plus flattery equals happy people they say imitation is the highest form of flattery
so here are 10 hilarious knock-off fast food chains that actually exist
Michael alone why are you here eating alone serving an average of 69 million customers a
day worldwide a McDonald's has become one of the most popular fast food chains to try and rip off
most of these imposters pick a name that sounds at least somewhat similar to the original chain like
mcdoner in Kazakhstan or Mash Donald's in Iran and the next time you find yourself in Kurdistan why
not try a Big Mac that's Mac with a K from Madonna but if we're handing out prizes for the McDonald's
knockoff with the most creative name that title may just have to go to Michael alone located in
China you'll find a number of familiar touches to the decor including a red and yellow color scheme
as well as the famous golden arches turned upside down their menu includes burgers fries and chicken
nuggets all of this is well and good but there are still a couple of questions on everyone's Minds
who's Michael and why is he alone According to some theories the restaurant's name may be a bit
of a creative Home Alone reference which was released under a title that can be translated
as little boy the head of household in China playing around with the Chinese characters for
the movie's titles as well as the characters for McDonald's what you wind up with is Michael alone
it may seem a little strange sure but apparently this knockoff proved popular enough to spawn
a knockoff on its own weikel alone it borrows the same McDonald's inspired Decor from Michael
alone except Michael alone comes complete with a Ronald McDonald inspired clown statue standing
outside just in case you didn't already find the original mascot creepy enough Duffin dagels I see
what you're doing here what's a Duffin you may be asking or while we're on the subject what's
a dagle this seemingly random string of nonsense is actually the name of a a Spanish imposter of
Dunkin Donuts they borrowed the same pink and orange color scheme an extremely similar logo
and aesthetic for their social media Pages they serve coffee and donuts though they refer to their
donuts as duffins and they offer a few things that you wouldn't be able to get at a Dunkin Donuts as
well such as extremely decadent Milkshakes that have helped catch the attention of social media
followers I just feel like everybody's Watching Me At Last count there were at least 30 Duffin
Bagels locations operating throughout Spain and the company at one point expressed interest in
becoming a much bigger franchise they seem to draw in a crowd but it's difficult to say if
it's the food that's been catching their attention they're far from the only Dunkin Donuts rip-off
either moving over to Nuremberg Germany we have these somehow even more confusingly named donkey
donuts although they would eventually end up changing their name to Crazy Donuts we
suppose that donkey Keys just didn't really get people in the mood to enjoy some sweet desserts
Pizza huh pizza parlor huh this is potentially one of the most suiting names for a knockoff fast
food chain we've ever seen it starts out feeling familiar enough but in the end it just leaves you
asking so many questions Pizza huh can be found in a mall in China dedicated entirely to knock off
Brands but possibly the most popular of the Pizza Hut imposters would probably be Pizza hat in Iran
The Original Pizza Hut chain was forced to move out of Iran leaving a space open in the market
for the hat to step in our time has finally come for those of you who are curious their Pizza is
apparently very similar though made with more Dill than American diners would be used to they use a
man wearing a red Fedora for their logo and while this may simply be a reference to the restaurant's
name it also Bears a strange resemblance to a certain Pizza Patron logo we'll give them
credit for having stolen ideas from multiple chains instead of just the one this time around
at least not even still would it have killed them to give him a literal Pizza hat Dairy fairy who's
up for Dairy Queen should you ever find yourself in China and craving a Blizzard from Dairy Queen
the dairy fairy has apparently earned its name as the place to go except they offer snow storms
instead the Frozen treat is served in blue and red cups that looks so similar to something you could
get from Dairy Queen that you may do a double take they even turn their snowstorms upside down before
serving them to you in exactly the same way that Dairy Queen does dairy fairy has recently expanded
to South Africa as well suggesting that they may just be one of the most popular knockoffs
on this list we're number one according to those who have eaten at Dairy fairy their soft serve is
delicious but then again it's sort of difficult to ruin ice cream so as long as you're willing to
overlook the fact that their menu Isn't the most creative out there we'd say to check it out if you
have the chance and before you start thinking that Americans are completely innocent in this form of
stealing look no further than the Dairy King in Connecticut no matter where you are in the world
if it's popular someone will find a way to copy it for sure sunny day it's a sunny day I love
a sunny day this knockoff has a name that's just different enough from the original to prove tricky
sunny day and Subway sound just different enough to keep them out of any legal trouble but when you
write them in a similar white and yellow font they can almost be mistaken for the same word from a
distance this places them in the unique position of being able to pull in customers expecting a
subway without having to worry all too much about hearing from their lawyers sunny day is located in
Yemen and it is far from the only sandwich shop trying to cash in on Subway's success and name
a good artist's copies a gray artist Stills while sunny day at least chose a name that
can be recognized as a name there's also a Subway imposter in Iran that seems to have chosen nothing
more than a random collection of oddly spaced white and yellow letters on a green board some of
these letters appear to have been stolen straight from the subway way logo While others barely even
resemble letters like is the letter on the bottom left supposed to be the letter c or what some
have attempted to pronounce this knockoff's name asisa and we commend them for trying
