Fast food is food
cooked in bulk and in advance and kept warm, or reheated to order. Many fast-food restaurants, (also known as "Quick Service Restaurants" or QSR) are part of
restaurant chains or
franchise operations, and standardized foodstuffs are shipped to each restaurant from central locations. There are also simpler fast-food outlets, such as stands or
kiosks, which may or may not provide
shelter or
chairs for customers.
Because the
capital requirements to start a fast-food restaurant are relatively small, particularly in areas with non-existent or poorly enforced
health codes, small individually-owned fast-food restaurants have become common throughout the world. Restaurants such as
Culver's and Noodles, where the customers sit down and have their food orders brought to them, are also considered fast food.
Contents[
hide]
1 History2 The "fast" in fast food2.1 "Fast food" in other places3 Food preparation4 Business4.1 Consumer spending4.2 McDonald's and other major brands4.3 Regional chains4.4 International chains5 Nutritional value6 Changes7 Consumer appeal8 Innovations timeline9 Criticisms10 Legal issues11 See also12 Notes13 References14 External links//
History
Although fast-food restaurants are often viewed as a representation of a day by day family outing, the concept of "ready-cooked food to go" is as old as cities themselves; unique variations are historical in various cultures.
Ancient Roman cities had bread-and-olive stands,
East Asian cultures feature noodle shops.
Flat bread and
falafel are ubiquitous in the
Middle East. Popular
Indian "fast" food delicacies include
Vada pav,
Papri Chaat,
Bhelpuri,
Panipuri and
Dahi Vada. In the French-speaking nations of West Africa, meanwhile, roadside stands in and around the larger cities continue to sell- as they have done for generations- a range of ready-to-eat, chargrilled meat sticks known locally as "brochettes" (not to be confused with the bread snack of the same name found in Europe).
Typical interior of an
Automat. This one was built in New York in 1930, at the height of their popularity.
The modern history of fast-food in America began on July 7, 1912 with the opening of a fast food restaurant called the
Automat in New York. The Automat was a cafeteria with its prepared foods behind small glass windows and coin-operated slots. Joseph Horn and Frank Hardart had already opened an Automat in Philadelphia, but their “Automat” at Broadway and 13th Street, in New York City, created a sensation. Numerous Automat restaurants were quickly built around the country to deal with the demand. Automats remained extremely popular throughout the 1920's and 1930's. The company also popularized the notion of “take-out” food, with their slogan “Less work for Mother”. The
American company
White Castle is generally credited with opening the second fast-food outlet in
Wichita, Kansas in 1921, selling hamburgers for five cents apiece.
[1] Among its innovations, the company allowed customers to see the food being prepared. White Castle later added five holes to each beef patty to increase its surface area and speed cooking times. White Castle was successful from its inception and spawned numerous competitors. In recent decades, Mexican-style food like tacos and burritos, as well as pizza, have also become staples of fast food culture.
McDonald's, the largest fast-food chain in the world and the brand most associated with the term "fast food," was founded as a
barbecue drive-in in 1940 by
Dick and Mac McDonald. After discovering that most of their profits came from hamburgers, the brothers closed their restaurant for three months and reopened it in 1948 as a walk-up stand offering a simple menu of hamburgers, french fries, shakes, coffee, and
Coca-Cola, served in disposable paper wrapping. As a result, they were able to produce hamburgers and fries constantly, without waiting for customer orders, and could serve them immediately; hamburgers cost 15 cents, about half the price at a typical
diner. Their streamlined production method, which they named the "Speedee Service System" was influenced by the
production line innovations of
Henry Ford. The McDonalds' stand was the milkshake machine company's biggest customer and a milkshake salesman named
Ray Kroc travelled to California to discover the secret to their high-volume burger-and-shake operation. Kroc thought he could expand their concept, eventually buying the McDonalds' operation outright in 1961 with the goal of making cheap, ready-to-go hamburgers, french fries and milkshakes a nationwide business.
Kroc was the mastermind behind the rise of McDonald's as a national chain. The first part of his plan was to promote cleanliness in his restaurants. Kroc often took part at his own Des Plaines, Illinois, outlet by hosing down the garbage cans and scraping gum off the cement. Kroc also added great swaths of glass which enabled the customer to view the food preparation. This was very important to the American public which became quite germ conscious. A clean atmosphere was only part of Kroc's grander plan which separated McDonald's from the rest of the competition and attributes to their great success. Kroc envisioned making his restaurants appeal to families of suburbs. "Where White Tower (one of the original fast food restaurants) had tied hamburgers to public transportation and the workingman...McDonald's tied hamburgers to the car, children, and the family." (Levinstein, p.228-229)
Wendy's, which was opened in
Columbus, Ohio in 1969 by
Dave Thomas, a protégé of
Kentucky Fried Chicken founder Col.
