A&W Drive-In

Roy Allen's original 1919 root beer stand in Lodi, California, was a simple operation — a small wooden structure on the highway, selling 5-cent mugs of root beer to passing motorists. The product was the recipe, not the format; Allen's root beer was brewed in-house using a blend of herbs, spices, and bark extracts that produced a distinctive sweet-spicy flavor unlike the carbonated soft drinks dominant at the time. The success of the original stand led to a partnership with Frank Wright in 1922 and the launch of the A&W chain.

The drive-in format — parking stalls with outdoor speakers, carhops bringing orders directly to the car, tray-mounted food and drinks consumed in the parked vehicle — was developed by A&W and other roadside chains across the 1930s and 1940s. The format was particularly suited to American automobile culture: customers could eat without leaving their cars, families with kids could manage meals without the chaos of a sit-down restaurant, and the parking-stall format produced more efficient capacity utilization than traditional indoor seating.

The drive-in format peaked from roughly 1945 through 1965, with hundreds of A&W locations across Route 66 and other major American highways operating in the carhop-service format. The decline began in the late 1960s as fast-food chains (McDonald's, Burger King, KFC) developed the modern drive-through-window format that was operationally simpler and required less staff. By the 1980s most A&W locations had either closed or converted to standard quick-service formats; the relatively few remaining carhop-format A&Ws became increasingly nostalgic destinations rather than typical fast-food stops.

The A&W root beer is the signature item and is the reason most customers visit. The Rolla location brews root beer in-house using the proprietary A&W recipe — a sweet-spicy blend that includes wintergreen, sassafras (in the synthetic-flavor form used since natural sassafras was restricted), licorice, vanilla, and various other flavorings. The root beer is served in frosted glass mugs straight from the freezer; the temperature contrast between the cold mug and the room-temperature root beer produces ice crystals on the glass that are part of the visual signature. A standard mug runs roughly $3-$4.

Root beer floats — root beer with vanilla ice cream — are the second signature item and are typically served in the same frosted mugs. The float format has been on the A&W menu since the chain's founding and remains the most-ordered item beyond the standard root beer. Other root beer variations include the root beer freeze (a thicker frozen version blended like a milkshake) and the root beer with various ice cream flavors beyond standard vanilla.

Beyond the root beer program, the menu covers standard American drive-in food. The signature burger is the A&W Papa Burger — a large double-patty cheeseburger that has been on the menu since the 1950s. The Mama Burger (single patty), Teen Burger, and Baby Burger (kids size) round out the burger lineup. Hot dogs, coney dogs (chili dogs), french fries, onion rings, and various sides complete the standard offerings. Ice cream sundaes, milkshakes, and the root beer floats are the dessert options.

The Rolla A&W's parking lot is configured as a series of covered parking stalls, each with an outdoor speaker and a menu board. Customers pull into an open stall, review the menu, and press the speaker button to place their order with the kitchen. The order is prepared inside the building; a carhop then delivers the tray to the car window, where it attaches to the partially-rolled-down driver-side window using a tray-mounting hook.

Payment is handled at the time of delivery — the carhop takes cash or credit card payment at the car. Tipping the carhop is standard practice ($1-$3 per order is typical); the carhops at the Rolla location are typically high-school-age or college-age Rolla residents working summer or after-school shifts. The combination of efficient kitchen and consistent carhop staffing typically produces order-to-delivery times of 8-12 minutes during peak hours.

Indoor seating is available for customers who prefer to eat inside rather than in their car — the building has a small dining room with perhaps 15-20 seats. Most customers use the carhop service; the indoor seating sees more use during winter cold weather and during rain or severe weather when the outdoor parking stalls are less comfortable. Both options use the same menu and pricing.

The A&W is the natural quick lunch or casual dinner stop for any Rolla Route 66 visit. The classic plan: Stonehenge Replica visit in late morning, Phelps County Courthouse downtown walking tour at noon, A&W Drive-In lunch at 12:30pm or 1pm, Slice of Pie dessert at 2pm, and continuing west toward Lebanon and Springfield by 3pm. The combination of A&W and Slice of Pie produces a satisfyingly complete Rolla food experience without requiring a full sit-down restaurant visit.

For Route 66 nostalgia travelers specifically interested in surviving 1950s-format roadside food, the Rolla A&W is one of the better single stops on the Missouri Mother Road corridor. The combination of frosted-mug root beer, carhop service, and the preserved drive-in parking-stall format produces an authentic Route 66 dining experience that is increasingly rare across the highway corridor. The pairing with the Pacific A&W Drive-In further east on Missouri Route 66 produces a multi-stop A&W nostalgia tour for serious enthusiasts.

For families with kids, the A&W is an exceptional Route 66 family stop. The novelty of the parking-stall carhop service, the frosted-mug root beer, and the kid-sized Baby Burger produce sustained engagement and the kind of memorable road-trip experience that kids typically remember for years. Families with younger children sometimes use the indoor dining room for easier mess management; older kids generally prefer the parking-stall experience.