James A. Collins

Hamburger Handout opened on September 22, 1952. Jim Collins was inspired to open a hamburger store after meeting Richard and Maurice McDonald and seeing what they were doing in San Bernardino. Jim was fascinated by this concept of good, affordable and fast food and decided to use the McDonald's concept at Hamburger Handout. The first Hamburger Handout opened on the corner of Sepulveda and Centinela in Culver City, California.

It was an immediate hit, people driving for miles and waiting in long lines to eat 19 cent burgers. Jim opened three additional Hamburger Handouts in 1957, 1958 and 1960. In February 1960, Jim met Col. Harland Sanders and expanded his menu to include Kentucky Fried Chicken. In 1968, all four Hamburger Handouts closed and Jim shifted his focus to franchising Kentucky Fried Chicken.

In February 1960, Jim went to Louisville, Kentucky and met Col. Harland Sanders and started selling Kentucky Fried Chicken at his hamburger stores, Hamburger Handout. In 1961, Jim partnered with two associates and opened three take home Kentucky Fried Chicken stores, in Anaheim, Tustin and Costa Mesa, California. Jim became good friends with the Colonel and started helping him train new franchisees and eventually became the southern California agent for KFC. Between 1962 and 1968, Jim opened 240 KFCs for the Colonel, of which his company, Collins Foods International, owned and managed 33 stores.

In the summer of 1968, Jim secured the rights to open KFCs in Queensland, Australia and opened the first one there in July 1969 and, by 1998, had 100 KFC stores in Australia and 170 in the United States. In 1991, Collins Foods International sold their US based stores to PepsiCo but continue to own and operate the 100 stores in Australia.

In January 1958, Del Johnson opened the first Sizzler Restaurant in Culver City, California and by 1967, Del owned four restaurants and 160 franchised restaurants. Upon Del's retirement, Collins Foods International (CFI) bought all of Sizzler's holdings. CFI made important and innovative changes to the Sizzler concept. They stepped away from the "fast food" atmosphere and changed their menu to include steak-seafood combination platters. By 1972, Sizzler had 200 restaurants and expanded to 23 states and, by 1983, CFI operated and franchised 441 Sizzler restaurants: 139 company operated and 302 franchised in 30 states as well as Guam, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.

Sizzler continued to evolve in response to competition and changing consumer tastes. They, also, continued to grow and by the late 1980's, Sizzler expanded to Australia, New Zealand, Indonesia, Singapore, Taiwan and Thailand. Sizzler reached its peak and greatest size in 1992 with 786 restaurants worldwide generating sales of about $1.1 billion. CFI restructured as Sizzler International and currently includes 300 Sizzler restaurants worldwide and 113 KFC restaurants in Queensland, Australia.