Fast Food

There has always been fast food of sorts, but 1950s America put mass-produced, flavour-rich but nutritionally-poor fast food on the culinary map. It was the decade that quick-service restaurant chains began to open and franchise, heralding a seismic shift in the way we eat.

BIG ROOSTER (Australia)

“What’s the time? It’s Big Rooster time!”

Best friends Nick Tana and Steve Fyfe launched Big Rooster in Queensland, Australia, in the mid-1970s, selling barbecue chicken, fried chicken and fish, rolls and burgers (including “tropical burgers” and banana fritters).

The fast food chain became a family favourite in the state during the 80s (the company also operated under the name ‘Chicken World’ in Western Australia).

After the American brand Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC), Big Rooster became the second-most popular chicken franchise in the country.

In the 1980s, though, the Coles Myer group (who owned the competitive ‘Red Rooster’ brand) began buying out Big Rooster franchises and promptly converting the locations into Red Rooster stores, expanding their chain into New South Wales.

In 1988, Big Rooster and smaller competitor Chicken Treat merged into one company, Australian Fast Foods (AFF). In 1992, Coles Myer bought AFF for AUS$20 million. The deal included Big Rooster’s 92 locations in Queensland, two in the Northern Territory, and four overseas in Papua New Guinea. It converted them all into Red Roosters, completely erasing the Big Rooster brand in Australia.

The chain continues to operate in Papua New Guinea.

BURGER CHEF (USA)

Burger Chef began operating in 1954 in Indianapolis, Indiana, expanded throughout the United States, and at its peak in 1973, had 1,050 locations, including some in Canada. Signature items included the Big Chef and Super Chef hamburgers.

The chain was bought out by Hardee’s in the late 80s, and the final restaurant to carry the Burger Chef name closed in 1996.

BURGER KING (USA)

Burger King was founded in 1954 by Miami natives David Edgerton and James McLamore. The Whopper was introduced in 1957, and it has been on the menu ever since.

By the 1980s, while people still enjoyed McDonald’s over any other burger joint, Wendy’s was emerging as a competitor, and Burger King was a very close second.

‘Happy Meals’ were a large factor in McDonald’s success, and eventually, Burger King came up with their alternative – Kids Club – the “Kids Only” meal which included prizes as well. Extremely popular were their Burger Buddies (little hamburgers and cheeseburgers that came in threes).

In Australia, the Burger King franchise is known as “Hungry Jack’s” (the name “Burger King” was already trademarked by a small takeaway food shop in Adelaide, South Australia) but has the same corporate branding.

CHUCK E CHEESE (USA)

In 1977, video games giant Atari opened the first Chuck E Cheese restaurant in San Jose, California – a nightmarish “fun for the whole family” eatery featuring robotic animals and electronic games.

DOMINO’S (USA)

Pizza delivery chain Domino’s was founded in Michigan (USA) by Tom Monaghan in 1960 and opened its first franchise location in 1967. By 1978, the company had expanded to 200 stores and has since become the largest pizza chain on the planet, thanks to the world’s insatiable appetite for takeaway pizza.

KENTUCKY FRIED CHICKEN (KFC) (USA)

Harland David Sanders (a.k.a. “Colonel Sanders”) was a grandfatherly southern gentleman who opened what would be the first in a chain of Kentucky Fried Chicken restaurants in Corbin, Kentucky, in 1932 in a lunchroom behind his gas station. The restaurant was soon listed in renowned food critic Duncan Hines’s guidebook Adventures in Good Eating.

In 1934 Kentucky Governor Rudy Laffoon so liked Sanders’ food that he bestowed upon him the honorary title of a Kentucky Colonel.

By 1937, Sander’s Cafe seated 142 customers who often came for the Colonel’s specially prepared southern fried chicken, which contained a “secret blend of eleven herbs and spices.” His trademark formula (which the Colonel claimed could be found on everybody’s kitchen shelves at home) became the most guarded one in the history of advertising (outside of the Coca-Cola formula).

After 1950, the Colonel began to dress the part in his now famous white suit, black string tie and white goatee beard.

In 1964, Sanders sold the flourishing Kentucky Fried Chicken Corporation for $2 million. However, by retaining the “Kentucky Colonel” as a roving ambassador and instituting his image as the corporate icon, the company was able to continue promoting its product as “finger-lickin’ good” chicken in the best tradition of Southern-fried home cooking.

