How 10 Chain Restaurant Slogans Have Evolved Over The Years

You know a slogan is working when you don't need to say the brand beforehand. For example, most people know what "Just Do It" refers to before you've even said the word "Nike." But slogans don't just work for sneakers. In the fast food world, America's biggest restaurant chains have relied on slogans for decades to sling burgers, fries, and pizza to the masses. These catchy phrases are designed to stick in your head and ultimately lead you to crave more fast food. 

Below, we take a dive into how chain restaurant slogans have evolved over the years. We'll examine which ones were major hits, as well as some you might have forgotten about, and some you might wish you could forget (Domino's has a few that ended up in a PR disaster, for example). We won't give you any more spoilers before we get into the list, but to underscore how successful a slogan can truly be, we bet you know what fast food giant we're talking about when we say "I'm Lovin' It."

In the 1970s, the U.S. fast food industry was really getting into its stride. Consumers had more options than ever, so chains had to think hard about how to make themselves stand out. Burger King's solution? Create a new slogan. "Have It Your Way" was born, highlighting that, at Burger King, customers could customize their burgers to an extent that other fast-food chains wouldn't allow. 

Over the next few decades, Burger King would experiment with other slogans, but none were as catchy as "Have It Your Way." That's why, in the early 2000s, it decided it was time to bring it back. The trusty slogan stayed by Burger King's side until 2014, when it was swapped out for the more personal "Be Your Way." According to the company, the idea was to try to connect with consumers on a personal level. "Have It Your Way" was about Whoppers, but "Be Your Way" was about customers. In 2022, Burger King revamped the slogan again. This time, it was accompanied by the words "You Rule." Again, the idea was to try to emotionally connect with customers.

At the end of the day, Burger King knows that "Have It Your Way" is hard to beat: It's catchy, and, ultimately, it sells burgers. The chain still plays on the 1970s catchphrase all the time in jingles and campaigns. In 2025, for example, it released a commercial for its combo meals with the tagline "Combo Your Way."

When you think of McDonald's slogans, the first thing that probably pops into your head is "I'm Lovin' It." The phrase started off in a jingle sung by Justin Timberlake and co-produced by Pharrell Williams in 2003, and it stuck, becoming the longest-running slogan in McDonald's history. The "ba da ba ba ba" at the beginning of the song is sometimes used as a slogan on its own, and the catchy call-and-response is probably a key element to the slogan's overall success.

Before it landed on "I'm Lovin' It," McDonald's tried many slogans. In 1960, it used the simple phrase "Look for the Golden Arches!" to reference the iconic yellow M on all its stores, of course. In the 1970s, it tried out "You Deserve a Break Today," and in the same decade, it actually managed to make the ingredients of a Big Mac into a slogan and popular jingle. Yep, people who grew up watching McDonald's commercials during this time can probably still cite the jingle, which was literally: "Two all-beef patties, special sauce, lettuce, cheese, pickles, onions, and a sesame seed bun."

Other examples of McDonald's slogans include "It's a good time for the great taste of McDonald's" (which was used in the 1980s), "Did somebody say McDonald's?" (that one was around in the 1990s), and "Lovin' Beats Hatin'" (which appeared in 2015). But as of yet, let's be honest, nothing beats "I'm Lovin' It." Now you say: "Ba da ba ba ba."

McDonald's has "I'm Lovin' It," and KFC has "It's Finger Lickin' Good." The chicken giant's iconic slogan has been in use since the 1950s, and given its success, you'd assume that it was thought up by some top marketing or advertising executive. But actually, that's not the case at all. The story goes that Ken Harbough, the manager of a Phoenix KFC, said the line while filming a TV commercial for the chain. His boss and franchise owner, Dave Harman, would sit in the background during filming and eat a plate of fried chicken. After a caller complained to the TV station about Harman licking his fingers, Harbough told the caller: "Well, it's finger-lickin' good." Long story short, the line stuck.

The slogan was undeniably catchy, but KFC didn't rely on it completely. It also experimented with other phrases like "It's America's Country Good Meal" in the 1970s, and "We Do Chicken Right" in the 1980s. But nothing worked like "It's Finger Lickin' Good." Of course, like other fast-food chains with iconic slogans, the chicken chain has played around with the phrase a little bit. In 2011, it tried shortening the phrase to simply "So Good."

