Fast food is the term given to food that can be prepared and served very quickly. While any meal with low preparation time can be considered to be fast food, typically the term refers to food sold in a restaurant or store with low quality preparation and served to the customer in a packaged form for take out/take away.
Outlets may be stands or kiosks, which may provide no shelter or seating, or fast food restaurants (also known as quick service restaurants). Franchise operations which are part of restaurant chains have standardized foodstuffs shipped to each restaurant from central locations.
The capital requirements to start a fast-food restaurant are relatively small, particularly in areas with non-existent or poorly enforced health codes. Small, individually-owned fast-food restaurants have become common throughout the world. Fast food restaurants with higher sit-in ratios, where customers can sit and have their orders brought to them, are known as fast casual restaurants.
In the United States alone, consumers spent about US$110 billion on fast food in 2000 (which increased from US$6 billion in 1970). The National Restaurant Association forecasts that fast-food restaurants in the U.S. will reach US$142 billion in sales in 2006, a 5% increase over 2005. In comparison, the full-service restaurant segment of the food industry is expected to generate $173 billion in sales. Fast food has been losing market share to so-called fast casual dining restaurants, which offer more robust and expensive cuisines.
In 2006, the global fast food market grew by 4.8% and reached a value of 102.4 billion and a volume of 80.3 billion transactions. In India alone the fast food industry is growing by 40% a year.
McDonaldâs is located in 120 countries and operates 30,000 restaurants around the world. On January 31, 1990 McDonaldâs opened a restaurant in Moscow, and broke opening day records for customers served. The Moscow restaurant is the busiest in the world. The largest McDonaldâs in the world is located in Beijing China.
There are numerous other fast food restaurants located all over the world. Burger King has more than 11,100 restaurants in more than 65 countries. KFC is located in 25 countries, 800 of them located in China. Subway has 29,186 restaurants located in 86 countries, the first international location opened in December of 1984 in Bahrain. Pizza Hut is located in 26 countries, with 100 locations in China. Taco Bell has 278 restaurants located in 12 countries besides the United States.
Fast-food chains have come under fire from consumer groups, such as the Center for Science in the Public Interest, a longtime fast-food critic over issues such as caloric content, trans fats and portion sizes. Some of the concerns have led to the rise of the Slow Food movement. This movement seeks to preserve local cuisines and ingredients, and directly opposes laws and habits that favor fast-food choices. Proponents of the slow food movement try to educate consumers about what its members considers the richer, more varied and more nourishing tastes of fresh, local ingredients that have been recently harvested.
Trans-fats which are commonly found in fast food have been shown in many tests to have a negative health effect on the body. A recent study fed monkeys a diet consisting of a similar level of trans-fats as what a person who ate fast food regularly would consume. Both diets contained the same overall number of calories. It was found that the monkeys who consumed higher level of trans-fat developed more abdominal fat than those fed a diet rich in unsaturated fats. They also developed signs of insulin resistance, which is an early indicator of diabetes. After six years on the diet, the trans-fat fed monkeys had gained 7.2% of their body weight, compared to just 1.8% in the unsaturated fat group.
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