The Fast Food Industry

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Recommended: The history of fast food in America

The dagger of the people is always twisting and changing the fast food world. Fast food itself has always been changing due to social, economic, and health concerns. To begin I will cover the origins of fast food, followed by a brief discussion about McDonalds as well as Burger King. This will be accompanied by a brief discussion on Taco Bell, with our final subject covering healthier fast food options. The origins of the fast food "death machine": The machines gears were forged by the company known as Horn and Hardarts, based on the needs of the American populace in the year of 1902 to provide quick and cheap service and food to the hungry masses who craved the sustenance with hunger untold in the land of New York. The meals cost about three nickels which were inserted into a slot, thus opening a hatch through which the meal was obtained and later consumed by the feasting patron. Pop culture heavily influenced the self-service automats popularity and in 1932 "face the music" a musical that featured Irving Birlin's gong "let's have another cup of coffee" praised and exalted the automat. Fast food gimmicks: Gimmicks in the fast food industry are normally a cross between socio- economic and culturist trends; the former being created by a need to draw consumers into the proverbial funnel and make them wish to only consume your product. Examples of this would be along the lines of retro-style restaurants or theme-based environments were the theme may be a children's theme with brightly colored and up-beat imagery. This is almost if not always an attempt to captivate the minds of a target audience, thus convincing them that they are the only worthwhile provider of suitable sustenance. Take for example McDonald's which employs a semi-de...

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...meal containing a toy prize must be accompanied with fruit. I believe that the multi-billion dollar McDonald's empire will not take this action lightly and may possibly take drastic steps to enforce their hold on the children with the Happy meal. Given McDonalds exuberant wealth and California's poor financial standing; I would not be surprised in the very least if McDonald's just bought out the state of California thus acquiring new wealth (Who knows, they may possibly go as far as to rename the state Mcfornia.)

Works Cited

Work Sited Book: Eric, Schlosser "Fast Food nation" published: 2001. Web site: "Stirring Response"

2http://www.snopes.com/business/origins/mcdspoon.asp

November 20 th , 2008.

1Web site:"History"http://www.theautomat.com/inside/history/history.html

Date of site creation unknown. Film Documentary: Morgan, Spurlock "Super Size me" 2004.

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