The restaurant industry seems as if it’s going backward in its efforts to promote diversity within its top executive ranks. If it goes all the way back to the mid-20th century, it’ll find that the role of women in particular was far more pronounced in those formative years.

Indeed, women played key roles in the development of the chain sector, in part because those early ventures were largely family affairs. Men might have grabbed the limelight, but women were often the key figures behind the scenes.

This week’s episode of Restaurant Rewind looks back at three of those female pioneers. Without them, we likely wouldn’t have the McDonald’s, In-N-Out and Marriott International we do today.

Join us as we celebrate women who are still role models all these decades later.