But just like its competitors, in the end, KFC went running back to its OG slogan. In 2020, though, KFC's catchphrase ran into an unexpected blip: It turns out, encouraging people to lick their fingers during a pandemic wasn't appropriate. KFC responded by pausing the slogan's use for a while, but it's firmly back now.

Subway is synonymous with the words "Eat Fresh," but not because all of its food is actually that fresh (it serves up a heck of a lot of processed meat, for example). It's because of a series of successful campaigns back in the 2000s. Back then, spokesperson Jared Fogle was the face of the Subway brand. In a long string of commercials, the chain attributed its food to Fogle's weight loss. He became synonymous with the company, and his voice was behind the slogan "Subway: Eat Fresh" at the end of the ads. But in 2015, Subway was forced to part ways with Fogle when he was investigated for child sexual abuse (he was ultimately sentenced to 15 years in prison). 

Likely as a result of Fogle's crimes, Subway paused "Eat Fresh" for a few years. But in an attempt to upgrade its brand (not because of Fogle, but because of increasing competition), in 2021, it brought back "Eat Fresh," this time with a twist: "Eat Fresh Refresh." It was an immediate success, and the new campaign with its new slogan helped Subway increase its customer numbers for the first time in nearly a decade.

The word "fresh" has been core to many of Subway's slogans over the years. As well as "Eat Fresh," it experimented with "Founded on Fresh" in 2015 and "Fresh Is What We Do" in 2017.

Arby's might have been founded in the 1960s, but it didn't land on its now-iconic slogan "We Have the Meats" until 2014. The chain had been trying to shed its image as a fast food chain for old people, and its previous slogan "Slicing Up Freshness" just wasn't cutting the mustard, if you'll excuse the pun. After switching to "We Have the Meats," though, the Millennials came running. The number of 18 to 34-year-olds buying food from the roast beef fast food chain climbed significantly, and sales experienced a notable increase.

Unlike many other chains, so far, Arby's has left its classic slogan alone. A 2026 commercial, for example, still ends with the same line that debuted in 2014. But just because it didn't land on a slogan that stuck until just over a decade ago, it doesn't mean Arby's wasn't trying to court new customers with catchy slogans. 

In the 1980s, for example, desperate to separate itself from the competition, it experimented with "Taste the Arby's Difference." In the 1990s, this morphed into "Different Is Good," and then in the 2000s, it tried out "I'm Thinking Arby's."

In 2019, Dairy Queen launched its new slogan, "Happy Tastes Good," and it was a hit. Seven years later, in 2026, it's still using the tagline in its advertising. According to the team at the fast food chain, the slogan aims to reinforce the idea that Dairy Queen is a place where customers can make happy memories over a Blizzard or fries. This thinking echoes one of the chain's first slogans, "Live a Little," which was used in the chain's earliest cartoon commercials in the 1960s.

Between the 1960s and 2019, Dairy Queen experimented with a few different slogans. In the 1980s, it used "We Treat You Right" for the first time, and in the 1990s, "Hot Eats, Cool Treats" came along. You can probably guess, but the idea behind that one was to drum into customers that Dairy Queen sold hot foods, like burgers, as well as desserts. It might sound a little on the nose, but people loved "Hot Eats, Cool Treats." Years later, people were still talking on social media about how much they missed it. Other slogans used by Dairy Queen include 2013's "Fan Food, Not Fast Food" and 2011's "So Good It's RiDQulous."

The chain has also used regional slogans. For example, in an attempt to increase Dairy Queen's popularity in Texas in 2002, advertising company Loomis created "DQ, That's What I Like About Texas." It was a success, and in 2025, Dairy Queen Texas was still using the tagline in its commercials.

Pizza Hut was founded in the 1950s, but it wasn't until the 1960s that its first commercial would air on American TV with the slogan and jingle "Putt Putt to the Pizza Hut." The fun commercial saw a well-dressed man in a suit get in a tiny car and be chased down the street to his local Pizza Hut. Many, many slogans would follow "Putt Putt to the Pizza Hut." In the 1980s, there was "Makin' it Great!," for example, and decades later, in 2012, the pizza chain would revive the slogan as "Make it Great." In the 2000s, another commonly used slogan of Pizza Hut's was "Gather Round the Good Stuff." 

