39. Waldorf System

At the turn of the 20th century, having meals pre-prepared and waiting for customers wasn’t wholly normalized, but Waldorf System, Incorporated was working on changing that. While the Waldorf restaurants cooked some food to order, most of its products were prepared ahead of time in a central hub that provided meals to many of its locations.

At its peak, the restaurant chain had approximately 200 locations receiving prepared food from the central kitchens. Waldorf System, Inc. stopped trading on the stock market in the 1960s, but the last Waldorf restaurant hung on another decade before closing for good in the mid-70s.