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A few weeks ago, Whataburger chief administrative officer Alex Ivannikov traveled to Laredo, Texas, to visit Kathy Andrews Reese, the daughter of Joe Andrews, the chain’s first franchisee.

She told him about what the group wanted in the 1950s and what made everyone excited to sign up as a franchisee. From what Ivannikov heard, little has changed between then and now.

“So 74 years into it, many of our key differentiators and pillars of our business have remained exactly the same,” he said during the QSR Evolution Conference in Atlanta earlier this month. “So very proud of that continuity of bringing a high-quality product with great hospitality to our communities for 74 years. And crossing our fingers for another 74 ahead of us.”

With well over 1,000 restaurants—and now growing via company-owned stores—Whataburger is among the top 10 largest burger chains in America. Last year, those restaurants earned an AUV of $3.96 million; only Chick-fil-A, Raising Cane’s, and McDonald’s had better figures in this year’s QSR 50.