Maid-Rite was founded by Fred Angell in 1926 as an American casual restaurant.  By the end of the 1920s there were four franchises that had been granted and they are all still in operation today.  This restaurant started as a walk-up restaurant and later evolved into an eat-in building as well.  Fred’s son Francis helped to open the second restaurant, which featured a car hop or drive-in service.  They were the first ones to do this in the United States.

The first franchise was opened in Durant, Iowa and the Angell franchise had controlling interest in the franchise until 1984.  They sold it to Clayton Blue and John Gillotti at this time and the original Maid-Rite was sold to Gary Kopf.  Blue defaulted on the contract to buy Maid-Rite and Gillotti ended up purchasing the chain outright in 1988.  He passed away in 1991 and a legal battle between the Blue family and the Gillotti family started over who owned the franchise.  The Gillotti family was awarded ownership of all 138 stores in 1995, but by 2002 the number of restaurants dropped to 83.  There are currently around 70 locations and the company is still privately owned.

The Maid-Rite menu features many classic American style items like sandwiches, kid’s meals, fries, hot dogs, tenderloins, chicken strips, soups, salads, onion rings, and more.  They feature a section of their menu called the Smokin’ good sandwiches and sides.  These are BBQ and smoked type items including a pulled pork sandwich and BBQ baked beans.  They also offer a variety of Pepsi products and a variety of ice cream desserts.

Maid-Rite is looking to expand through their franchise program and they have many areas available for franchisees.  They estimate the initial investment to be $225,000 to $350,000 depending on the size of the restaurant and the location.  They estimate that a franchisee will need between $50,000 and $125,000 out of pocket to get started.  It will take between 60 and 150 days to get the location ready to be opened and they do provide support throughout the entire process.