In today’s review, we are going to look at the logos of the most famous fast-food restaurant chains from all over the world. Some of the logos are familiar to millions of people around the globe, while others are more local. However, all of these restaurants have one thing in common: they all have the comfort and satiety of their customers as the main goal of their business, and their visual identity aims to stand out from the competition and attract more clients.
However, this is not the only similarity between the participants in our review today. After all, if you look at all the logos at once, you will notice that most of them are executed in a warm color scheme because such shades as orange, yellow, and gentle red are most strongly associated with comfort, warmth, and coziness.
Let’s take a closer look at the emblems and maybe find some more commonalities. All the brands below are in alphabetical order.
The American chain of fast-food restaurants A&W is known not only for its food but also for the root beer. The chain features the same logo, as the one, seen on the bottles with the drink in many countries across the globe. The badge of the A&W restaurants is executed in warm orange and brown color palette, with two dark capital letters accompanied by a small ornate ampersand in orange and white, and enclosed into a horizontally oriented oval frame, formed by two fragments — orange and brown. The emblem is complemented by a bold orange “All American Food” tagline.
Arby’s is the name of an American fast-food chain, specializing in sandwiches, which is considered the second-largest sandwich chain in the United States. Arby’s logo looks very fresh and stylish, even though it is executed in dark red, and placed on a white background. Dark red is a very traditional and calm color, but in this particular case, it looks cool. The badge features a bold title case inscription in a heavy serif font, set across the contoured image of a hat on the background. The bold and confident lines of the badge add a sense of professionalism and excellence to the perception of the brand.
Baja Fresh is a chain of Mexican fast-food restaurants, which has its visual identity reflecting the origin of its cuisine, and pointing to the freshness of all ingredients. The badge is composed of handwritten lettering in green and red, the colors of the Mexican flag, placed diagonally against a white background and above the narrow horizontally stretched rectangular banner in black, with the white “Mexican Grill” lettering on the right, and a fragment with the black-and-white checkered pattern on the left. The main inscription has the “Baja” written in red, and the green “Fresh” underlined by a green arched line.
The visual identity of one of the world’s most famous fast-food franchises, Burger King, also has red elements in it. It is a bold rounded uppercase lettering, set in two levels, with the characters of the “Burger” in the smaller size, than the ones in the “King”, placed over a light creamy background between two orange buns, like replacing the burger. The warm and bright color palette of this simple yet memorable logo stands for the hospitality of the chain, and evokes friendly and warm feelings, making people want to taste the Burger King food.
The logo of Carl’s Jr, another American fast-food restaurant chain, is composed of a clean and very elegant cursive lettering in solid black, set on the right from the bright yellow emblem, depicting a smiling five-pointed star. The star from the badge of the chain is slightly slanted to the right, which makes the badge look even more friendly. The star features a hit red outline, which supports the “trendy” in the segment color palette and adds a bright accent to a pretty light emblem. The Carl’s Jr logo is pretty timeless due to the use of a sophisticated typeface for its logotype, although the star adds playfulness and evokes a welcoming feeling.
The visual identity of Chick-fil-A, an American chain of fast-food restaurants, which menu is based on chicken dishes, is clean and bright. The logo of the chain is executed in bold red lines, placed on a white background. The lines make up a rounded cursive inscription, with the first capital letter “C” stylized as a chicken. The logotype looks very modern despite its rounded lines and ends of the bars and welcoming, actually, for the same reasons. The red and white color palette of the Chick-fil-A logo is a representation of love and caress, which shows the company as a very welcoming one.
Chipotle Mexican Grill is an international chain of Mexican fast-food restaurants, which has locations not only in North America but also in Europe. Its logo looks sleek and modern, as is executed in a powerful red, black, and white color palette, and this is what distinguishes the chain from its competitors, making it look a level higher than others. The badge is based on a white contoured image of chipotle pepper, drawn on a solid black circle, enclosed into a thick red circular frame with a white sans-serif lettering written around its perimeter. The internal white outline between the two circles makes the bad look lighter and brighter, creating great color contrast.
The logo of another American fast-food retailer, Dairy Queen, looks more like a logo of a food product, which can be found on a supermarket shelf. It is an extra-bold white “DQ” abbreviation in a slightly italicized serif typeface, placed on a solid red background, which resembles a horizontally oriented rugby ball. The badge is decorated by two bold color strokes — an orange at the top, and. Light blue at the bottom part of the red element. The strokes have one of their sides cut straight, and the other — pointed.
