the businessman and christian activist see foster friess . this article may require cleanup to meet wikipedia s quality standards . no cleanup reason has been specified . please help improve this article if you can . june 2009 learn how and when to remove this template message fosters freeze industry fast food founded inglewood california united states november 18 1946 november 18 1946 1 founder george foster headquarters rancho cucamonga california united states number of locations 88 2015 2 area served california key people randy fritchie ceo 3 products soft serve hamburgers chicken parent fosters freeze llc website fostersfreeze.com fosters freeze full name fosters old fashion freeze is a chain of fast food restaurants in california . it was founded by george foster in 1946 on la brea avenue in inglewood california a location that still remains . the fosters freeze name comes from the fact that it is best known for its soft serve ice milk and milkshakes which is reflected in the marketing slogan california s original soft serve . its mascot is an ice cream cone wearing a chef s hat . at franchise locations the company also offers a variety of foods including hamburgers chicken strips and fish . the restaurant s slogan was everything at foster s is wonderful to eat . history edit george foster owned the western development rights for dairy queen . the name dairy queen was already being used in california so dairy queen was called foster s old fashion freeze in california . that didn t stop him from introducing soft serve ice milk products to californians . he built over three hundred franchised retail outlets which marketed ice milk soft serve products and other refreshments . he then sold the fosters freeze franchise to meyenberg milk products . meyenberg produced large amounts of evaporated and sweetened condensed milk for domestic and foreign federal relief programs as well as for industrial food production uses . the acquisition of the fosters freeze product name was a good fit for meyenberg . during the summer months when milk production increased the company processed and sold its excess milk in the form of fosters freeze ice milk products to its franchisees . 4 better source needed meyenberg became a very profitable company because of its government contracts . but its fosters freeze franchised stores were falling behind the new fast food trend of offering hamburgers and other hot foods . the company helped its franchisees update and remodel their stores so they could include hamburgers french fries and mexican food on their menus . the move made the old stores very profitable . but it didn t provide meyenberg with any increased franchise royalties for the sale of these hot foods even though they were marketed under the fosters freeze name . a fosters freeze restaurant in lompoc california . in the early 1970s meyenberg was acquired by vornado an east coast retailer which had operated under the trade name of two guys . vornado was only interested in the milk producer s strong cash flow position . several years after the expiration of its government contracts meyenberg milk products was sold to bob sardella of sacramento in the 1976 a restaurant real estate site developer of over 400 locations for sambo s kfc burger king and arco . sardella soon sold meyenburg milk and the yellville ar milk plant and closed the milk plant dairy in ripon ca and meat packing plant in compton ca to cut losses so he could focus on rebuilding the fosters freeze brand . sardella encountered franchisee resistance as he attempted to update and create more uniformity in the outdated franchise agreement . his son & grandson have continued to own and operate one of the chains most successful stores in auburn ca. 30 years . sardella ended up selling the franchise rights to his president of the company bill wagner of santa barbara a retired executive of sambo s a west coast restaurant chain . wagner wasn t able to expand the chain and sold the franchise to bill boudier a northern california franchisee with stores throughout the sacramento area kerry mulligan and their silent partners . boudier parted ways with mulligan in march 1999 after mulligan insisted that the company s emphasis should be on franchise expansion in hawaii the middle eastern countries such as oman and qatar as well as in california . boudier s success in refurbishing older existing stores and dramatically increasing their profitability led him to conclude that the company should direct its efforts to purchasing and updating the remaining 250 stores in the old franchise system and then re franchising them under a modern revenue generating franchise agreement . 5 better source needed after 65 years in the business fosters freeze has 88 locations in california as of 2015 . 2 el pollo loco enacted a master franchise contract with fosters freeze in 1994 . 6 mark hardinson the director of marketing for the grilled chicken chain stated that sales increased from three percent to six percent at el pollo loco s co branded locations that served fosters freeze s soft serve desserts . 6 there are 92 fosters freeze branches not including the 163 el pollo loco restaurants that serve fosters freeze products . over half of el pollo loco s serve fosters freeze products . 