I just went there yesterday, at the Promenade in Scottsdale. Good Pain Aux Raisin.
Not fast food or cheap, and I’ve never gone, but I just realized — hot pot. This is behind a paywall for me, but the 2020 LA Times headline is relevant:
These five international hot pot chains are taking over the San Gabriel Valley
Not paywalled:
Australia has contributed:
Zambrero - a Mexican food chain - just a few US stores so far
Bakers Delight - a bakery chain - seems to be mainly Canada as Cob’s Bread
Campos - Coffee supplier - I believe moving into US - mainly a supplier of product but some stores set themselves up as Campos flagships
And speaking of coffee, there’s the whole ‘Australian cafe’ thing - some of the more successful ones are franchising around the US. And hugely popular, as this article, written about 17 minutes before covid crushed everone’s dreams for the next three years tells.
And for those who might be curious, sadly Outback Steakhouse is not Australian.
Looking at that list, I realized how much I miss Beard Papa’s. I used to pick up a big box of their puffs and take them back to work, making me very popular for the day. I’ll admit that I thought that Beard Papa was Ernest Hemingway all this time.
I’ll add to the list my lunch spot for this past Saturday, Din Tai Fung. Originally out of Taiwan, they have a number of location on the west coast now. I could eat their xiao long bao until I pop open.
I think we have Boston Pizza in the USA, but they’ve rebranded it as Boston’s Pizza for some reason.
We also have at least a couple of Eastside Mario’s. The apostrophe is part of the name.
Oddly, these are both Canadian chains imitating some USA crap imported back to the USA for some reason.
Those Asian chains are all over here in the San Francisco Bay Area. All of these are within a few miles of my house: Jollibee’s, Little Sheep, Paris Bagette, 85°C.
There’s another Korean bakery chain called “Tous Les Jours” that also has locations around here.
Jollibee (with a double l). I’d think they’d be in Daly City. And checking Wikipedia, it turns out that their first United States location was in that city.
Oh, Tous les Jour and Paris Baguette are both here in Beijing. My wife, who is Korean, despises both chains’ Chinese branches because they are, according to her, a far cry below the quality of their branches back home.
I remember seeing Manchu Wok at US Army Garrison Yongsan in Seoul. I believe they’ve moved to the new headquarters base in Pyeongtaek. I guess that can count as making an inroad for the purposes of this thread.
One of my shipmates, when we were stationed in Japan, told me there was a branch of the Japanese chain MOS Burger in Alaska, but that was years ago. I’m actually surprised it doesn’t have a presence. Everyone I know loved the stuff. Think McDonald’s but spicy.
I guess another thing is what really counts as foreign now. A number of chains are owned by multinational companies.
We just got a Jollibee last year. Haven’t been yet but am interested to try it if ever I’m over there.
Pollo Campero has stores in 18 states and DC. It’s Guatemalan fried chicken. I really like their food. It’s at least on par with the KFCs and Popeyes of the world at least as far as fried chicken parts go, and they have different and more interesting options for sides like beans, yuca fries, and plantains.
Nando’s is great. Only in a few cities in the US but you should stop there if ever you encounter one. You really can’t order wrong, just about everything is at least pretty good, if not great. Even vegetarians have really good options on the menu. Their sauces, which you can buy separately, are great too.
There are a bunch of foreign restaurant chains located in D/FW.
I live less than a quarter mile from an El Pollo Loco.
There’s a Jollibee up in Plano, and a Pollo Campero not too far from here in Richardson.
There’s a Bonchon across the street from where I used to work in Addison, and a Nando’s being opened soon across the tollway in the opposite direction.
There’s a Paris Baguette in the H-Mart grocery over in the Korean area in Carrollton.
An Australian Mexican food chain is going to be a hard sell in the US, considering that we border Mexico, and typically can get regional Mexican cuisine in many places, as well as all the border fusion cuisine like Tex-Mex, Cal-Mex, etc…
I know where two are in the DFW area, in fact- Richardson & Carrollton near the H-Mart.
There are also a couple of 85C Bakery outposts around here as well- Carrollton near the H-Mart & Richardson, but a different part than the bb.q Chicken place.
I expect its not waving Australian flags too heavily in the decor, and people won’t know unless they know.
They do have a strong social justice ethic - using profits to support education in disadvantaged communities etc, which may or may not work as a positive marketing thing in the US environment.
Yeah that’s funny. It’d be like opening a Panda Express in China. There are still no Taco Bells in Mexico. They actually tried multiple times, but for some reason the locals just didn’t accept it. 
My filipina daughter likes it quite a bit, but as it’s much further from us than the actual international district, I haven’t eaten there yet.
Sounds delectable! What a great memory!
What!? What about putting shrimp on a “bah-bie”? That’s an Australian thing, right? 
I do not have a cite, so take this how you will, but it seems like I heard somewhere that there are restaurants in China that serve American style “Chinese” food. They market it as American food.
Do I vaguely recall eating at one of these in the airport in Iceland?
A couple of brewery chains…
Brew Dog the British brewery has a few brew pubs in the US.
The Danish brewery Mikkeller has a few too (or did, I vaguely remember hearing they shutdown its US operation post Covid)
Except for the fact that the first restaurant was in Los Angeles. The founder was from Mexico.
Does IKEA count as a restaurant chain? 
I liked the horse meatballs better.