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An illustration shows a number of chain restaurant signs reformed into the title
Binglin Hu
What is a chain restaurant?
We’ll break down the business behind some of your favorite places to eat.
It's the start of a whole new season and Bridget and Ryan have a great question from listener, Dina: What is a chain restaurant? Some chain restaurants work a little differently than other chains — they're "franchises" and individual people can open a location of their own!

To answer Dina's question, Bridget and Ryan try their hand at opening their own location of the incredibly popular and beloved chain, the International House of Clams. Together, they’ll learn how the chain restaurant business works and what makes it different from starting a restaurant from scratch. Plus, keep an ear out for cameos from some of your favorite Million Bazillion characters!
LISTEN NOW!
An illustrated infographic shows how to spot a chain restaurant: Same name, same logo, same menu, many locations.
Binglin Hu
And now, some tips for grownups listening to “Million Bazillion” with kids!

Money Talks

After you listen to the episode, here are some questions and conversation starters you can use with your kid listener to see how much they learned about how chain restaurants and franchises work.
  1. What are some of the chain restaurants you’ve eaten at before?
  2. Why would someone want to own a chain restaurant instead of starting one from scratch?
  3. Which restaurant do you think should become a chain restaurant?
  4. If you had to create a mascot for your dream chain restaurant, what would it be?
  5. *Bonus* Not-So-Random Question: If you owned your own restaurant, what would you name it?

Tip Jar

For listeners who want to keep learning more about chain restaurants and the food business, we’ve got some ideas: 
  • Listen to this Million Bazillion episode, “Why are there so many of the same stores?” to learn an important economic concept, “economies of scale.”
  • Curious about starting your own business? Take a listen to this Million Bazillion episode.
  • If you’re interested in the cost of food, listen to our episode on why organic food costs more than non-organic food.
  • Check out the most popular chain restaurants here. Do you agree?

Gimme 5!

Thanks for listening to this episode! We’re working on an episode about $2 bills and we’d love your help! We want to hear your kid’s two dollar tales! Have they ever seen a $2 bill? Maybe they got one for their birthday or spent it on something cool. We want to know!

Record your Million Bazillionaire and send the audio using this online form and we just might include your kid in an upcoming episode!

This episode is sponsored by Greenlight. Sign up for Greenlight today at  greenlight.com/million.
 
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© 2025 American Public Media Group. All rights reserved.