Domino’s pizza is one of the world’s largest fast-food restaurant chains, which has over 17 thousand locations across the globe. The restaurants serve a huge variety of pizzas in dozens of countries on all continents. The logo of the brand is very well known and instantly recognizable to people all over the globe. It is a blue and red composition, with the diagonally oriented domino figure set above or on the left from the blue sans-serif inscription in a title case. The lettering is set in a bold modern font with simple minimalistic shapes of the characters. As for the emblem, it has one solid white circle on its red square, and two — on the blue one.
Dunkin’ Donuts is a fast-food restaurant chain, that specializes in coffee and desserts. The company has more than 12 thousand locations worldwide and is pretty well known on all the continents. The company has a very modern and cool logo in a bright and delightful color palette, composed of orange and fuchsia shades. The badge features a two-leveled inscription, executed in an extra-bold rounded sans-serif typeface, set on the right of the bright emblem. The emblem depicts a diagonally located white paper coffee cup, outlined in orange and placed over a solid fuchsia square with rounded angles.
El Pollo Loco is a fast-food restaurant chain, specializing in Mexican cuisine, which is not very well-known in Europe. The franchise has restaurants all over Mexico and the United States. The badge of the “Crazy Chicken” (this is how the male of the chain is translated from Spanish) features a solid yellow banner, which has a square shape with an arched appendix on its top. The banner has a double outline in red and yellow and boasts a three-leveled inscription with the name of the franchise written over it in bold red lines. The lettering looks cool and stylish, with some bars elongated and slightly curved.
Jack in the Box has over two thousand locations across the United States, hence the chain is not very recognizable by people from other countries. Although, the logo of this fast-food franchise looks very modern and clean, evoking a sense of professionalism and excellence. The badge features a red hexagon with four angles rounded, and the left half is drawn in lighter shades than the right one, creating a “folded” impression and adding volume to the badge. The bold white “Jack” in a custom cursive typeface is written over the red banner, with the enlarged letter “K” placed over the right half and executed in light gray shades. The lowercase “In the box” part of the chain’s name is written under the graphical part in a modern sans-serif font.
One of the world’s most famous chains of fast-food restaurants, KFC, has its logo instantly recognizable in hundreds of countries across the globe. The badge of the company is based on a portrait of Harland Sanders, the founder of the chain. The portrait is executed in white and beige, with black outlines and a red apron with three white vertical stripes on it. The image is placed on a solid red circle, and accompanied by a bold white “KFC” lettering, set in a slightly slanted heavy serif font. It looks strong and professional, evoking a sense of excellence and quality, and celebrating the roots and heritage of the company.
The number one fast-food chain in the world by popularity, McDonald’s, has its logo executed in a super minimalistic manner, with just one yellow element set against a white background. The badge is composed of a stylized bold capital letter “M”, drawn in two smooth tall arches with the bottom ends of the bars cut straight. The letter stands for the name of the company, and the surname f its founder, Ronald McDonald. It is a shortened and official version of the chain’s logo, although in many locations we can still see its iconic badge in a red and yellow color palette, with the complete name of the company.
Nando’s is a fast-food chain in South Africa, which has restaurants in more than 30 countries worldwide. The logo of the company is composed of a graphical emblem with a depiction of the chain’s specialty — the chicken, and a bold elegant logotype, placed under it or on its right. The emblem is executed in black, with some large red elements and small white details, which add some contrast to the image and make a better balance with a white background. As for the inscription, it is set in the same shade of red, that is used for the heart and the accents on a black rooster, and executed in the title case of an elegant yet modern typeface.
Noodles & Company is the name of an American fast-food chain, which has noodles as the basis of its menu. The company operates only in the United States, having more than 400 locations across the country. The logo of Noodles & Company is composed of a solid red banner in a shape of a horizontally oriented oval with a thing voluminous yellow outline, and two-leveled lettering, accompanied by a small graphical element in yellow and white. The lettering is set in bold white sans-serif capitals in white, with the upper line featuring a larger size than the bottom level. As for the graphical element, it is a solid yellow circle with a white old-style ampersand drawn on it.
