Student Preferences Regarding Fast Food

The industry has found that consumers aged 15 to 34 years account for 33% of the

Price; quality; and quantity; those are the three main components one should look for in a decent place to eat. In today’s economy, with the amount of money we pay for food, we want enough to satisfy us and be worth the money. Quality is a high standard in today’s food industry. Customers want to know if the food they are consuming is made from fresh and natural ingredients rather than preservatives. Quantity is a must as people want a good amount of product for what they pay for. Consumers don’t want food that will only fill them for an hour; they want food that is a meal. The only fast food place that comes to mind that fits these qualifications is Panda Express. Let’s see how it

First focusing on the fast food industry overall, people age from 18 to 34 are more likely to go to fast food restaurants in the last seven days than other demographic groups. This can be largely attributed to the quick service and relatively lower price that fast food restaurants provide, which accommodate to their quick pace of life and financial status. In addition, households with one or more child are also more likely to visit fast food restaurants, a result of the large market of advertising burgers and fries towards kids and families, making fast food restaurant a place for family fun time.

I have learned the hard way that it is better to just bring your own lunch then wait for the lines at Chic-Fil-A or other restaurants to go down. By the time that we get our food we only have a couple of minutes before our next class. There is so much activity to measure in that hour and in that place. The theme from this observation was gender, age and race majority that ordered at Chic-Fil-A. The majority of the students who ordered here make up the 72% population who are white at CMU, therefore it was not a surprise that they were the majority of the clients (College Factual, 2013). But there are about 8% more females on campus, but males ordered more than females (College Factual, 2013). To find out why they chose to eat at Chic-Fil-A would be a different research project.

Chick-fil-A was the last fast food restaurant I decided to grab food from. I usually do not eat at fast food places, but I was starving, it was super late, and I just got out of work. I knew that a fast food place would be the best option for me because of the time and wanting something quick. Situational influence definitely had a lot to do with me deciding to eat at a fast food place. Time being a big factor because not that many places other than fast food restaurants are open late hours. I chose to eat at Chick-fil-A opposed to a place like Taco Bell is because I believe Chick-fil-A is more on the healthier side. Our society today is all about eating healthy, so I wanted to make the best decision in the situation I was in. Our culture today definitely influenced in going with chick-fil-A rather than Taco Bell or McDonald’s.

"Fast food is popular because it 's convenient, it 's cheap, and it tastes good. But the real cost of eating fast food never appears on the menu," was said by Eric Schlosser. Several people in America have become dependent on fast foods. How many of the people who eat this food actually know what is really in the food or how it was made? Others don 't think about it, because within ordering, three minutes later a customer can pull up to the window, pay, and get food. It is quick and cheap. The United States has become dependent on fast foods because they are everywhere, but the consequences of these facilities have brought health issues and closing of community restaurants.

From a study completed by Chicago-based Research International USA completed a study called “Fast Food Nation 2008. The panel consisted of 1,000 respondents of ages 16-65 who provided their inputs with an online survey which was conducted between March 13 through 2008. Which was based on results on fast food restaurants like McDonald’s, Burger King, and Wendy’s are gaining popularity even through the economic hardship and recession. Marketing strategy has become more of influence on kids and young American’s. As population grows and the demand increases of fast food restaurants are expanding their stores to capturing more consumers. Fast food chains are also willing to change their menus to continue to gain and retain repeating customers.

There are now over 240,000 fast food restaurants in the United States. In 1953, Fast Food accounted for 4% of total sales of food outside the home. By 1997 that number jumped to 34% (3). In 2000, the food expenditure outside the home has risen to 47%, up 13% in just three years (1). The trend does not seem to be slowing down either. Eating outside the home has been strongly linked with weight gain and obesity. The frequency of consuming fast food meals has been associated with an increase in BMI and weight gain (1). The question that needs to be asked is why we as Americans choose to eat at Fast Food establishments?

I. Anywhere you go, there is a good chance there will be a fast food restaurant nearby.

The fast food industry has been growing dramatically during the last few years. For this reason, we should try to find out what are the several factors why fast food consumption keeps growing among young people and adults. Therefore, as we have seen, the popularity of fast food is spreading rapidly among many people due to the following three main reasons: good taste, convenient time, and price. Personally, working for a fast food restaurant for a brief moment in my life, I can attest to this. Marketing also plays a big part to more people eating fast food. It’s in our culture in America to expect fast food companies to market and strategize their ways to make us, the consumers, to buy more food and consume more food so they can make more profit. Especially now with commercials and social media. The fast food industry has thrived in the modern era. It’s thriving so much, the industry is growing faster than the U.S economy, at

“To better understand consumer preferences in fast food products and the services provided by Wendy’s and the industry as a whole’”

As of now in the United States there are 22 fast food franchises. McDonalds was the first franchise to open in 1940 and since then they have been the leading and most successful franchise in America (“The Raw Prawn” n.p.). Other franchises include: Burger King, KFC, Wendy’s, Arby’s, and Taco Bell. Each of which target young students and children. Most of them have a value menu where items to purchase are cheap and tasty but very unhealthy. Some fast food restaurants provide a toy for children with their meal which attract them to come again and again ( “Eating Yourself to Death” n.p.). In addition, some restaurants contain an indoor play ground which attracts small children even more. The fast food industry mainly brings customers for their tasty food and simple convenience, they attach a drive thru to their building making it faster for customers to purchase and collect their food which is also less time consuming. Recently in the past few years, fast food franchises have begun to change their restaurant and attempt to become healthier as a whole, in some fast food restaurants they have a nutritional menu to choose from which generally contain healthier food compared to the regular menu (“The Raw Prawn” n.p.).

C. Thesis statement: Popularity of the fast food are getting an increase due to easy and quick service, inexpensive meanwhile there are also consist of negative effects if the fast food is becoming more common in society.

In the last decade, a lot of emphasis has been put on adopting healthy eating habits and informing the consumers that the healthy-eating option was available in fast-food restaurant chains. Interestingly, consumers eating in fast-food chains were found to be more likely to order fattening side dishes if they think that they are consuming a healthy diet (Men’s Fitness, March 2008). This observation is also true in Subway restaurants where a 12 inch Italian sandwich contains over 900 calories compared to the 600 calories BigMac from MacDonald’s (Wilson Quarterly, Winter 2008). Thinking they are eating “healthy”, Subway patrons then splurge on soft drinks, potato chips and desserts accompanying their sandwich, especially is they are offered as part of value meals.

The collected information in the research shows that all the men and women interviewed chose the quality of food as the more important factor , followed by price. However, men considered service more important than price, but the difference was in only two people. The type of food came