American fast food culture

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Fast food refers to food that can be prepared and served quickly. Although any meal with short preparation time can be regarded as fast food, the term usually refers to low-quality prepared food sold in restaurants or shops and provided to customers in packaged form for take-out/take-away.

The point of sale can be a booth or kiosk, which may not provide shelter or seats, or a fast food restaurant (also known as a fast food restaurant). As part of a chain of restaurants, franchising transports standardized food from a central location to every restaurant.

The capital requirement for opening a fast food restaurant is relatively low, especially in areas where health regulations do not exist or are poorly enforced. Small self-employed fast food restaurants are common all over the world. Fast food restaurants with a high proportion of sit-ins are called fast casual restaurants, where customers can sit and bring their orders to them.

In the United States alone, consumers spent about110 billion dollars on fast food in 2000 (an increase from16 billion dollars in 1970). The National Restaurant Association predicts that the sales of American fast food restaurants will reach142 billion US dollars in 2006, an increase of 5% over 2005. In contrast, the full-service restaurant market segment of the food industry is expected to generate173 billion US dollars in sales. The market share of fast food has been seized by the so-called fast food association.