his Burger okay cheeseburger helper you're on this is a restaurant with a name that cuts right
to the heart of what they're all about what do they serve cheeseburgers of course quick
simple and to the point in fact this fast food joint from China would hardly be suspected as
a substitute if it weren't for the fact that their logo is almost identical to Burger Kings
safe Burger friends from Iraq took an even more direct approach with their theft offering a blue
and yellow color scheme almost identical to Burger Kings as well as a menu serving burgers fries and
soft drinks but considering how well friendly they try to appear and the fact that Burger King is not
actually allowed in Iraq leaving privately owned knockoffs as the country's only option
we can't begrudge them too much for this stars and Bucks Cafe looks like the Starbucks Mermaid
this Starbucks knockoff operates out of Bethlehem Palestine and besides their nearly identical name
they also use a circular green logo that can still be easily mistaken for the original at a quick
glance but stars and Bucks Cafe is far from the only coffee shop guilty of stealing a few ideas
from the American coffee chain and some of them get pretty creative for example in wushi China
you'll find soft Cooks which may sound a little rude if you attempt to say this jumble of letters
aloud but nowhere near as rude as the name given to the ultimate Starbucks knockoff star that's
right they went there to be fair this last one is not currently in business but it was suggested as
the name of a potential store that a mall in Sichuan China wanted to attract you attract in
what you put out apparently it's common practice for mall owners hoping to open up one of these
knock-offs to place a sign on a vacant retail space with the suggested name printed on it until
someone comes along willing to rent the spot so no Starfox is not official but there is a
very good chance that it could be soon otherwise there's also Starbucks Coffee in London England
which took a slightly subtler approach by being a knockoff in name mostly their color scheme is red
and white with no signs of the Starbucks green that every other imposter tries to rip off and
they serve their coffee out of a humble little Hut even still Starbucks asked them to stop using the
word star in their name or advertising and so they now go by the name box coffee Taco Bell Grande hey
this isn't Taco Bell Taco Bell may have proven itself a fan favorite when it comes to serving
Mexican inspired flavors in America and yet they've only been available in China these
last few years before that the closest you could have gotten if you found yourself craving burritos
in China would be Taco Bell Grande a hilariously underwhelming sit-down restaurant serving Mexican
inspired tastes such as tacos and fajitas between the Live Mariachi band and the wait staff serving
you in sombreros there's something overly cheesy about this atmosphere to the point that it almost
feels like it belongs in some sort of theme park all the great themes have been used up turned
into theme parks but that being said it's clear that Taco Bell Grande wanted to offer a somewhat
upscale dinner experience and with a bilingual menu offering things like oxtail soup and smoked
salmon they were a little bit more than your standard ripoff of an American fast food chain
all Taco Bell Grande locations were closed in 2008 as the company that operated it now oversees all
real Taco Bell locations in China it's likely that they just didn't want the competition but we have
to admit that their was something a little extra special about this imposter Obama fried chicken
you love Kentucky Fried Chicken right no what does Barack Obama have to do with fried chicken well
this ripoff chicken and for some reason Burger Joint from China may have simply been trying
for a familiar American theme when they chose the 44th president for both their mascot and name but
that doesn't mean eyebrows weren't raised over the potentially racist connotations in their choice of
mascot as well did they really need to choose the only African-American president for their fried
chicken restaurant they use the same red and white color scheme as KFC as well as a smiling
image of President Barack Obama dressed in Colonel Sanders iconic bow tie and apron the tagline we so
cool aren't we seems to be an attempt at casual American slang but otherwise it doesn't explain
what any of this has to do with her Obama Obama is President KFC caught wind of this rip-off at
some point in 2011 and considered taking legal action calling the restaurant offensive and
accusing them of playing into racist stereotypes Obama fried chicken may not be entirely to blame
for this however first of all the stereotype of tying African Americans with fried chicken
isn't quite as well known in China as it is in the United States regardless they change
their name shortly afterwards to avoid any further Scandal so that it now abbreviates to UFO but if
a space-themed KFC rip-off that still uses Obama's face for its mascot isn't quite to your tastes why
not check out Crispy Crunchy Fried Chicken from Nepal kfg in China or the rip-off from Thailand
that very simply uses the name Hitler and a logo depicting Adolf Hitler's face on Colonel Sanders
body it seems as though KFC has had a particularly bad string of offensive knockoffs over the years
Dominic's Pizza I have a dinner reservation for two tonight at Dominick's and it's just me this
name may have gotten a pass from us considering the uk-based pizza chain May simply be named
after someone named Dominic we don't know that for sure but that would make sense right they
offer Pizza of course but they also serve kebabs burgers and Southern Fried Chicken and so their
menu isn't an exact rip-off from Domino's but even trying to give them the benefit of the doubt it's
hard to deny that there's something very familiar about their signage they use a familiar red white
and blue color scheme though they may throw in a bit of yellow as well actually yellow would
be kind of nice on top of that their logo may be a domino of sorts they definitely went out
of their way to get creative with the design making it a little more abstract but when your
customer base may or may not be coming from the pubs it suddenly becomes a little harder
to tell that you aren't in a dominoes whether the owner's name is Dominic or not their choice
in signage is definitely meant to catch the attention of fans of the larger Pizza chain