The visual identity of the world’s most famous chain of pizza restaurants, Pizza Hut, is also executed in a color palette with a red shade as the prevailing one. The badge of the brand features a solid red circle with uneven edges, accompanied by two white arched brackets on the sides, and bold white lettering in two lines, set in the center of the logo, with a stylized white hat above it. The inscription is set slightly diagonally, which adds friendliness and playfulness to the badge. The red and white color scheme of the Pizza Hit badge makes the logo look stylish and progressive, evoking a welcoming and kind feeling.
Another logo on a warm orange and red color palette in today’s list is the insignia of Popeyes, an American chain of fast-food restaurants, specializing in Louisiana cuisine dishes. The badge is composed of a graphical part with minimalistic elements, and a funky playful uppercase logotype in a bold sans-serif typeface with interesting shapes of the letters, executed in orange. The emblem boasts a diagonally oriented enlarged letter “P” in orange, with a double white and red outline, set in a white roundel and enclosed into a thick red circular frame with a white uppercase lettering written around its perimeter.
Sbarro is another American franchise, which has locations all over the globe. The chain of the fast-food restaurants is specialized in Italian pizza, and the visual identity of the brand is based on its Italian heritage. The bold uppercase logotype in a modern sans-serif typeface is written in plain black in the center of the logo, crossing the vertically oriented triangular, which points down and has its upper line slightly arched, representing a slice of pizza. The upper part of the slice is executed in red, while the bottom one — is in green, repeating the color palette of the Italian flag, with the negative space left white. The “NYC. 1956” inscription is arched under the top red line, in small capitals of a simple sans-serif font.
The world’s largest fast-food restaurant chain, Subway, has its visual identity as bright and funky. Executed in a yellow and green color palette, the logo is based on a heavy uppercase lettering, with the elongated lines of the first and the last letters, which are stylized as arrows, pointing to different directions. The “Sub” part of the logotype is set in solid yellow, while the “Way” features a light green shade. The badge looks stable and strong, with its delightful color scheme making it lighter and friendlier. Subway’s visual identity is very simple in terms of its composition and idea, but it still looks unique and eye-catching due to its bright hues.
Taco Bell is a globally known chain of Mexican fast-food restaurants, which has its visual identity executed in a color palette, different from all other brands in the industry. The badge of this brand is set in a purple and fuchsia scheme, looking sleek and stylish, and evoking a sense of excellence and elegance. The logo is composed of a graphical emblem with a fuchsia bell set in a solid purple background with its upper part arched from the center and the bottom line drawn straight horizontally. The emblem is accompanied by a bold sans-serif lettering with the uppercase characters extended and heavy.
Another chain or restaurant, that specializes in Mexican cuisine is TacoTime. And its logo is completely different from the badge of its main competitor. The emblem is set in a weight yellow and green color scheme, with the cactus drawn on a background depicting a large sun with sharp triangular rays around it. The composition is accompanied by dark red lettering, arched at the bottom of the logo, and underlined by a smooth stroke in the same shade of red. The line is wide at the left and gets sharper to the right. Both the lettering and the underline feature a thin white outline.
Togo’s is an American brand of the fast-food restaurant, which has sandwiches as the main dish on the menu. The badge of the company is bright and airy, executed in a pretty minimalistic way, with no graphical additions. It is a white roundel in a bold orange outline, with the horizontally oriented orange banner crossing it in the central part. The banner features a white enlarged “Togo’s” inscription in all capitals of a modern sans-serif font and is balanced by a medium-weight uppercase lettering written around the perimeter of the frame, also in white. The orange and white color palette makes the badge look light and friendly.
The visual identity of Wendy’s, an American chain of restaurants, specializing in burgers, features a logotype as the main element. The inscription is set in an extra-bold rounded sans-serif, with the wordmark oriented slightly diagonally, and executed in a deep shade of red. The softened ends of the bold lines make the badge look very welcoming, evoking such feelings as friendliness, love, and warmth. The Wendy’s logo is very simple, but this simplicity works perfectly for the brand, making it look professional and reliable.
Mrs. Fields is a quite small American chain of fast food restaurants, which only has around 300 locations across the United States, and 100 more restaurants internationally. The badge of the chain is very simple and elegant, depicting dark red cursive lettering, which looks elegant and warm at the same time, evoking a sense of confidence in the chain’s professionalism, and representing the cozy atmosphere of the restaurants.
