America has been encountering many different types of cultures since it was first founded. These distinct types of cultures lead to the development of various types of food options. However, fast food productions stood out to be the top meal choice. The reason for this expansion of encounters with fast food has to deal with the American desire to gain more material wealth and become more prosperous. Americans expanded their encounters with fast foods by means of franchising, advertising, and processing of foods to help them acquire the wealth that they desire.
Franchising acquired its popularity by establishing a common method of service which gave customers the comfort that they look for when they look for a meal. When the customers go out to get their meals, they are going for something that they are familiar with. “Although this approach lacked variety, it lowered their costs and gave people something they wanted: predictability”(Timothy Berg). The customers want to have at least a background knowledge of the pricing and the food options available. Thus the idea of developing the same restaurants with the same food option and pricing came about.
The entrepreneurs wanted to grab this opportunity that they see in potential money making. “With the notion of being their own boss” ‘(Franchising), they will try to grab every opportunity that they can receive to be able to manage themselves. It turned out to be very profitable and successful. Along with the making of a symbol for the company,recognizing the company that they’re familiar with is easier therefore more profitable. Having this knowledge in mind the entrepreneurs will incorporate this and base their actions on this. They will establish a uniform system of service and food production all across the board.
This ensures the company’s reputation while helping the new business owners ease off the costs needed for training. The costs of starting a new restaurant isn’t all that hard and expensive anymore with the help from the mother company’s big name. The mother company provides the necessary training needed at hamburger university (Franchising). They do this to ensure the reputation of the company which will bring in more customers. “ Restaurants featured spotless kitchens, an assembly-line process for making standardized food—hamburgers, french fries, and soft drinks—consistent quality, speedy service, and low prices”(Franchising).
They know that consumers look for a reputable store to spend their money, so staying on the positive side became their goal. The worker’s need for these jobs are also easier found because of the low entry requirements. “By hiring young, inexperienced workers, employers were giving the next generation valuable experience in building an industrious work ethic, earning their own pay, learning how to manage time and money, and preparing for lifetime employment”(Jim Montgomery). Although the job is paying at minimum wage, people still want to work at these places because they want to first hand experience.
In addition to that, “Under the terms of an agreement the franchisee was a legally independent business”(Franchising). In this case the owners really get a sense of being an owner with low costs and big profits. These profits directly relates to the amount of advertisement that the mother company does. Advertising plays a vital role in the company’s ability to become successful, either implicitly or explicitly. With the enhancement of technology, companies are able to spread their name around with ease. They produce advertisement posters and commercials which are useful in grabbing the consumer’s attention.
However, people don’t realize that they are spreading the name even when they know it. “Critical to industry success was the development of paper and plastic containers that kept food hot and facilitated carry-out”(John A. Jackle). In addition to helping facilitate takeouts, the plastic and paper used for takeout contain the name of the company and people spread this by bringing it wherever they go. This causes people to see these names very frequently, thus making them want to to hop on this big bandwagon.
They see these names everywhere they go which causes them to spark a curiosity to try this food option. “At least six were cut from the drawing but deemed “alternates,” eligible for other prizes unless a winner left”(Waiting in the Cold). The big companies will try to give out prizes every so often to establish its relationship with the community. They then will either get caught on to the taste and the speediness of this food choice or they will dislike it but still acknowledge the fact that it is there. This will help the industry in the long run by allowing the name to be spread around.
To add on to this the companies has also target a specific group of people to better increasing the chances of receiving more consumers. When advertising the companies target a section of the consumers at once to better specify the need of the group and ultimately to obtain more profit for the consumers. The companies first target the working class by providing them with speedy and convenient service. “By the 1920s, more Americans were busier going from home to work and to all kinds of leisure activities than they ever were before” (Timothy Berg).
They incorporate their knowledge on the fact that Americans are getting busier schedules to create a whole meal that is produced fast and convenient while being able to be taken on the road. The working class and anyone who usually is on the road will surely love this idea. The second group they target is the kids. The advertise their meals and incorporate the kids favorite cartoon character into the meals to better grabs the attention of the kid. Once they get the kid to be interested, the parents have to get involved and pay too.
Kids always love toy and the idea of eating a meal while obtaining a toy is just mind blowing for them. The third group that the company’s target are the lower income class. The lower income class does not have the time and money to be spent on food, so the fast food companies make their prices as cheap as possible. Their prices are designed to be affordable so that everyone is able to get a decent meal without paying much. “Fast food restaurants in black neighborhoods have significantly higher odds of using kids’ meal toy displays to market their products to children compared to restaurants in white neighborhoods”(Roberto Ferdman).
The companies have incorporated both the ideologies of the working class, the low income class, and the kids to create the most beneficial advertising plan. This combination of convenience, children’s desires, and affordability creates a strong force that would drive any consumer to say yes. Even with the field of fast food production becoming more profitable than any other source, wealth seekers are trying to come with more ways to obtain money. They are now trying to receive profit from the production itself.
They are seeking for for ways to increase the profit obtained during the processing of the food and they have found a way. They have decided to add harmful substances to the production of the food such as antibiotics, additives, and large amount of salt. Although antibiotics help get rid of the viruses at the moment to secure more quantities of healthy food, it creates resistant infections that could be deadly due to the large amount of immunities that they have developed throughout the years of treatment.
The more a particular germ is exposed to antibiotics, the more rapidly it can develop resistance”(Sarah Halzack). Salt and additives are used to enhance the flavor of the food, but at the same time it causes people to be more sustainable to acquiring high-blood pressure, obesity, and even cancer. “Researchers agree that hypertension (high blood pressure) is rare in societies that consume a low-salt diet and more common among people who eat a lot of salt”(Anita Elash). This just comes to show how far Americans have gone to be able to eat such unhealthy amount of salt.
Other substances that are also found are. “BHA or BHT. Ingredients like these are added to prohibit foods with oils from going rancid, thereby increasing shelf life” (Cindy Jones Shoeman) This may be very convenient to have, “however, many of these additives are likely carcinogenic”(Shoeman). This shows that by eating the types of foods one is putting his or her life in potential death situations. To gain more money the company owners are willing to do some shady things, including putting other’s health at risk.
With the abundance of wealth seekers coming to America, a method to obtain money need to be invented. American’s desire for wealth and prosperity has led them to expand their encounters with fast foods by coming up with methods such as franchising, advertising, and the processing of food. What had started as a little idea explore by individuals seeking potential profit has changed to become this huge industry that is well known throughout the nation. It was necessary for Americans to expand its encounter with fast food because they needed a source that would help them rise in the global economic rankings.
