The origin of fast foods, restaurants and coupons

Restaurants have been around in some form or the order since time immemorial. In the ancient days these restaurants usually catered to travelers and were known as inns or taverns. In ancient Greece and Rome travelers rested in these inns or taverns. They were served cooked food, water and wine or ale by the owners of these inns and got paid for their services. This trend continued till the modern ages. But the idea of eating out for fun along with family members or friends was as recent as the late 18th century.

The term Fast food is 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. The phrase fast food was originally part of the title of a trade magazine called Fountain and Fast Food Service. It is generally believed that White Castle is the very first fast food restaurant in America. It was established in the year 1921. White Castle first started its business by selling hamburgers or burgers as it is generally known for 5 cents a piece and became an instant hit amongst the customers.

In order to take advantage of the popularity of cars, restaurateurs in southern California built the drive-in restaurants so that the people can order and eat without leaving their vehicles. The fast food phenomenon evolved from the drive-in restaurants.

The world’s largest fast food chain is the McDonald’s. It was founded in San Diego, California in the year 1948 by two brothers, namely Richard and Maurice McDonald. They were the first who made food faster, sold it cheaper and spent less time worrying about replacing cooks and car hops. The brothers redesigned its food-preparation area to work less like a restaurant and more like an automobile assembly line. Later, Wendy’s made its appearance in 1972. It was Wendy’s that first introduced the ‘drive-thru’ window which is so popular today.

Some typical fast food items are French fries, Burgers, fried chicken, fish and chips, doughnuts, cookies, crackers, pastries, cereals, waffles and shakes.

It was in the year 1894 that coupons were born. It was first used by Coca-Cola Company which distributed hand written tickets to its customers for a free glass of its fountain drink. Later the free coupon system was adopted almost by every business dealing with grocery, stores, merchandise, family products and food items. The fast food restaurants were also quick to follow suit and started issuing fast food coupon to its customers. Discounts, free gifts, free meals are offered on the food coupons. Customers can collect these coupons and use it within the expiry period. Coupons can be found in newspapers, news letters and Emails. With the coming of Internet free printed coupons including free fast food coupons are also being offered by the websites of the business establishments, restaurants and other online sites. These coupons are generally honored by the stores, restaurants and other business establishments.