Pizza Hut's slogans have evolved many times over the years, and the chain isn't afraid to try out new things. In the mid-2010s, it started using the braggy slogan "No One Out-Pizzas the Hut," for example. People were quick to make fun of the slogan on social media, though, often with memes and pictures of Pizza Hut pizza looking, let's say, less than desirable.

In 2025, amid declining sales, Pizza Hut committed to reviving its brand with nostalgia. It started bringing back its 1980s and 1990s interior design in select restaurants, launched a new logo inspired by its old red roof, and came up with a new slogan: "Feed Good Times," perhaps as a nod to the days when people used to see a trip to Pizza Hut as a fun family evening out.

In the 1970s, Burger King tried to stand out by reminding customers that it could customize its Whoppers. And Domino's? Well, Domino's decided that in order to separate itself from the crowded fast food market, it would use its slogan to make a promise: "30 Minutes or Less, or It's Free." At first, the slogan paid off. People ordered more pizzas, and Domino's upheld its standards of speedy delivery.

Things took a turn in the 1980s, when the chain was hit with accusations of encouraging dangerous driving. It turns out, some of its delivery drivers had caused car accidents while racing to deliver their pizzas on time, and so eventually Domino's abandoned the slogan. But this wasn't the only PR disaster tied to a Domino's slogan. Another 1980s tagline, "Avoid the Noid," which was about the Domino's claymation character the Noid, was initially a success. But in 1989, Kenneth Lamar Noid, who was suffering from a mental illness, entered a Domino's Pizza store in Chamblee, Georgia, and held the employees hostage. Due to his condition, he believed "Avoid the Noid" was about him. Domino's dropped the tagline after that, of course. 

Fortunately, Domino's slogans over the next few decades (like "Get the Door. It's Domino's," for example) were less controversial. In 2025, Domino's rebranded again with a new slogan, which is just a riff on its name sung by Shaboozey. You might have heard it already, but, as a reminder, it goes like this: "Dom-mmm-ino's."

Wendy's is arguably best known for the slogan "Where's the Beef?" The tagline first came about in 1984, thanks to a simple commercial featuring three women sitting in front of a huge burger bun and a small patty. One of the women, played by Clara Peller, angrily says: "Where's the beef?" People loved the commercial, and it became a bona fide hit for Wendy's. So, of course, the fast food giant has thrown back to the iconic slogan on a few occasions. In 2023, for example, it launched a new commercial with Reggie Miller with the new slogan "Square's the Beef" — a nod to its square burgers, of course.

"Where's the Beef?" might be one of Wendy's most famous lines, but it's not the only tagline the fast food chain has used over the years. Since the 1960s, for example, it has consistently used the slogan "Quality Is Our Recipe" in its marketing materials. Other Wendy's slogans include "You're Wendy's Kind of People" (in the 1980s) and "It's Way Better Than Fast Food... It's Wendy's" (in the late 2000s).

There are nearly 10,000 Dunkin' locations across the U.S., in 44 states and territories, so it's fair to say that the fast food chain is pretty popular in the country. In fact, some might say "America Runs on Dunkin'." Okay, it's actually Dunkin' itself that says that, but it's a pretty successful slogan. It was first launched 20 years ago in 2006, in a bid to connect with the many workers across the U.S. who were picking up Dunkin' during the workday. It was still using the slogan in 2026 (including in its star-studded run of Super Bowl ads with actors like Ben Affleck, Jennifer Aniston, and Matt LeBlanc).

But before it landed on "America Runs on Dunkin'," this fast food chain experimented with a few different angles. In the 1980s, for example, one slogan was "Time to Make the Donuts," to highlight the freshness of its donuts. It was simple, but it worked, largely because Fred, the baker (the character in the commercials who would say the slogan), was relatable. In fact, years later, people are still using the phrase when they have to do a mundane task in their routine over and over again (like, say, going to work).