A week ago we all went to a presentation put on by the SP/SB Historical Society on the Fast Food industry in LA. I am just getting around to writing this. So sue me. Anyhow, I had expected the presentation to be about Fast Food in general. What we got was a little bit about Fast Food businesses and a lot about In-n-Out Burger. Here’s the wikipedia entry for In-n-Out.
Mind you, I’m not complaining. In-n-Out is one of my favorite burger joints. There is one up on the corner and I visit it often.
When we talk about fast food, we are in general talking about franchise businesses that serve the meals in about 2-3 minutes. There usually is a limited menu, typically burgers and fries or fried chicken.
So here are a few factoids that I learned.
- Carl’s Jr started out in life as a hot dog stand.
- In-n-Out was started by Carl Snyder (1914-1976) and is still family owned. ie. not franchised.
- One of In-n-Out’s logos is the crossed palm trees. Based on the crossed Palm trees in the movie “It’s a Mad Mad Mad World”. Adopted in 1972.
- In-n-Out is the only Fast Food joint that uses fresh potatoes rather than frozen fries.
- In-n-Out first opened in 1948.
- McDonald’s first opened by Ray Kroc in San Bernardino in 1951.
- KFC first opened in Corbin, Kentucky by Harlan Sanders during the Great Depression. The first franchised KFC opened in Salt Lake City, UT in 1952.
