A&W Root Beer  A&W Root Beer is a root beer brand primarily available in the United States and Canada that was founded in 1919 by Roy W. Allen. When Allen partnered with Frank Wright in 1922, the partners combined their initials to create the A&W brand and inspired a restaurant chain, also founded that year. Originally, A&W Root Beer drinks sold for five cents. Outside Canada, the rights to the A&W brand are owned by Keurig Dr Pepper, which in turn licenses the brand to the similarly named U.S.-based restaurant chain. A&W products are distributed via various U.S. bottlers. A&W Food Services of Canada, which is independent of both Keurig Dr Pepper and the U.S. chain, is responsible for the restaurants and the marketing of root beer products within the country, with retail products bottled and distributed by the Coca-Cola Company. The U.S. variant is also sold as an import drink in Southeast Asia and Italy (where A&W has restaurants), as well as in Australia, Chile and other countries. On June 20, 1919, Roy W. Allen opened a roadside root beer stand in Lodi, California, using a formula that he had purchased from a pharmacist. He soon opened stands in Stockton, California as well as five stands in nearby Sacramento, home of the country's first drive-in featuring "tray boys" for curbside service. In 1920, Allen partnered with Frank Wright and the two combined their initials to create the A&W brand name. A mistaken notion is that the initials were derived from Alice and Willard Marriott; this may be because Marriott's first business was an A&W franchise. In 1924, Allen bought Wright's share, obtained a trademark, and began selling restaurant franchises. A&W was one of the first franchised restaurant chains in the United States. Franchise owners could use the A&W name and logo and purchased concentrated root beer syrup from Allen. By 1933, there were more than 170 A&W franchised outlets. There was no common menu, architecture, or set of procedures shared by the franchisees, and some chose to sell food with the root beer. Franchises struggled with labor shortages and sugar rationing during World War II, but following the war, the number of A&W outlets tripled as GI loans paved the way for private enterprise. Driven by the popularity of the automobile and the new mobile society, more than 450 A&W Root Beer stands were operating by 1950.