When Taco Bell attempted to enter Mexico the locals decried the food as inauthentic. When they returned in 2007, Taco Bell promoted itself as selling "authentic American food", but it closed in January 2010 due to lack of interest.

Taco Bell failed to pay the two Michigan men who pitched the idea of the Taco Bell Chihuahua mascot, and later were court-ordered to pay back  $42.1 million dollars.

As of 2018, Taco Bell serves more than 2 billion customers each year at 7,000 restaurants, more than 80 percent of which are owned and operated by independent franchisees and licensees. 

Taco Bell provides tortillas for NASA to use in lieu of bread, which cause problems due to crumbs getting caught in instruments. The Taco Bell tortillas are ideal due to their long shelf life.

Supermarket

The concept of a self-service grocery store was developed by entrepreneur Clarence Saunders (August 9, 1881 – September 23, 1953) and his Piggly Wiggly stores. His first store opened at 79 Jefferson Street in Memphis, Tennessee on September 6, 1916.

The original Piggly Wiggly Store, Memphis, Tennessee

The checkouts and turnstile entrance at Saunders' stores proved such a success that by 1923 a further 2,800 Piggly Wigglies had sprung up across the U.S thus creating the first supermarket chain. 

The Food Marketing Institute in conjunction with the Smithsonian Institution determined that the first true supermarket in the United States was opened by entrepreneur Michael J. Cullen, on August 4, 1930. His King Kullen Grocery Company was located inside a 6,000-square-foot (560 m2) former garage in Jamaica, Long Island, New York. 

Instead of installing elaborate fittings, or even shelves, Cullen piled his goods high and sold them cheap. About 300 loss-leader goods were sold at cost price to draw in customers, who then served themselves.

Within two years, Cullen had opened seven more King Kullen Market stores in buildings that had been owned by bankrupted businesses, in and around New York. Parts of each store were franchised to specialist traders at relatively low rents. 

When people visited the first supermarkets, they were afraid to pick things up in case they were told off.

A supermarket in Sweden in 1941

The London Co-Op opened at Manor Park in East London in 1948. It was Britain's first supermarket, featuring a whole variety of goods under one roof. 

Safeway was established in 1962 in the United Kingdom by the American supermarket chain Safeway Inc. Its first British purpose-built supermarket, which opened in Bedford, offered grand-scale self-service grocery shopping in Britain for the first time. By 1987, Safeway had 133 shops around the United Kingdom.

Wal-Mart was founded in 1962 by Sam and Bud Walton in Rogers, Arkansas. They set up the company with a $20,000 loan from Sam Walton's father-in-law and it was worth $25 billion when he died in 1992.

Former newspaper reporter turned Kresge store manager Harry Cunningham opened the first Kmart in a suburb of Detroit on March 1, 1962, just four months before the first Walmart.

The first computerized supermarket checkout was put in place in the U.S in 1976. Bar codes had began appearing on food packaging since two years previously. 

A&P supermarkets, the "Wal-Mart before Wal-Mart"; dominated American retail from 1910-1950, before falling into a long decline following federal anti-trust lawsuits and later corporate mismanagement. It survived until 2015 as a minor regional supermarket chain.

In 2019, the Dutch supermarket chain Jumbo introduced "slow checkout lanes" for customers who prefer a more leisurely pace and enjoy chatting with the checkout employees. These lanes are designed to offer a more relaxed and personal shopping experience, with no pressure to rush through the checkout process.

In 2021 Jumbo introduced a policy that if all queues have four people in them and not all checkout lanes are open yet, then you get your groceries for free.

Shrinkflation is the practice of stealthily reducing a product's size while maintaining its price so that consumers may unknowingly pay the same for less. According to the UK’s Office of National Statistics, 2,529 supermarket products decreased in size or weight between 2012 and 2017. 

According to a recent survey, two per cent of people have fallen in love at a supermarket.