1982: Mark Peterson and his sister Krystal Burge, then 20 and 21 years old respectively, used money saved for college along with a loan from their grandparents to buy the rights to develop a single Taco Bell restaurant in the tiny desert town of Kingman in northwest Arizona. For the next three years, they worked side-by-side in the restaurant personally overseeing all facets of the business.

1985: Krystal started to run the Kingman site on her own while Mark opened and operated their second restaurant in nearby Bullhead City. Over the next 10 years, the brother and sister team acquired or developed eight additional Taco Bell restaurants in western Arizona and two in south eastern California.

1997: Mark and Krystal landed their biggest deal yet, acquiring 26 restaurants in the Phoenix metropolitan area. Recognizing the potential of the market they kept expanding and two years later an additional seven units were acquired in central Arizona.

2008: DDO Foods ventured into the beehive state with an acquisition of 14 Taco Bell restaurants in central and southern Utah. Along with acquisitions, DDO started building the first new Taco Bells the state had seen in 10 years! Since then, the company has acquired two additional restaurants and opened 14 new restaurants, bringing its store count in Utah to a total of 30 restaurants.

2009: DDO Foods acquires five more Taco Bell restaurants in Yuma, AZ (2 stores) and El Centro, CA (3 stores) from the franchisor.

2010: DDO Foods ventures into the Pizza Hut franchise, finalizing an important deal to acquire 40 Pizza Hut restaurants in and around Phoenix, AZ from Pizza Hut Corporate

2013: DDO acquired an additional seven Pizza Hut restaurants in Arizona and in combination with new store development bringing its PH store count to 57.

2015: DDO expanded into the lone star state, Texas, and acquired 34 Taco Bell and Taco Bell co-branded restaurants in San Antonio from a retiring franchisee. As of 2014 there had been no net new units added there in more than a decade. Since then, DDO in Texas has developed 20 new restaurants in the San Antonio DMA.

2016: DDO diversified its portfolio, adding barbecue to the menu with Dickey’s. Following Mark and Krystal’s example, siblings Tiffany and Chad Burge acquired one Dickey’s BBQ restaurant and ran it themselves. DDO now operates 10 Dickey’s BBQ in AZ.

2018: DDO acquired 25 Pizza Hut restaurants in Arizona from an existing franchisee bringing the PH store count to 89.