The fast food industry as we know it today really starts back in 1921 in Wichita, Kansas with White Castle, a burger joint that pioneers a faster, cleaner system for cooking burgers. But the idea doesn't take off yet. Throughout the Great Depression and World War II, people still tend to eat their meals at home. Wow, does my mom cook 1,095 meals a year? That's a lot of meals.
That's just what she does. But after the war, the way we eat starts to change. With more disposable income, people start looking at dining out as a form of entertainment, especially if it's tasty and served up quick.
In 1948, brothers Dick and Mac McDonald used their speedy service system to offer tasty burgers for just 15 cents. About the equivalent of $1.60 today. Their restaurant is a hit, and over the next decade, new fast food chains start blooming across the country. In-N-Out Burger also gets its start in 1948, with California's first drive-thru burger stand in a space barely 10 feet square.
Colonel Harland Sanders opens Kentucky Fried Chicken in 1952 in Salt Lake City, Utah. Burger King launches in 1954 in Florida. The Whopper arrives three years later.
Dan and Frank Carney start the first Pizza Hut in Wichita in 1958 after borrowing $600 from their mother. One reason for their success. In 1950s America, car culture reigns supreme.
Drive-in movies and drive-in restaurants become all the rage, taking convenience to another level. You don't even have to get out of your car. I was glad I didn't have to get out.
I'd forgotten which knob opened the door. The waitress was pretty automatic, too. A salad and a glass of milk, please.
And that's when fast food really starts to take off. In 1976, Wendy's, which only launched seven years earlier, opens its 500th restaurant. By 1978, around 60,000 fast food outlets are scattered across the U.S. And the battle for hungry mouths heats up. When you drive to Wendy's and order a single, you get more beef than the whopper or the Big Mac.
The huge increase in stores starts having an impact on the way food is produced. Chains centralized their processing centers, so every patty and nugget going out to franchises is the same. It's not just good for cutting costs. That consistency turns out to be one of the biggest appeals of fast food.
In any given restaurant, you always know what you're going to get. Meanwhile, as the U.S. market becomes saturated with fast food chains, the older ones start looking beyond America's borders for new mouths to feed. And by the 90s, fast food has really gone global. Chains start appearing in the most unlikely places.
After the Soviet Union declares its new policy of perestroika, allowing foreign businesses to operate on Soviet soil, the ultimate symbol of American capitalism... opens its first outlet in Moscow. 25,000 people applied to work in the Moscow McDonald's.
Outside, inevitably, a queue. Some have been waiting for two and a half hours. And because this is Moscow, not everyone knows.
knows why. This woman joined the line knowing something must be on sale here. She thought it was ice cream.
But in Soviet Russia, McDonald's has a problem, finding a high quality, reliable supply of food products. So they operate their own processing plant and work with local businesses to shorten supply chains. All over the world, the arrival of McDonald's has a huge impact on local businesses, igniting a massive demand for large.
scale food production.