The History of Fast Food in America

Hamburgers are a reasonably recent creation, they were only became mainstream in the early twentieth century. In 1916 the first hamburger chain was created by J. Walter Anderson. At his Witchita, Kansas store he sold hamburgers for five cents wich also came with freis and colas. White castle was a thriving business, but it and other fast food chains did not become really popular until after World War II.

In 1948 on a tennis court in San Berdino, California two brothers by the manes of Richard and Maurice chalked out the design for a new kind of fast food place from their point of view. Ideas that would help to decide exactly what went into their operation might have been making their business as efficient as possible, and they did this by reducing expenses which would in turn allow them to sell their hamburgers at a much lower price than their competedors. These ideas were suppose to have not only help with lowering prices, but the idea behind the lowering of the prices was to increase the number of costumers, which would in turn allow them to have a higher profit margin by selling in high volumes. This combined with another marketing stradegy of only selling a few items were very vital keys to their success.To test out all of their ideas they opened an octagonal shaped hamburger stand, run with only employees at the window instead of waitwresses wich greatly decreased their operating expenses.

Although all of their ideas had been great so far, the brothers decided that they had a few more tricks up their sleeves, and ofcourse these ideas were meant to allow guests to be helped faster and more efficiently. To do this they purchased eight multimixers (Machines that mixed six shakes simutinlusly). The McDonalds concept did not include any indoor tables or chairs, but this idea was to encourage the customer to purchase food at the window and eat it in their car or to bring it home. At first they onlt sold items such as shakes. Hamburgers, fries, and sodas. But all of their efforts to streamline the hamburger was what made it all pay off very well. In 1951 alone the grossed $275,000.

Eventhough business was going great, the brothers decided that they needed a new architecual plan for their restaurant. Richard ...

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... with an increasing acceptance among Americans of a more homogenous culture, led to the rise of the fast food industry, and in particular, of the hamburger's and french fries it served. Purveyors of fast food sprang up in both urban areas and along the nation's highways. During the 1920’s, most hamburger stands were located close to factories and in working-class neighborhoods. By the end of the decade, however, the hamburger had come into its own, gaining widespread popularity and being considered a staple food, as evidenced by the overwhelming success of the "hamburger stand." And this was the the birth of the “Fast Food” chain.

Works Cited

Emerson Robert, 1946-

1 The New Economics of Fast Food

New York: Van Nostrin Reinhold, C 1990

2 American Council on Science and Health

Fast Food and the American Deit

Summit, NJ: American Council on Science and Health, C 1985

3 Fast Food Nation

C 2001