Fast Food Drive-Thrus Led To The Installation Of Cup Holders In Vehicles

• First popularized in the United States in the 1950s, fast food is considered any meal with low preparation time and served to a customer in a packaged form.
• Merriam-Webster dictionary first recognized the term “fast food” in 1951.
• Following World War I, automobiles became popular and more affordable. At that time, restaurants introduced the drive-in.
• Much like today’s food trucks, Walter Anderson first began selling hamburgers out of an old streetcar body at a Wichita intersection. While the menu was limited, the hamburgers were a crowd-pleaser. When the popularity of his hamburgers grew, he partnered with E.W. Ingram and opened the first White Castle in 1921 in Wichita, Kansas. The enterprising restauranteurs were the first in the fast-food business. They sold hamburgers for five cents each.
• The United States has the largest fast food industry in the world.  American fast-food restaurants are located in over 100 countries.
• Although McDonald’s made the drive thru public, it was Wendy’s who first thought of the idea around 1971.
• The first Happy Meal was served in June of 1979.
• Every month, approximately nine out of 10 American children visit a McDonald’s restaurant.
• During the early 1900s, the hamburger was thought to be polluted, unsafe to eat, and food for the poor. Street carts, not restaurants, typically served them.
• By 2020, Americans are expected to spend over $223 billion on fast food
• There are more than 300,000 fast food restaurants in the U.S. alone
• Drive-thrus led to the installation of cup holders in vehicles
• In the 1990s, cupholders were first introduced into car design. Although the 60’s Ford Falcon had the first built-in cupholder.
• The 1st McDonald’s restaurant was created in 1948. Back then, their hamburger cost around 15 cents and became the restaurant’s main staple.
• Every month, 9 out of 10 American children visit a McDonald’s restaurant
• French Fries are the most popular fast food in America
• McDonald’s is the largest purchaser of beef, pork, and potatoes in the world.
• Kentucky fried chicken is the largest purchaser of chicken in the world.
• 96% of all Americans have visited McDonald’s at least once
• In 1952 Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC) sold the first paper chicken bucket.
• Americans consume over 216 liters (57 gallons) per person of soft drinks annually.
• One fast food hamburger contains meat from up to 100 different cows.
• A Frosty from Wendy’s contains 14 ingredients. A Wendy’s Frosty, though, contains multiple “thickening agents” to spruce it up.
• Taco Bell’s taco salad has more than 52 grams of fat. The fat grams in this specific salad are higher than the fat grams in five regular tacos combined.
• Fountain soda machines contain fecal bacteria. Studies show that 48 percent of fountain drink dispensers have traces of fecal bacteria on them.
• According to the Pew Research Center, there are 50 million Americans who eat fast food every day. That’s roughly 1 in 7 people!
• The Average Menu Item Is 12% Lower Than It was in 2013 (source).  Surprisingly enough, the nutritional content of a fast food meal is actually lower than it was in 2012. In 2013, fast food restaurants decreased their menu item’s calories by 12% which is a 60 calorie average.
• The world’s largest toy distributor is none other than McDonald’s, thanks to their Happy Meals.
• Cinnabon Bakes Empty Cookie Sheets to Entice Customers.  To keep you coming towards that seductive scent, the cinnamon bun maker bakes empty cookie trays coated in their signature sugar and cinnamon mixture.
•  According to DD, the chain’s coffee is freshly ground, freshly brewed, and—most importantly—freshly served. “If not used within 18 minutes, Dunkin’ Donuts coffee is discarded and a new carafe is freshly brewed.”
• If you are anywhere in the continental United States, did you know you are never more than 115 miles away from a McDonald’s? And the only place that is more than 100 miles away is an empty plain in South Dakota.
• The average American spends $1,200 on fast food in a year.
• There Are Almost 38 Million Possible Combinations at Subway
• Construction workers at the World Trade Center building in 2010, had an exclusive Subway Shop. A pulley system was constructed to pull the mobile Subway shop between floors, helping workers keep to schedule with quick lunch breaks.
• Before kale became the hottest, healthy shopping list item in 2013, its biggest purchaser was Pizza Hut. But not for the pizzas, the fast food chain used solely to decorate its salad bars.
• According to the well-known book, Fast Food Nation, a survey discovered that 88 percent of respondents worldwide could identify the golden arches of McDonald’s, while only 54 percent recognized the Christian cross.
• McDonald’s Filet-O-Fish was originally developed specifically for Catholic customers due to the fact that they abstain from eating meat on Fridays.
• There are more Subway’s in the world than McDonald’s. In fact, it’s the world’s largest chain.
•  Pizza Hut uses 300 million pounds of cheese each year – roughly three percent of all cheese produced in the United States.
• It turns out Chick-Fil-A is not closed on Sundays for religious reasons. They really close because the founder didn’t like working on Sundays.
• Ben and Jerry’s put chunks in their ice cream because Ben has anosmia: a condition that causes loss of smell, so he relies on “mouth-feel” to experience better eating.
• According to the book, Fast Food Nation, 1 in every 8 American workers has worked at McDonald’s.
• Imagining the cow that became your burger may give you pause before the next bite, but can you imagine 100 cows? McDonald’s confirmed that there are parts from more than 100 cows in just a single fast food burger.
• A 2012 study in the Journal of Public Health Nutrition found a link between the consumption of fast food and high rates of depression. It turns out that happy meal might not leave you so happy after all.
• There is only one major fast food chain in the United States that sells baked potatoes, Wendy’s. Because they are the only player in the game, the popular chain sells one million baked potatoes per week, on average.
• Chick-fil-A Buys the Most Sunkist Lemons. The restaurant’s lemonade is so popular that the chain squeezed more than 200 million lemons in 2013 alone.
• McDonald’s Makes Singing Stars Of Their Employees.  The Voice of McDonald’s singing competition gives their more than one million workers a chance to compete, American Idol style. The winning singers have received $25,000 and other prizes in the past.
• Dave Thomas and Colonel Sanders Used to Work Together. Dave Thomas worked for KFC for years and was close with Colonel Sanders. In 1967, he invented the now famous revolving sign. When he sold his KFC franchises he used the money to start Wendy’s.
• “Taco Bell is something else” is the oddly vague slogan the fast food giant used to open new restaurants in Mexico, where they label their signature fare “American food.”
• Every single day, almost one percent of the global population eats at McDonald’s. That translates to 69 million people with 75 burgers being sold every second on average.

Sources:

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Foodimentary

Mobile-Cuisine

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Fast Food Menu Prices

Eat This, Not That!