Some of the most interesting history is hiding in the most ordinary places – including the food we eat every day. While watching the History Channel’s The Food That Built America, I learned a fascinating little piece of fast-food history involving Dave Thomas, Colonel Sanders, a bucket of chicken and eventually, a Frosty.

Dave Thomas, founder of Wendy’s, actually got his start in the restaurant business with KFC where he became closely associated with Colonel Harland Sanders. Thomas took over several struggling KFC franchises and turned them around, and he also had a hand in some of the marketing ideas that would become synonymous with the chain – including its now iconic rotating bucket sign.

We can also give him props for the first universal drive-thru idea for fast food as a whole, beginning with his Wendy’s franchises. The original drive thru had just one window where you would pull up, order, and pay. Dave Thomas recognized that this created very long lines in the parking lot and wasn’t particularly efficient. He realized if you had ‘stations’ of sorts you could stagger out the lines, keep them moving, and give the kitchen time to put your order together before you reached the final window. Order at the speaker, drive up to the pay window, drive to the last window to pick up your food.

The guy was a genius, over and above that darn Frosty idea.