Little Caesars is an American chain of pizza restaurants, known all over the globe. Established at the end of the 1950s, today the company has over five thousand locations worldwide, and its bright and funny logo with the caricature of Caesar eating a slice of pizza is known on all the continents.
Five Guys is a chain of restaurants, specializing in burgers and fries, with more than 1,7 thousand locations internationally. The company’s visual identity, composed of heavy geometric lettering in red uppercase characters, looks very confident and stable, representing the quality of the products, and the reliability of the chain.
Qdoba is a chain, known for Mexican cuisine. The brand was born in the United States and today has more than seven hundred locations both in the USA and Canada. The logo of the brand is pretty simple yet bold and stylish, with the heavy orange uppercase lettering underlined by a minimalistic black “Mexican Eats” inscription in a geometric sans-serif typeface.
Chuck E. Cheese is not just a restaurant chain, but also a brand, which focuses on the whole family entertained. Established at the end of the 1970s, today the company has more than five hundred locations in the United States and boasts one of the most recognizable logos in its country. The badge of the brand is a smiling gray mouse, drawn on a solid red roundel in a white outline, and followed by two leveled red lettering in a stylized sans-serif font.
Hungry Jack’s is a young brother of burger along, the famous American chain of fast food restaurants, known and loved all over the world. Unlike its elder brother, Hungry Jack’s only has restaurants in Australia, but uses the same logo, replacing the red “Burger King” lettering between two orange buns with the red “Hungry Jack’s” in the same style.
Cinnabon is another international chain, known for its sweet cinnamon rolls. The sweetness of its main product is brilliantly reflected in the smooth and curved lines of the letters on the Cinnabon badge. The elegant white inscription is placed over a deep blue horizontally stretched banner with triangular elements in the center and a delicate light blue internal outline.
White Castle is a chain, that specializes in hamburgers and fries. The company was established in the United States in 1931, and today has almost 400 locations in 13 states. The logo of the chain is composed of a heavily stylized blue badge executed in the blue, yellow, and white color palette, which looks bright and energetic.
Marco’s Pizza, the American chain of Italian fast-food restaurants, established in 1978, has more than a thousand locations across the United States, the Bahamas, and India. The logo of the company is composed of a stylized letter “M” with the yellow pizza inscribed in its upper part, missing one triangular slice, and a white “Marco’s” arched along the bottom part of the “M”, supported by the black “Pizza” underlining the composition.
In concluding this exploration of the most famous fast food logos, it is evident that the art of logo design is not just about creating a visually appealing symbol but about weaving a story that resonates with millions worldwide. From the golden arches of McDonald’s to the iconic mermaid of the Starbucks logo, each emblem encapsulates a unique narrative, rich with history and significance. The transformation of the IHOP logo to the more modern aesthetics of the new logo reflects the evolution of brand image in response to changing consumer preferences and the impact of social media.
The Colonel Sanders figure in the KFC logo and the distinctive typography of the Cracker Barrel sign showcase how personality and tradition are integral to restaurant logos, inviting a sense of familiarity and warmth akin to the comfort of dining at mom’s. The vibrant colors of the Taco Bell logo and the whimsical dots of the Baskin-Robbins emblem evoke a sense of joy and indulgence, akin to the simple pleasure of enjoying ice cream on a sunny day.
Burger King’s logo, with its bold use of red and the visual emphasis on beef, speaks to the core of what the brand offers, while the sleek lines of Subway’s logo mirror the brand’s commitment to freshness and customization. The siren in the Starbucks logo and the fleur-de-lis in the redesigned logo of the International House of Pancakes (IHOP) draw inspiration from mythology and heraldry, infusing a sense of depth and sophistication into these restaurant logo designs.
The inclusion of Ray Kroc’s vision within the McDonald’s logo narrative, the southern charm encapsulated by the Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC) emblem, and the global appeal of the redesigned Pizza Hut logo all illustrate the power of these symbols to convey the essence of the brand beyond mere visuals.
As we witness logos like the Krispy Kreme and Baskin-Robbins undergoing redesigns to fit into the digital age, it’s clear that while styles may change, the essence of what makes these famous fast food logos memorable remains constant: the ability to evoke emotions, convey brand values, and provide inspiration to countless others in the realm of restaurant logo designs. These logos are not just marks of identification but beacons of culture and taste that continue to influence the global culinary landscape.