When you think about all of the different fast food chains in the world, the people running them had to start somewhere. There are plenty of stories about these individuals beginning in the very restaurants themselves that they now run as executives, and many of them are fantastic stories about truly working from the bottom to the top.
At the end of the day, not every executive was without privilege, as a few of the executives on this list are related to the founders. Still, they wanted to learn the ins and outs of the business, which meant starting at the ground floor before they would feel prepared to take over the family empire.
15. Nader Masadeh
Nader Masadeh had a surprise role on the show Undercover Boss.
At 15 years old, Nader Masadeh was working in his uncle’s Burger King, where he started learning the industry as a food prep. Fast forward to 2025, and Nader Masadeh is the CEO and President of Buffalo Wings and Rings. Masadeh was even once featured on the CBS show Undercover Boss to gain a better understanding of how employees felt about the business.
14. Manu Steijaert
Manu held senior level roles at McDonald’s including Chief Customer Officer.
The former Chief Customer Officer and current President of International Markets, Manu Steijaert, started his role at McDonald’s as a grill cook. Beginning in 1987, Steijaert started working at his parents’ McDonald’s franchise before joining the corporate office in 2001 as a field consultant in Belgium and rising to senior roles in Europe.
13. Scott Gittrich
Scott Gittrich would help found Toppers Pizza.
Starting at the equivalent of grill work in the pizza world, Scott Gittrich was a delivery driver for Domino’s Pizza. He would later grow in the company to become the director of operations for a large franchise owner. However, Gittrich then decided to do his own thing and became the CEO of Toppers Pizza, which has more than 70 locations.
12. Rich Hicks
Hicks started the beloved MOOYAH burger brand.
At the early age of 15, Rich Hicks began his career in the restaurant world as a dishwasher, where he also handled basic prep responsibilities. After graduating from college, Hicks moved up the ladder at chains like Romano’s Macaroni Grill before founding the chain MOOYAH Burgers and Tin Star. Hicks and his partner later sold the company, but not after helping it open more than 100 locations.
11. Denise Nelson
Denise Nelson is still the CEO of Smashburger as of August 2025.
Starting her food life off as a barista at Starbucks, Denise Nelson’s first entry in the executive world happened over 25 years. Leaving the coffee giant as a Senior VP of Operations, Denise was hired as the CEO of the fast-casual fast food brand, Smashburger. She is currently still serving as the company’s CEO in 2025.
10. Fred DeLuca
For a while, Subway was the largest fast food brand in the world.
The co-founder and former President of Subway, Fred DeLuca, quite literally started at the bottom. When DeLuca and his partner, Peter Buck, opened up operations, they were on the frontline helping customers, even looping in his mom and Buck’s father to help when things got too busy.
9. Tom Curtis
Tom Curtis went from delivering pizzas to the head of Burger King.
Starting his life as a Domino’s employee delivering pizzas while in high school, Tom Curtis was destined for something more. After spending 35 years at Domino’s Pizza, where he left as Executive Vice President of US operations, Curtis joined Burger King, where he was the President of both its US and Canadian operations.
8. Colonel Harland Sanders
Harland Sanders remains of the face of the KFC brand to this day.
A famous name in the world of fast food, Colonel Harland Sanders, or just Harland Sanders, started his work life as a cook selling fried chicken from a gas station in Kentucky. It would take a few years, but drawing on his experience, Sanders perfected a recipe for fried chicken and opened up KFC, during which he served as both CEO and brand ambassador.
7. Ed Rensi
Ed Rensi was the former business leader of McDonald’s USA.
Another McDonald’s employee, Ed Rensi, would work his way up from being a grill operator and part-time manager trainee in McDonald’s in 1966 to the CEO of McDonald’s USA. Rensi oversaw a massive US expansion in his role, which he served between 1991 and 1997.
6. Fred L. Turner
Fred Turner started at the grill before becoming McDonald’s CEO.
A former McDonald’s CEO, Fred Turner, has received credit for doing much of the work of improving service standards at McDonald’s locations across the world. He began working for the company in 1956 as a grill operator. He quickly received promotions, and just two years later, he was an Operations Vice President when the chain had just 34 locations. It was Turner who took on the Chairman role after founder and previous CEO Ray Kroc died in 1977.
5. Lynsi Snyder
The In-N-Out burger chain is famous for its customer service.
Heir to the In-N-Out fortune, Lynsi Snyder is well known for having inherited the company. However, as the best owners do, Snyder chose to learn to work the company from the ground up. Her roles have included stints in the warehouse and as a frontline associate in her restaurants, learning each station before making the jump to the corporate office.
4. Charlie Bell
Charlie Bell was the youngest McDonald’s executive at the time.
McDonald’s youngest CEO from April to November 2004, Charlie Bell, was the first non-American and the company’s youngest CEO in its history. Bell was hired as an assistant manager at a local McDonald’s in Australia at the age of 18. By 29, he was a marketing manager, moving up to a managing director at 33 before assuming the CEO role at 44.
3. Michael R. Quinlan
McDonald’s has been the home of many executives, including Michael R. Quinlan.
The former President and CEO of McDonald’s, Michael R. Quinlan, is a big name in teh company history. Starting his role at McDonald’s in 1963, Quinlan began at the bottom, working in the mailroom, which is the corporate equivalent of the grill, before eventually retiring as the company’s Chairman of the Board in 1999.
2. Daniel Truett Cathy
Cathy is now the owner and head of the Chick-fil-A empire.
Heir to the Chick-fil-A brand and fortune, Daniel Truett Cathy was destined to run the company his father founded. However, before he was the company’s top officer, he started at an early age singing for customers in its radio ads. Today, he has an estimated net worth of over $10 billion, but he also likely remembers what it was like in the early days.
1. James O. “Jim” Collins
Collins started the Sizzler food chain.
Starting his career off in the restaurant business as a fry cook, James O. “Jim” Collins would end up founding his chain, which includes the Sizzler. Beginning his restaurant career in 1952, Collins opened his hamburger stand, where he served as the cook, before purchasing the Sizzler Family Steak House Chain in 1967.
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