Fast Food Nation Summary

Fast Food Nation

Fast food restaurants are not all they’re cracked up to be. Fast Food Nation, written by Eric Schlosser, is an attempt to link the American eating style and food-production patterns. Schlosser presents an interesting perspective on how societies adapt to the way food is produced. He simply informs us how large the fast food industry is and how we are allowing it to grow. As the fast food industry grew the demand for hot, ready food was rising at substantial rates shortly after World War two. Schlosser states, “The McDonald brothers’ Speedee Service System revolutionized the restaurant business.” The McDonald brothers wanted to perfect the drive-in restaurant business and started their very own walk-up restaurant. They sold

Most Americans have ordered a Big Mac, a side of fries, and a coke. These are popular elements in the American diet. Schlosser talked about how our diet reflects our culture. This semester, we have discussed about this phrase, “we are how we eat”. The Big Mac, fries, and cokes reflect this and it all began with the McDonald brothers. The McDonald brothers had a successful drive-in restaurant, but they were tired of: hiring new carhops, replacing broken dishes, and constantly replacing employees that left for higher-paying jobs. Shortly, they closed a successful business and renovated it to become the first self-serve restaurant that would pave the way for future fast food restaurants. They understood that the recent developments relating to cars and highways would allow for higher profits. They reduced their menu to a carefully handcrafted burger and a few other items and created a quick system, literally named the “Speedee Service System”, that allowed for Americans to quickly receive their food. This was the start of something bigger than what either of the McDonald brothers could have

His goal was to create a name for himself, and to expand his horizons to bigger and better things. He wanted his company to sell their products all over. One way Kroc wanted to expand was by partnering with other companies or making deals with them. Now, McDonalds sells the most Coca-Colas in the world. Selling soda was the perfect enticement for children. They loved the sweet, sugary goodness. Selling soda encouraged children to want to eat at fast food restaurants regularly. This allowed the children to convince their parents to eat at fast food restaurants, ultimately increasing the restaurant's profits. McDonalds also added its own playgrounds, which attracted more kids. Having a fun place for children ultimately led the parents to bring their children to McDonalds, thus allowing McDonalds to make a larger profit. The coke is a symbol of enticement. It is a sign for targeting audiences to create a larger profit for the restaurant. It shows that Americans can be minimupated into frequenting visiting a restaurant more or spending more