Fast Food Service: What Does It Consist Of?

Quick catering. Fast food catering, now known worldwide as fast food, is an important part of today's international and Italian markets.
Analyze fast food catering to understand its main characteristics and meaning, the history, country of numerous fast food franchises, and their development in today's market.

Fast food, as the name suggests, is a type of fast food service that can be consumed and cooked, and is characterized by generally offering very low prices and services.
Typical fast food meals tend to be very high in calories, fat and sugar and contain few other nutrients. The best foods for this type of food are mainly burgers, sandwiches, pizzas, fries, fried chicken, hot dogs, skewers and other types of fries due to their fast preparation, low cost of raw materials and generally accepted taste.

Fast food has always been aimed primarily at young people, but in recent years it has become very popular among people of all ages, thanks to hectic lifestyles, limited time and small budgets for eating out.

Quick catering: a bit of history

Quick catering

Fast food has always existed in pubs, restaurants and street vendors selling sandwiches. However, fast food as we know it today did not become popular until the early 1950s.
The spread of fast food and the concept itself are closely linked to the development of cities. In fact, eating out in the United States, in the post-war period, once a luxury offered to a few, has become increasingly common and often a necessity. And it is precisely in this period that the first proposals for fast and above all cheap food were born, which immediately enjoyed great success.

The first true fast food restaurant in America dates back to the 1950s. However, the first basic fast food was born in the United States in the early 1900s.
Considered by many to be the ​​first true fast food, McDonald's is undoubtedly a co-contributor and responsible for the international spread of this type of restaurant, and today, along with Burger King, it is one of the biggest tycoons in the sector.

Quick catering

However, the first fast food restaurant to be considered as such was the Avtomat cafe, which prepares take-out and take-out meals that can be purchased using a system similar to today's vending machines. The very first fast food chain was White Castle, famous for its Square Burger.
White Castle is a true pioneer in the fast food restaurant industry as we know it today, and was the first to standardize sandwich preparation using a production line that increases quantity and reduces preparation time.

The fast food today has undergone great changes. If it is true that Europe has always paid much more attention to the quality and health of foods and ingredients than the United States, even in fast food, today we can speak of a healthier trend in the fast food sector at an international level.
A growing number of fast food outlets and fast food chains offer a variety of healthy menus, including fruits and vegetables, salads, vegan and gluten-free options and light, low-calorie meals, with an emphasis on carefully selected, safe, organic products and controlled ingredients.

Fast restaurant chains

Quick catering

The birth of the first fast food chain is closely linked to the birth of franchising, and the two sectors feed each other.
The birth of the first true franchise chains as we know them today dates back to the 1950s in the United States. Fast food chains were the first to use the franchising system. American fast food outlets have been able to obtain a wide and widespread distribution at an international level through franchising, exporting fast food on the one hand and benefiting from the commercial formulas used on the other.

Even today, the spread of fast food is not making a step forward.In fact, the increase in Italian and non-Italian off-premise dining in recent years has contributed to a significant increase in the number of fast food restaurants of all kinds and locations, mainly shopping malls.
Franchising has played a fundamental role in the birth and spread of modern fast food. This system is a system that can rapidly spread many new emerging chains dispersing the economic and administrative burden on franchising.

Latest trends

But what characterizes fast food today? If not required, common elements are:
Low cost, but not necessarily low. Functional furniture for the movement of people, with attention to the smallest details, but not elegant. Consistency with the franchise network (but not necessarily) Waiting times are minimal. Large marketing campaigns that control speed, convenience and quality (often through high-level partnerships with well-known brands or chefs).

Quick catering

There are still classic fast foods in today's market, including burgers and chips, pizza and fried foods. However, in recent decades, new categories of fast food created by health market trends and the growing food awareness and responsibility of consumers are showing increasingly interesting results.
In particular, street fast food and street food, characterized by foods that are easy to eat while walking, are common.

Even the travelled fast food routes and small kiosks located in strategic areas (parks, beaches, shopping centres, etc.) are becoming increasingly successful. Finally, a new form of fast food is fast casual food or fast food, which pays special attention to the quality and freshness of ingredients despite minimal service, low prices and fast food.

The menu offers healthy food made from quality ingredients (km 0, organic, fresh, etc.), vegan and vegetarian options, gluten-free options for celiacs, low-calorie and light options, options suitable for people with other allergies or intolerances.

In short, a model designed to respond to those who have little time, those who want to be a little naughty and the very young people who often look for quantifiable, satiating, delicious and convenient food!

You might also be interested in: Fast food chains in Italy. Eating on the go

Read also this article