American Fast Food

American Fast Food

Introduction

Fast food is a meal that is prepared and served quickly. Fast food restaurants typically have a limited menu, items prepared in advance or heated rapidly, no table orders, and food served in disposable wrapping or containers. Although many cultures in highly populated areas have developed some form of fast food, the U.S. model has had the most influence worldwide. The rapid growth of the fast food industry since the 1960s has contributed to important changes in food production and consumption, such as more intensive animal agriculture and diets that are high in fat and sugar. Criticism of these trends has increased in recent years, as movements have coalesced to challenge fast food corporations politically or challenge the cultural values they promote.

History of Fast food Restaurants

The history of fast food restaurants in the United States in the first half of the 20th century included New York automats, which served take-out food in vending machines, and the hamburger restaurant chain White Castle, established in Wichita, Kansas. Hamburger chains that were founded later in Southern California, however, such as McDonald's, Jack in the Box, and Carl's Jr., have had a much greater influence. These evolved from drive-in restaurants that were popular in the early 1940s (Collins, 2005).

In 1948, Richard and Maurice McDonald applied the principles of a factory assembly line to their restaurant and eliminated drive-in service to dramatically reduce labor costs. Their techniques spawned numerous imitators extending far beyond California, including the Burger King chain in Florida. In 1961, the McDonald brothers sold their business and name to Ray Kroc, who refined their methods of breaking down every task to make them more efficient and achieve consistent quality. Kroc successfully expanded the business to more than 7,500 restaurants worldwide by the time he died in 1984.

Although the top three U.S. fast food or “quick service” restaurants by sales are hamburger chains, other popular formats include fried chicken, pizza, sandwiches, and Mexican food. The majority are operated as franchises. Under this arrangement, a businessperson is primarily responsible for financing and operating a restaurant, but an initial fee and a continuing percentage of the sales must be paid to the parent company. McDonald's Corporation, the largest franchise in the world, makes most of its money not through these fees but through leasing land that it owns to its franchisees. Other fast food chains, such as Subway, rely on requiring the payment of a much higher percentage of sales.

Burger King

Burger King Corporation is a restaurant chain fast food U.S. Born in Miami in 1954, when two young entrepreneurs James McLamore and David called Egerton founded a burger based on a different concept to that which existed and which has remained until today: "We are proud to serve our customers the best burgers and a variety other tasty and healthy products, cooked with fire. This is what we are”

Their motto is "Have it your way", referring to being able to ask the main burger on your menu, called Whopper , ...