Harlan Sanders, is credited with pioneering the use of the "drive-thru" window to allow consumers to purchase fast food without having to park or exit their cars; it was first introduced in 1972, and copied by McDonald's in 1975.
[2]The "fast" in fast food
Fast-food outlets are take-away or
take-out providers, often with a "
drive-thru" service which allows customers to order and pick up food from their cars; but most also have a seating area in which customers can eat the food on the premises.
Nearly from its inception, fast food has been designed to be eaten "on the go" and often does not require traditional
cutlery and is eaten as a finger food. Common menu items at fast food outlets include
fish and chips,
sandwiches,
pitas,
hamburgers,
fried chicken,
french fries,
chicken nuggets,
tacos,
pizza, and
ice cream, although many fast-food restaurants offer "slower" foods like
chili, mashed
potatoes, and
salads.
"Fast food" in other places
Many petrol/gas stations have convenience stores which sell pre-packed sandwiches, donuts, and hot food. Many gas stations in the United States also sell frozen foods and have microwaves on the premises in which to prepare them.
Supermarkets often include their own cafes with prepared food service counters. Many markets prepare baked or
rotisserie chickens due to the low cost of fowl and ease of preparation. Some, like
ASDA and
Wal-Mart may even include a well-known fast food chain within their own store, such as
McDonald's or
Subway.
Food preparation
The convenience of traditional street food around the world, from Vietnamese noodle vendors to Middle Eastern falafel stands to New York hot dog carts, lies in serving one or two basic ingredients that can be cooked in batches and served quickly on the spot. Modern commercial fast food, by contrast, is often highly processed and prepared in an industrial fashion, i.e., on a large scale with standard ingredients and standardised cooking and production methods. It is usually rapidly served in cartons or bags or in a plastic wrapping, in a fashion which minimizes cost. In most fast food operations, menu items are generally made from processed ingredients prepared at a central supply facility and then shipped to individual outlets where they are reheated, cooked (usually by microwave or deep-frying) or assembled in a short amount of time. This process ensures a consistent level of product quality, and is key to being able to deliver the order quickly to the customer and eliminate labor and equipment costs in the individual stores.
Business
Neighboring fast food restaurant advertisement signs in
Bowling Green, KentuckyConsumer spending
In the
United States alone, consumers spent about US$110 billion on fast food in
2000 (which increased from US$6 billion in
1970)
[3]. The
National Restaurant Association forecasts that fast-food restaurants in the U.S. will reach US$142 billion in sales in 2006, a 5% increase over 2005. In comparison, the full-service restaurant segment of the food industry is expected to generate $173 billion in sales. Fast food has been losing
market share to so-called
fast casual restaurants, which offer more robust and expensive
cuisines.
McDonald's and other major brands
McDonald's, a noted fast-food supplier, opened its first franchised restaurant in the US in 1955 (1974 in the UK). It has become a phenomenally successful enterprise in terms of financial growth, brand-name recognition, and worldwide expansion. Ray Kroc, who bought the franchising license from the McDonald brothers, pioneered many concepts which emphasized standardization. He introduced uniform products, identical in all respects at each outlet, to increase sales. At the same time, Kroc also insisted on cutting food costs as much as possible, eventually using the McDonald's Corporation's size to force suppliers to conform to this ethos.
Regional chains
Many fast food operations have more local and regional roots, such as
White Castle in the Midwest United States, along with
Hardee's (owned by
CKE Restaurants, which also owns
Carl's Jr., whose locations are primarily on the United States West Coast),
Krystal,
Bojangles', and
Zaxby's restaurants in the American Southeast,
Raising Cane's in Louisiana, the famous
In-N-Out Burger (in California, Arizona, and Nevada) and
Tommy's chains in Southern California,
Dick's Drive-In in Seattle Washington, and
Arctic Circle in
Utah and other western states. Also,
Whataburger is a popular burger chain in the South and Mexico. Canada pizza chains
Toppers Pizza and
Pizza Pizza are primarily located in
Ontario. Coffee chain
Country Style operates only in Ontario, and competes with the famous coffee and donut chain
Tim Hortons and
Dunkin Donuts.
International chains
The fast-food industry is popular in the United States, the source of most of its innovation, and many major international chains are based there. Seen as symbols of US dominance and perceived
cultural imperialism, American fast-food franchises have often been the target of
Anti-globalization protests and demonstrations against the US government. In 2005, for example, rioters in Karachi, Pakistan, who were initially angered because of the bombing of a Shiite mosque, destroyed a
Kentucky Fried Chicken restaurant.
[4]Multinational corporations typically modify their menus to cater to local tastes and most overseas outlets are owned by native franchisees. McDonald's in India, for example, uses lamb rather than beef in its burgers because Hinduism traditionally forbids eating beef. In Israel the majority of McDonald's restaurants are
kosher and respects the Jewish shabbat, there is also a
kosher McDonald's in Argentina. In Egypt and Saudi Arabia, all menu items are
halal. However, these concessions to local practice have not quashed criticism.