One TV spot in the 1960s showed an angry housewife who kidnapped the Colonel, interrogated him in an abandoned warehouse and demanded he give up his secret recipe. Of course, he didn’t.

In 1975, Colonel Sanders was sued unsuccessfully for libel when he publicly referred to Kentucky Fried Chicken gravy as “sludge” and that it had a “wallpaper taste.”

While not representing KFC, the Colonel contributed money to many charities and community organisations and at the age of eighty-seven, he testified against mandatory retirement before a Select Subcommittee on Aging.

Finally, on 16 December 1980, Harland Sanders died at the age of 90. He was buried in Louisville’s Cave Hill Cemetery. His legacy has now been franchised worldwide to new generations who still find his chicken “Finger-Lickin’ Good.”

The “down home” identity was somewhat compromised by PepsiCo’s $840 million buyout in 1986. The company was re-branded “KFC” – the word “fried” deemed inappropriate in an era of consumer health consciousness – and integrated with other PepsiCo-owned fast food chains, Taco Bell and Pizza Hut

The Colonel Harland Sanders museum at the KFC Headquarters, located west of Interstate 264 (exit 15A) in Louisville, Kentucky, traces the history of the Colonel’s chicken empire.

LITTLE CHEF (UK)

With restaurants on all major routes across the UK, Little Chef once enjoyed a near monopoly on roadside dining in Britain.

Started in 1958 by catering boss Peter Merchant and caravan manufacturer Sam Alper, and inspired by American roadside diners, the first Little Chef opened in Reading, Berkshire, in a tiny prefabricated building with seating for just 11 customers.

Famous for its Olympic Breakfasts and cherry-sauced filled Jubilee Pancakes, the diners began to appear as car ownership was growing and the UK’s road network was expanding and went from strength to strength.

Budget hotels known as ‘Little Chef Lodges’ were even built next to some of the restaurants (they were later rebranded as ‘Travelodges’ after the American motel brand).

In 1996, media conglomerate Granada acquired the company and began opening Little Chef branches at its motorway service stations. Restaurant numbers peaked at 439.

The business’s decline through the 1990s was gradual. The new owners were keen to reduce costs and maximise profits, and many of the restaurants were now in need of refurbishment. Customers were now less eager to stop for a sit-down meal, favouring coffee and sandwiches from petrol station forecourts.

The company inevitably went broke, entering administration in 2006, and Little Chef restaurants quietly disappeared from the UK’s road network.

MCDONALD’S (USA)

McDonald’s fast-food restaurants started to appear in America in the mid-1950s, but their most iconic burger – the Big Mac – wasn’t born until 1967. “Two all-beef patties, special sauce, lettuce, cheese, pickles, onions on a sesame seed bun” – If you said it in four seconds, they gave you a free drink.

“Speedee”, the original McDonald’s mascot (pictured below), lasted until 1960 when the “hamburger-loving clown” Ronald McDonald took over his coveted position. Ronald soon formed his own gang – including Mayor McCheese, the Hamburglar, Grimace, Birdie the Early Bird and The Fry Kids.

The first McDonald’s restaurant in the UK opened in 1974 in Woolwich, London.

By the 1990s, nearly $30 billion worth of McDonald’s hamburgers were being sold worldwide each year.

In 2011, a group of 500 doctors and other health professionals took out newspaper ads saying a fast-food clown mascot that targets children was unethical and should be retired.

ORANGE JULIUS (USA)

Julius Freed opened an orange juice stand in 1926 on South Broadway in Downtown Los Angeles. In 1929, the juice was developed into a frothier, creamier speciality drink by Freed’s real estate broker, Willard Hamlin. The drink, known as an “Orange Julius”, consisted of fresh orange juice, crushed ice, syrup, and a powder that remained a company secret.

The menu at the Orange Julius stores was fairly basic – hamburgers, hot dogs, Chili dogs, and – of course – Orange Julius drinks. The Orange Julius was named the official drink of the 1964 New York World’s Fair.

Hamlin eventually bought out Freed and retired in 1967 after selling the company. At that time, approximately 700 Orange Julius outlets were operating in the United States and abroad.

In 1987, the Orange Julius chain was bought by International Dairy Queen, which was subsequently purchased by billionaire Warren Buffett in 1998, making it a wholly-owned subsidiary of Berkshire Hathaway.

