A Bite-Sized History of Fast Food

White Castle Introduces the Hamburger Chain

As described in Adam Chandler's book Drive-Thru Dreams, a cook named Walt Anderson began churning out batches of small, square hamburgers from his stand in Wichita, Kansas, in 1916. Although Americans were leery of ground beef following the exposé of the meatpacking industry that featured in Upton Sinclair's 1906 novel The Jungle, Anderson eased those concerns by preparing his food in public view. Locals quickly took to the compact 5-cent burgers, later known as "sliders," and Anderson soon opened two more stands. In 1921, he teamed with real-estate broker Billy Ingram to open a fourth location in a building that resembled a small castle, a look that partly inspired the new eatery's moniker, "White Castle."

As burger stands began popping up with increasing frequency throughout the decade, Anderson and Ingram sought to distinguish their chain through the comfort of uniformity. Regardless of location, diners enjoyed burgers and coffee that were prepared in accordance to exact instructions, amid interior dining areas marked by white-painted walls, stainless steel counters, and identically dressed servers.

Drive-Ins and Drive-Thrus Cater to Cars

At the same time that Kansans were familiarizing themselves with the White Castle brand, Texans were being introduced to a new form of dining service. Visitors hankering for a pork sandwich or other barbecue fare from the Dallas-based Pig Stand didn't even have to leave their vehicles, as they were greeted by smiling carhops who were ready to order and retrieve meals for them. As mentioned in Drive-Thru Dreams, considering the number of cars on American roads grew from 9 million in 1920 to 23 million in 1931, it was only natural that drive-in restaurants became a staple across the American landscape in the following decades.

The next phase in driver-oriented dining came with the emergence of the drive-thru restaurant in the late 1940s. Although it's unclear exactly where this service first originated, credit is often given to Red's Giant Hamburg on Route 66 in Springfield, Missouri, in 1948. That year also brought the drive-thru to Southern California with the very first In-N-Out Burger, which began expanding to other regional locations in the 1950s.

McDonald's Changes the Game

Meanwhile, another change in the industry was underway. Richard and Maurice McDonald built a successful burger drive-in restaurant in San Bernardino, California, in 1940, but eventually sought enhanced efficiency for their business. By 1948, the brothers had gotten rid of carhops and short-order cooks, divided food preparation into individual stations, simplified their menu, and replaced dishes and glassware with disposable versions. This "Speedee Service System," as it was called, enabled the brothers to rake in even larger profits, and directly inspired competitors such as Keith G. Cramer, who opened the chain that became Burger King in 1953.

Around that time, the development of the Interstate Highway System and migration to the suburbs that hastened the demise of automats also ignited a fast-food boom that was no longer primarily centered on hamburgers. Colonel Harland Sanders, who began experimenting with a pressure cooker at his gas station eatery in the 1930s, started franchising his Kentucky Fried Chicken recipe to restaurants in 1952. Brothers Dan and Frank Carney introduced the first Pizza Hut in Wichita in 1958. Glen Bell switched from burgers to tacos in 1954, before launching Taco Bell in Downey, California, in 1962. And 17-year-old Fred DeLuca teamed up with nuclear physicist Peter Buck to open the sandwich chain that became Subway in Bridgeport, Connecticut, in 1965.

With so many options for consumers to choose from, fast-food entrepreneurs sought to expand their businesses both nationally and overseas. Early pioneers in the international space included KFC, which brought the colonel's secret recipe to Canadain 1955 and Mexico in 1963, and A&W, which cracked the Asian market with shops in Malaysia and Japan in 1963.

Innovative Advertising

As the 20th century pressed on, the fast-food industry's major players pursued various marketing and promotional techniques to reel in more customers. The now-defunct Burger Chef was the first to offer a burger, fries, and drink combo meal after the franchise launched in the late 1950s. Burger Chef also proved ahead of the game with the debut of their food-and-toy "Fun Meal" for kids in 1973, although they were unsuccessful at blocking McDonald's from nationally rolling out the Happy Meal in 1979.

While the mid-Atlantic chain Rays Kingburger claims it became the first fast-food restaurant to offer breakfast in 1972, McDonald's had already been selling breakfast items at select locations. The fast-food giant then upped the ante by introducing the eggs Benedict-based Egg McMuffin sandwich in 1972, before unveiling its national breakfast menu in 1977.

Following the onslaught of advertising between McDonald's, Burger King, and upstart Wendy's that marked the "burger wars" of the 1980s, Wendy's created a model for smaller chains to follow by introducing a 99-cent value menu in 1989. McDonald's also established a menu trend in 1987 with the introduction of "supersized" meals that provided bigger portions, before discontinuing the option in 2004.

A Turn to Healthier Choices

The death of the supersized meal was partly due to shifting public tastes that sought healthier choices for quick dining. While the innovators at Burger Chef offered salads as far back as 1974, and Wendy's debuted a salad bar in 1979, the major franchises largely delivered the same high-sodium and high-calorie content until the 2001 satirical film Fast Food Nation and Morgan Spurlock's 2004 documentary Supersize Me called attention to rising obesity rates and environmental problems caused by the production and consumption of this type of food.
While most fast-food joints opted not to follow Burger King’s introduction of a vegetarian patty in 2002, an examination of 20 popular chains between 2004 and 2015 revealed industry-wide efforts to add healthier items to menus, particularly for children. And the rise of franchises such as CAVA, Veggie Grill, and Native Foods provided diners with an array of genuinely nutritious options for quick-service meals. Today, regardless of whether consumers seek a lower-calorie grilled chicken wrap or the old standby of burgers and fries, fast food remains as popular as ever, with this American contribution to the culinary industry accounting for $978 billion in global sales in 2023.

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