restaurant founded 1926 founder fred angell headquarters urbandale iowa website maid rite.com maid rite is an american casual dining franchise restaurant chain . before it became a restaurant chain it was a single restaurant opened in 1926 by fred angell . by the end of the 1920s there were four franchises granted ; these four restaurants are still in operation . maid rite corporation s ceo and president is bradley l. burt . the corporate headquarters are located in des moines iowa . as of april 2006 maid rite had over 70 locations located in iowa arkansas nebraska illinois minnesota and missouri . the quincy illinois location was featured in the food network show feasting on asphalt . contents 1 history 1.1 restaurants 2 sale 3 references 4 external links 5 see also history edit angell was a butcher in muscatine iowa who combined a special cut and grind of meat with a selected set of spices and created the maid rite sandwich which is not a traditional hamburger . rather it is called a loose meat sandwich . while the component meat is similar the maid rite sandwich s meat is not formed into a patty making it similar to a sloppy joe without the tomato based sauce . restaurants edit shuttered store in macomb illinois angell opened his first restaurant in muscatine which was strictly walk up . later a new eat in building was opened . he and his son francis angell opened a second restaurant featuring a car hop or drive in service . this was the first such service of this kind in the united states ; a & w restaurants and white castle restaurants replicated this service shortly thereafter . the first franchise was opened in durant iowa which still maintains a maid rite restaurant . maid rite began to grow in the number of franchises throughout the united states under the direction of william angell the grandson of the founder . sale edit the angell family would have controlling interest in the franchise until 1984 when it was sold to a partnership of clayton blue a farmer from russell iowa and john gillotti a contractor from des moines . the original maid rite restaurants in muscatine were sold to gary kopf a local businessman who also operated vending companies family restaurants and bakeries . blue had plans to expand the chain into a worldwide operation and sell stock to the public ; however after blue defaulted on the contract to buy maid rite gillotti purchased the chain outright in 1988 . gillotti died in 1991 prompting a legal battle between blue s family and gillotti s heirs over ownership of the chain . after an injunction was issued by the polk county district court in 1992 that prohibited any new maid rite franchises the gillotti family was awarded ownership of the 138 store chain in 1995 . however issues with franchise fees and product quality led to a number of restaurants closing ; by 2002 the number of maid rite stores had dropped to 83 . 1 in 2002 an investor group led by former des moines banker bradley burt purchased a majority interest in the maid rite chain with the gillotti family retaining an interest . while up to 20 longtime franchisees left maid rite during the first two years of its new ownership maid rite began to use computerized systems to control expenses started offering ten day courses on how to prepare maid rite food to new franchise owners and created a new uniform decor for its restaurants that retains the nostalgia of the maid rite brand . according to the des moines register maid rite has a ten year plan to open more than 1 000 restaurants throughout the united states . 2 in november 2007 maid rite announced an agreement with hy vee food stores a midwest based grocer to operate restaurants in their stores . 3 references edit maid rite timeline . des moines register . 2006 11 12 . dead link elbert david 2006 11 12 . maid rite chain s comeback is cooking . des moines register . dead link local news 27 november 2007 . sandwich chain maid rite joins hy vee in gas station venture . kcrg tv9 cedar rapids iowa . archived from the original on 14 january 2013 . retrieved 12 may 2016 . external links edit official website as of 2006 official website as of 2016 see also edit maid rite sandwich shop springfield illinois canteen lunch in the alley ottumwa iowa tavern sandwich 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 maid rite & oldid 738567282 categories companies based in iowarestaurants in iowaeconomy of the midwestern united statesfast food chains of the united statesregional restaurant chains in the united statesrestaurants established in 1926iowa culture1926 establishments in iowahidden categories all articles with dead external linksarticles with dead external links from may 2016 navigation menu personal tools not logged intalkcontributionscreate accountlog in namespaces article talk variants views read edit view history more search navigation main pagecontentsfeatured contentcurrent eventsrandom articledonate to wikipediawikipedia store interaction helpabout wikipediacommunity portalrecent changescontact page tools what links hererelated changesupload filespecial pagespermanent linkpage informationwikidata itemcite this page print export create a bookdownload as pdfprintable version languages add links this page was last modified on 9 september 2016 at 19 04 . text is available under the creative commons attribution sharealike license ; additional terms may apply . by using this site you agree to the terms of use and privacy policy . wikipedia is a registered trademark of the wikimedia foundation inc. a non profit organization . privacy policy about wikipedia disclaimers contact wikipedia developers cookie statement mobile view