Eric Schlosser's Fast Food Nation

In this quote, Eric Schlosser uses statistics to show that America has greatly changed since the expansion of the fast food industry. According to Schlosser, money spent at restaurants has doubled over the course of a generation. This dramatic increase has helped the fast food industry rapidly grow, and those numbers will most likely only increase. As a result, Schlosser explains the dark secrets of the fast food industry to persuade the audience to make a positive change.

The way that Burger King and other fast food restaurant chains do business and markets their products to consumers is due to the change in our society to where the consumer wants the biggest, fastest, and best product they can get for their money. This change in society can be attributed to a process known as McDonaldization. Although McDonaldization can be applied to many other parts of our society, this paper will focus on its impact on Burger King and Taco Bell restaurants. My belief is that the process of McDonaldization has lead our generations toward a more a much more efficient lifestyle, with much less quality. From my observations and studies of these fast food resturants, several themes have become

The emergence of the era of fast food has been extremely apparent since the end of World War II and is arguably one of the most unhealthy periods of time for America’s people, both physically for its people and economically for those involved in the production for fast food companies. Throughout the novel many examples and real life situations are presented in order to properly give its readers a true sense of what fast food chains have caused for both producers and consumers.

Fast Food Nation is an attempt to link the American eating style and food-production patterns. Fast Food Nation is written by Eric Schlosser, he presents a perspective on the development of societies adapting to the way that food is produced. The quickly growing 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 burgers, fries, and soft drinks that were available almost before the customer ordered. By increasing the demand for fast food, supplies began to be

This is exactly what the truth seeking author, Eric Schlosser, examines when viewing America’s growing fast food problem regarding the quality, conditions, and health of our citizens. His book published in 2001, Fast Food Nation: The Dark Side of the All-American Meal, discusses and provides evidence of our ongoing dilemma occurring in the United States today. Schlosser argues that the fast food chains and the slaughterhouses/meatpacking industries are run by consumerism and commercialism, two ideals and have become intrinsic to the American identity. Our society is so caught up in the fast food crave that we forget to question

By the 1950s, the fast food industry blast was going all out, joining and culminating showcasing techniques acquired from before days. Fast food establishments had turned out to be well known eating prevents across the nation, because their institutionalized menus, effortlessly perceived signage,

Fast Food Nation begins by discussing Carl Karcher, one of the fast food pioneers. He was born in 1917 in Ohio, where he worked on a farm. Later in life, Carl bought a hotdog cart which later turned into a drive-in Barbeque restaurant. The post world war II economy provided him with many customers. When he compared McDonald’s with Walt Disney, Schlosser pictured Ray Kroc as a perceptive businessman only concerned in expanding his business.

Eric Schlosser, in his nonfiction book, Fast Food Nation: The Dark Side of the All-American Meal (2001), acknowledges that the biggest fast food chains in America first started out as small restaurants, mainly in southern California, that adapted to the changing lifestyle of Americans and revolutionized the way people eat their meals. He supports his claim by first giving a brief story of Carl N. Karcher’s life and how he began his business in the fast food industry in Anaheim, California, then he explains how “curb service” worked for customers with automobiles since cars became a more common method of transportation thus serving food to customers in their cars since they were too lazy to get out of them, only to expose the reasons of why Richard and Maurice McDonald came up with the “Speedee Service System” in 1948, which eliminated the use of carhops, waitresses, dishwashers, bus boys, dishes and glassware, and the items on their menu that had to be consumed with eating utensils; the system also adopted the guiding principles of an assembly line, dividing the responsibilities of the workers so only one person controlled one task in the food preparation, which is exactly what we see today in the fast food restaurants, and finally he mentions how every other fast food chain like Burger King, Wendy’s, and even Carl’s Jr., which was owned by Carl Karcher, copied this method

Schlosser drives home the point in Fast Food Nation how influential the fast food industry is locally and globally. “Fast food has proven to be a revolutionary force in American life,”(Schlosser) and has a great deal of power that many may never comprehend. One of the main points he focuses on is how the fast food industry, McDonald's in particular, has changed the economy. McDonald's is one of the fastest growing and widely known chains in the world. He points out how many people have been employed by fast food restaurants and how McDonald's has “employed an estimated one out of every eight workers in the United States” (Schlosser). McDonald's also has so much economic power that it can control what the companies that surround it do. If McDonalds demands something from the companies that they receive their beef from, the company will most likely do it since McDonald's is the largest buyer for beef. Yet, Schlosser points out the fact that they don’t ask for these changes for the better of their company, they do it so they can stay in the market and keep their customers satisfied. It's about the money, not about the quality of their products.

Andrew F. Smith once said, “Eating at fast food outlets and other restaurants is simply a manifestation of the commodification of time coupled with the relatively low value many Americans have placed on the food they eat”. In the non-fiction book, “Fast Food Nation” by Eric Schlosser, the author had first-hand experiences on the aspects of fast food and conveyed that it has changed agriculture that we today did not have noticed. We eat fast food everyday and it has become an addiction that regards many non-beneficial factors to our health. Imagine the wealthy plains of grass and a farm that raises barn animals and made contributions to our daily consumptions. Have you ever wonder what the meatpacking companies and slaughterhouses had

Quick Service Restaurants have been serving swift and tasty meals since the 1930’s. The industry focuses on a high speed product with a low cost for the satisfying convenience of the valued customer. Behind every commercial, smiling employees serve their customers as they cheerfully claim to adore their job, famous logos line highways that serve as a friendly reminder of the familiar, and “now-hiring” signs deck the interior of hundreds of restaurants that beckon it’s beholders to become part of the great family that is the fast food industry. In fact, to the common eye, the industry seems optimistic, a venue of opportunity – at least for the meanwhile – and an environment of simplistic means. Hardly ever do you hear about the costs of

If we look at the fast food industry today there is room for success. Based on RNCOS’ new US Fast Food Market Outlook 2010, fast food industry growth rate is strong. Especially, hamburger sales growth is reported at the healthy rate of 4.6% in 2008. The market is expected to grow to cross the $170 billion marks by 2010.It is believed that due to the economic meltdown, fast food industry is benefiting from people being more prices conscious. People who were enjoying nice means at fancier restaurants are now turning their choice of means to more economical ways.

The McDonaldization theory defines the process of which the principles of the fast-food restaurant are coming to dominate more and more sectors of American society as well as the rest of the world (Ritzer 1). Within McDonaldization there are five different concepts embedded into this theory, which are efficiency, calculability, predictability, control and lastly irrationality of rationality. These concepts are not just used in fast-food restaurants, but are becoming more

The company researched for the purpose of this paper is McDonald 's. This company 's history dates back since 1940 when Mac and Dick McDonald initially opened McDonald 's BBQ restaurant located in San Bernardino, CA. In 1948 they shut down the restaurant, just to reopen it as a self-service drive-in restaurant. According to About McDonald’s (2012), their menu included only 9 items, such as: milk, coffee, soft drinks, cheeseburger, hamburger, potato chips, and a slice of pie. Potato chips were then replaced by French fries. The history of this company is significantly market by Ray Kroc, who in 1954 at a visit to McDonald 's in San Bernardino decides to have a franchise of McDonald 's. A year later, in 1955, he opens his first restaurant in Des Plaines, Illinois. The franchising plan allowed growth and by 1965 there were more than 700 restaurants across United States. McDonald 's

On the other hand, buyers were more increasingly focusing on value and healthy foods. This condition can force McDonald and its competitor to offer product innovation that can attract the buyers and match with the buyers' requirements.