The Food That Built America

High school friends see an alternative to fast food with the "submarine" sandwich. But they're soon met with fierce competition from a new submarine joint, started by a physicist who's bent on perfecting the art of the franchise.

In the late 1800s, German immigrants Joseph Schlitz and Captain Frederick Pabst find themselves in a battle for beer dominance. In their fight for one-upmanship, they end up creating the most popular alcoholic beverage on the planet.

When a commercial caterer realizes his two bestselling items are doughnuts and coffee, he joins forces with his brother-in-law to create a revolutionary doughnut chain. Soon a rivalry starts with a beloved Southern-based doughnut shop.

When his ice cream truck breaks down, Tom Carvel discovers that half-melted ice cream is a surefire hit. But while he works to mass-produce this new soft serve treat, John and Alex McCullough hit on the same idea and become Carvel's biggest rival.

In a quest to dominate the growing commercial bread industry, Lee Marshall bets on a new kind of white loaf, unwittingly inspiring a homemaker named Margaret Rudkin to come up with a healthier alternative.

Hollywood agent Wally Amos transforms his professional life when he starts selling his chocolate chip cookies. Meanwhile, housewife Debbi Fields opens a cookie shop in a mall and beats the odds to become the largest cookie store chain in the nation.

When Colonel Sanders sells his company to investors in 1964, the new owners identify a rising star within the organization: Dave Thomas. But Thomas, a visionary franchisee and protégé of Sanders himself, soon becomes a bitter rival.

Small-town farmer Orville Redenbacher has a lifelong dream of creating the perfect popcorn kernel, leading to the first major development of popcorn in thousands of years. Soon, he finds himself in a heated rivalry for supremacy of America's oldest snack.

Restaurateur Glen Bell works to create a burger alternative for the crowded fast food market and goes on to help introduce the taco to America with his namesake restaurant. Meanwhile, two brothers also look to beat the burger with roast beef sandwiches.

Former wrestler Rocky Aoki and a perfume salesman become the unlikely fathers of casual dining when they open two very different establishments in New York City: one of America's first Japanese restaurants and a swinging singles bar.

When a New York bakery owner passes away suddenly, his wife Martha Entenmann takes over the company and grows it into a national powerhouse. Soon, a competitor emerges with a revolutionary way to sell snack cakes and an iconic oatmeal crème pie.

When the Boiardi brothers open a restaurant to introduce Italian food to America, they create what will eventually become one of the nation’s most iconic brands. But they soon find themselves competing for shelf space with food giant James Kraft.