Analysis of the fast food industry
Assignment 3
[Type the author name]
6/1/2012
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Analysis Of The Fast Food Industry In the United States, fast food is as much a tradition as is baseball and football. Restaurants like McDonald’s, Wendy’s, Culvers, and Burger King have been feeding hungry Americans for years. With the fast pace of today’s workers, people need to be able to grab a quick bite on the go without having to wait too long and because of this demand, the fast food restaurant is thriving and has a huge clientele. The first fast food restaurant in the US was White castle which was founded in 1921 in Wichita Kansas. At the time hamburgers were sold at fairs and had a bad reputation as people considered them to be low quality. The founders of White castle built restaurants with open kitchens so that patrons could see the burgers being prepared. By doing so they made the hamburger more appealing to the masses and changed its negative reputation. The term, “Fast Food was recognized by Merriam-Webster in 1951. McDonald’s, the most popular fast food chain opened their doors in 1948 and many other restaurants such as taco bell and Wendy’s soon followed. This would begin the era of fast food in America. In 2010, the fast food industry generated over $184 Billion in over 300,000 restaurants in the U.S and employed 3.9 million people. In 2012, the top Fast food restaurant was McDonald’s with sales of 34.2 Billion, followed by Wendy’s and Burger King at 8.5 Billion and 8.4 Billion respectively. In recent years, the fast food industry has been facing increasing challenges to their ability to remain profitable. Health campaigns against the ills of fast food and the obesity problem in America have put a negative spotlight on the industry. Movies like supersize me and various other campaigns have shed an unflattering light on the health risks associated with fast food and the obesity