PIZZA HUT (USA)

Dan and Frank Carney – two brothers from Wichita, Kansas – opened the original Pizza Hut in 1958 with a $600 loan from their mother. Six months later, they opened a second outlet, and within a year, they had six Pizza Hut restaurants.

The brothers began franchising in 1959, and the iconic Pizza Hut building style – with shingled roofs and trapezoidal windows – was designed in 1963 by Chicago architect George Lindstrom.

PepsiCo acquired Pizza Hut in November 1977. Twenty years later, Pizza Hut, Taco Bell and Kentucky Fried Chicken were spun off by PepsiCo, and all three restaurant chains became part of a new company named Tricon Global Restaurants.

RED ROOSTER (Australia)

Peter and Theo Kailis opened the first Red Rooster in 1972 in Kelmscott, a suburb of Perth, Australia. The brothers sought to compete with American fast-food chains by emulating their standardised menu, branding, and marketing strategies.

Red Rooster quickly proved successful, and when the Myer Emporium bought the chain for AU$8.97 million in July 1981, it was the fourth-largest fast food group in Australia with 28 locations in Western Australia and 12 in Victoria (along with five ‘Red Bull’ hamburger outlets).

In 1986, Coles Myer bought the Big Rooster chain to expand into the eastern states and rebranded the stores as ‘Red Rooster’.

Red Rooster was purchased by Western Australian company Australian Fast Foods in 2002 and in 2010, company-owned stores were converted to franchises.

In 2019, ownership switched to PAG Asia Capital, a private equity group based in Hong Kong.

SPUD U LIKE (UK)

SpudULike first opened its doors in Edinburgh, Scotland, in 1974, selling baked potatoes with various fillings, other potato-based meals, and side dishes. Founded by Kim Culley and Barbara Cain, the company was acquired by the British School of Motoring (BSM) in 1979, which helped Spudulike to expand its business as a franchise operation across Britain.

The company filed for administration in August 2019 with all thirty-seven remaining outlets closed. Potato firm Albert Bartlett acquired a number of Spud U Like stores and reopened them in October 2019 – in York, Manchester, Livingston, Glasgow, Bluewater, Norwich, Bridgend and Leeds – with an updated menu.

TACO BELL (USA)

Taco Bell was founded by Glen Bell in San Bernardino, California. He first opened a hot dog stand called Bell’s Drive-In, where he watched long lines of customers at a Mexican restaurant across the street.

Bell attempted to reverse-engineer the recipe, and eventually, the owners allowed him to see how the tacos were made. He took what he had learned and opened the first Taco Bell in 1962 at 7112 Firestone Boulevard in Downey, California.

The first franchisee was purchased in 1964 by former police officer Kermit Bekke. By 1967, Taco Bell opened its 100th outlet. In 1970, Taco Bell went public with 325 restaurants.

In 1978, PepsiCo purchased Taco Bell from Glen Bell.

Taco Bell began co-branding with KFC in 1995 when the first such co-brand opened in Clayton, North Carolina. The chain has since co-branded with Pizza Hut and Long John Silver’s as well.

PepsiCo spun out Taco Bell and its other restaurant chains in late 1997 as Tricon Global Restaurants, which later changed its name to Yum!

A 2006 E. coli outbreak among patrons of Taco Bell restaurants in New Jersey, New York, and Pennsylvania was traced to E. coli-contaminated green onions and lettuce. Over 40 people became ill and many were hospitalised.

WENDY’S (USA)

The first-ever Wendy’s opened in Columbus, Ohio, in 1969. Founder Dave Thomas named the restaurant after his fourth child, Melinda Lou “Wendy” Thomas. Photographs of her were on display at the original Wendy’s restaurant until it closed.

In 1970, Wendy’s pioneered the first drive-thru window. It had a separate grill for quick service.

The chain is known for its square hamburgers, sea salt fries, and the Frosty, a form of soft-serve ice cream mixed with starches.

WIMPY (UK)

In Britain, Wimpy appeared in 1955 following J. Lyons’ decision to license the name and the product (a round meat patty served in a bun) from its American owners.

The first British “Wimpy Bar” was opened in the Lyons Corner House in Soho’s Coventry Street, but pretty soon, other Wimpy Bars began to spring up around the UK as the influence of America crept ever nearer.