6 the corporate office is currently located in rancho cucamonga california a suburb of los angeles . some of the company s earliest locations in california included sunnyvale mountain view and palo alto . the palo alto location across the street from the stanford university campus on el camino real remains virtually unchanged since c. 1950 . citation needed the oldest locations are often historic landmarks . citation needed in its beginnings it was bigger than mcdonald s del taco and other chains . citation needed the fosters freeze franchise in hawthorne california is known to be the location at which beach boy band member dennis wilson saw the girl in the thunderbird he sang about in his song titled fun fun fun . 7 recently the usa softball team was seen eating at the salinas location before heading off to beijing to participate in the 2008 olympics . 8 also the atwater village location was used in a scene of the movie pulp fiction where bruce willis character runs over ving rhames . 9 the historical significance that fosters freeze has is what attracts patrons and unites community members to try to keep developers from taking away a piece of nostalgia from them . in 2006 a neighborhood in menlo park located in northern california presented to their city council a petition with about 800 signatures to avoid demolition of their local foster s. 10 the cover of frank zappa s album bongo fury shows him and captain beefheart don van vliet sitting at a stall at the fosters freeze in lancaster california . references edit history . fosters freeze . a b locations . fosters freeze . salerno christina 20 june 2005 . cold arms warm heart at longtime ceres eatery . fresno bee . retrieved 20 june 2010 via newsbank . subscription required help . roy beiderwell fresno ca notes to bill boudier business papers and legal documents of bill boudier roseville ca 2013 a b c wienerschnitzel parent galardi group gobbles up tastee freez spector amy bnet 16 june 2003 . 31 may 2009 dead link smith andrew f. encyclopedia of junk food and fast food p. 105 . greenwood publishing group 2006 . usa softball 31 may 2009 archived june 6 2008 at the wayback machine . where bruce willis runs into ving rhames . atwater village newbie blog . june 2006 . retrieved 31 may 2009 . kids fight to save foster palo alto online home page . 31 may 2009 archived january 12 2013 at the wayback machine . external links edit fosters freeze website v t e fast food and fast casual restaurant chains in the united states chicken chains coffeehouse chains pizza chains hamburgers a & w back yard big boy burger king carl s jr. checkers rally s cook out fatburger five guys freddy s fuddruckers the habit hardee s in n out jack in the box johnny rockets krystal mcdonald s roy rogers shake shack smashburger sonic steak n shake wayback wendy s whataburger white castle asian l & l hawaiian barbecue manchu wok panda express pei wei asian diner pick up stix sarku baked goods au bon pain auntie anne s bruegger s cinnabon corner bakery cafe dunkin donuts einstein bros. great american cookies honey dew donuts krispy kreme mrs. fields nestl toll house panera bread pretzelmaker pretzel time shipley do nuts tim hortons t.j. cinnamons wetzel s winchell s beverages argo tea biggby coffee caribou coffee bean & tea leaf coffee beanery dunn bros gloria jean s jamba juice juice it up orange julius peet s planet smoothie robeks seattle s best coffee smoothie king starbucks teavana tropical smoothie cafe tully s frozen desserts baskin robbins ben & jerry s braum s bruster s carvel cold stone culver s dairy queen dippin dots fosters freeze friendly s golden spoon graeter s h agen dazs handel s kiwi yogurt maggiemoo s marble slab menchie s pinkberry red mango rita s sweet frog tastee freez tcby tropical sno tutti frutti yogen fr z yogurtland hot dogs hot dog on a stick nathan s famous portillo s wienerschnitzel mexican style tex mex baja fresh cafe rio chipotle del taco el pollo loco freebirds green red burrito moe s pancheros qdoba rubio s taco bell taco bueno taco cabana taco del mar taco john s taco mayo taco time wahoo s fish taco noodles fazoli s noodles & company sandwiches arby s atlanta bread blimpie capriotti s charley s cos cousins d angelo daphne s erbert & gerbert s firehouse subs great wraps jason s jerry s subs jersey mike s jimmy john s lenny s sub mcalister s deli miami subs mr. hero newk s eatery penn station port of subs pdq potbelly quiznos rax runza sandella s schlotzsky s steak escape subway togo s tubby s tudor s biscuit world which wich seafood arthur treacher s captain d s h. salt esquire ivar s long john silver s skippers seafood & chowder house defunct bresler s ice cream brigham s burger chef carrols d lites druther s henry s hamburgers hot n now hot sam pretzels naugles red barn sandy s zantigo retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title fosters freeze & oldid 732618856 categories 1946 establishments in californiarestaurants established in 1946fast food chains of the united statesfast food poultry restaurantsfast food franchisesice cream parlorscompanies based in san bernardino county californiainglewood californiaregional restaurant chains in the united stateshidden categories pages containing links to subscription only contentall articles with dead external linksarticles with dead external links from november 2015articles with wayback machine linksarticles needing cleanup from june 2009all articles needing cleanupcleanup tagged articles without a reason field from june 2009wikipedia pages needing cleanup from june 2009all articles lacking reliable referencesarticles lacking reliable references from 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