Additionally, multinational fast-food chains are not the only or even the primary source of fast food in most of the world. Many regional and local chains have developed around the world to compete with international chains and provide menu items that appeal to the unique regional tastes and habits. Most fast food in the developing world, however, is provided by small individual
mom and pop eateries. In the developing world, local eateries.
In
Canada the majority of fast food chains are American owned, or were originally American owned but have since set up a Canadian management/headquarters location in cities such as
Toronto and
Vancouver. Although the case is usually American fast food chains expanding into Canada, Canadian chains such as
Tim Hortons have expanded into 10 states in the United States, but are more prominent in border states such as
New York and/or
Michigan.
In the
United Kingdom, many home based fast food operations were closed in the
1970s and
1980s after McDonald's became the number one outlet in the market
[citation needed]. However, brands like
Wimpy still remain, although the majority of branches became Burger King in 1989. In France and Belgium,
Quick is a popular alternative to McDonald's and Burger King.
Traditional ramen and sushi restaurants still dominate fast food culture in Japan, although American outlets like Pizza Hut, McDonald's and Kentucky Fried Chicken are also popular, along with Western-style Japanese chains like
Mos Burger.
In Africa,
Mr. Bigg's and
Tantalizers are the predominant fast food chains in Nigeria, while
Nando's and
Steers are predominant in South Africa.
Nutritional value
Because the fast food concept relies on speed, uniformity and low cost, fast food products are often made with ingredients formulated to achieve a certain flavor or consistency and to preserve freshness. Hydrogenated vegetable oils are pumped into fast foods which contain high amounts of
trans fat. This requires a high degree of
food engineering, the use of additives and processing techniques substantially alter the food from its original form and reduce its nutritional value.
Changes
Fast-food chains have come under fire from consumer groups (such as the
Center for Science in the Public Interest, a longtime fast-food critic) over the past decade. Some of the concerns have led to the rise of the
Slow Food movement. This movement seeks to preserve local cuisines and ingredients, and directly opposes laws and habits that favor fast-food choices. Among other things, it strives to educate consumers' palates to prefer what it considers richer, more varied, and more nourishing tastes of fresh local ingredients harvested in season.
Some of the large fast-food chains are beginning to incorporate healthier alternatives in their menu, e.g., white meat, snack wraps, salads and fresh fruit. However, some people see these moves as a
tokenistic and commercial measure, rather than an appropriate reaction to ethical concerns about the world
ecology and people's
health. McDonald's has announced that in March of
2006, the chain will include nutritional information on the packaging of all of its products.
[5].
Consumer appeal
Fast-food outlets have become popular with consumers for several reasons. One is that through economies of scale in purchasing and producing food, these companies can deliver food to consumers at a very low cost. In addition, although some people dislike fast food for its predictability, it can be reassuring to a hungry person in a hurry or far from home.
[6]In the post-war period in the United States, fast food chains like McDonald's rapidly gained a reputation for their cleanliness, fast service and a child-friendly atmosphere where families on the road could grab a quick meal, or seek a break from the routine of home cooking. Prior to the rise of the fast food chain restaurant, people generally had a choice between greasy-spoon diners where the quality of the food was often questionable and service lacking, or high-end restaurants that were expensive and impractical for families with children. The modern, stream-lined convenience of the fast food restaurant provided a new alternative and appealed to Americans' instinct for ideas and products associated with progress, technology and innovation. Fast food restaurants rapidly became the eatery "everyone could agree on", with many featuring child-size menu combos, play areas and whimsical branding campaigns, like the iconic
Ronald McDonald, designed to appeal to younger customers. Parents could have a few minutes of peace while children played or amused themselves with the toys included in their
Happy Meal. There is a long history of
fast food advertising campaigns, many of which are directed at children.
In other parts of the world, American and American-style fast food outlets have been popular for their quality, customer service and novelty, even though they are often the targets of popular anger towards American foreign policy or globalization more generally. Many consumers nonetheless see them as symbols of the wealth, progress and well-ordered openness of Western society and therefore become trendy attractions in many cities around the world, particularly among younger people with more varied tastes.
[citation needed]Innovations timeline
1971:
Wendy's begins
drive-through service utilizing call-box technology
1980:
7-Eleven introduces the 32-ounce Big Gulp®
1981:
Arby's offers nutritional information
1994:
McDonald's begins
"supersizing" Extra Value Meals
1994: Arctic Circle becomes the first fast-food restaurant to sell
Angus beef exclusively.
1994: Arby's is first fast-food restaurant to implement a no-smoking policy
2002:
McDonald's cuts back on the amount of
trans fat by 48 percent on
french fries2006: Arby's begins elimination of
trans fat oils in
french fries2007:
Starbucks announces a phase-out of trans fats on all menu items
[7] 
