August 14, 2025 • 30 mins
On this episode of Our American Stories, fast food wasn’t always part of the daily routine. At one point, it was a wild idea. Quick meals without waiters or tables? Unheard of. Adam Chandler, author of Drive-Thru Dreams, explains how it all began. What started with roadside stands and milkshakes grew into an industry that now touches nearly every corner of American life.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:10):
And we continue here with our American stories. Pulling up
your favorite drive through and grabbing a quick, familiar meal
is a part of everyday American life. That this idea
was once unheard of. So ha did fast food and
drive through restaurants come to be such appealing and significant
aspects of American culture. Here's Adam Chandler, author of Drive
(00:33):
Through Dreams, A Journey through the Heart of America's Fast
Food Kingdom, with the full history and evolution of fast
food in our country.
Speaker 2 (00:48):
The history of fast food is a fascinating one, in
part because it really is the history of America. You
can look back one hundred years. That's basically when fast
food started as we know it in Wichita, which is
where we have the birth of White Castle. And what
White Castle does is create this experience that is very standardized.
(01:09):
It looks the same wherever you go. And that is
a large part because people were very suspicious of food
and ground beef, especially at that time in American history.
That infamous book The Jungle had come out fifteen years
earlier and really kind of riled people up about what
was in the food.
Speaker 3 (01:30):
They were eating.
Speaker 2 (01:31):
So they made a big show of emphasizing that this
food was affordable, but also cleaned and prepared expertly in
very sterile environments, because there was a real fear about
the health and safety of what you're eating. White Castle's
old slogan was buy them by the sack, which meant
you'd buy all these small sliders for nicola pop and
(01:53):
you'd walk out and you'd have food for however long
you wanted. Billy Ingram is the kind of marketing pie
behind Whitecastle who wants to make the hamburger something that
you would serve to your family safely, as opposed to
something that was thought of as just for factory workers
and people who didn't really have a lot of regard
(02:14):
for maybe the health and safety of what they were
eating in you know, factory commissaries.
Speaker 3 (02:19):
And things like that.
Speaker 2 (02:20):
So the idea of eating something that's affordable and cheap
and easy to kind of take with you is an
American story in a way that's casual and approachable.
Speaker 3 (02:32):
The history of it really speaks to.
Speaker 2 (02:34):
This idea that we are a country that likes to
keep moving, that we're hyper efficient, that we are constantly
on the go, and you know that starts with small
hamburgers and Eventually that becomes a food that you can
take with you, and it becomes eating in your car
and cup holders in your car drivers. So the context
(02:56):
for how we got white castle and burgers and fast
food in general was because of mobility. There are these
portable little items you can take with you wherever you go.
And that directly links to the rise of the car
one hundred years ago was the model T was becoming
more affordable as for assembly lines were.
Speaker 3 (03:16):
Producing them for cheaper and cheaper.
Speaker 2 (03:18):
And where fast food really takes off, where we start
seeing the beginning of drive thrus is in southern California.
Speaker 3 (03:25):
Right after World War Two.
Speaker 2 (03:29):
There's this moment where the world is coming back from war.
America's power and standing in the global order is strong,
and the economy is booming and there are no more
regulations on gasoline and steel cars are being built again.
During the war there were all these rations and you
couldn't create new cars.
Speaker 3 (03:50):
And car culture takes off.
Speaker 2 (03:53):
They're building the suburbs, they're building the highways, and so
all of this kind of creates this convenience culture where
people are on the road they want to take food
with them. Drive throughs become an upshot of this whole
movement to eat on the go and explore the country
and be out in the world.
Speaker 3 (04:14):
The rise of.
Speaker 2 (04:14):
Fast food really happens in southern California, where all of
these big American features that we're developing after World War
Two happen everywhere, but happen in California.
Speaker 3 (04:26):
On steroids.
Speaker 2 (04:27):
We're talking about the space program, defense spending, the building
of the highways, the creation of the suburbs, all of
these big things, and so that really influences the fast
food industry. And from southern California, we get Taco Bell,
we get McDonald's in and out, Burger, we get Del Taco,
we get Jack in the Box. We have a lot
of these major chains. Bob's, Big Boy, Durener Schnetzel is
(04:51):
another one that's a little bit lesser known, but these
all influences all the other chains that come about after
White Castle may have started and been a pretty big success,
but the real explosion of fast food happens in southern California,
and that is because of economic prosperity after the war.
And what's really interesting about this is we're coming out
(05:12):
of the shadow of the Great Depression at this time,
you know, World War two has just ended, but we're
not that far back from you know, breadlines. And there
wasn't a really established culture of dining out in America
among working class people. It was mostly reserved for wealthier folks.
And so what fast food really does is give American
(05:33):
dining culture and the way that you know, drive ins
and drive throughs do in entree in an affordable, accessible
way to kind of start dining out. And so what
in and out Burger does. And this is a mom
and pop operation started by Harry and Esther Snyder in
nineteen forty eight. So these are literally a newlywed, married
(05:54):
couple starts this hamburger chain in a working class suburb
of Los Angeles, and part of the technology that they
rely on is a two way speaker and they're the
first ones to do it in nineteen forty eight. You
drive up and you give your order through the speaker,
and you drive it to the window and you get
the food and you pay for it. This is the
most normal thing in the world to us now, but
back then, nobody knew about it.
Speaker 3 (06:16):
Nobody had any idea what the story was, what the
history was. People were perplexed.
Speaker 2 (06:20):
They had no idea what they were doing when they
drove up because they'd never seen something like this before.
Speaker 3 (06:25):
They'd constantly have.
Speaker 2 (06:26):
To explain it over and over again, and so these
little innovations are a big part of the story McDonald's.
The McDonald's brothers move out to California from New Hampshire
to work and show biz, and it doesn't quite work
out that way for them.
Speaker 3 (06:38):
But what happens is they.
Speaker 2 (06:42):
Open a barbecue stand in nineteen forty and this is
in San Bernardino. It's on Route sixty six and along
the way, they find success, but they're still not happy.
They want it to be better. They see these inefficiencies
and even though they have a successful business, they decide,
we can do something different with this. So they close
(07:03):
the restaurant in nineteen forty eight and they spend three
months totally refitting it, totally remastering and reassembling and reformatting
all the way that they were going to do business.
And everyone thought they were crazy. And what they do
is they streamline the whole operation. They get rid of
car hops, they got rid of the cups that were
(07:24):
in plates that were disappearing, and they set up this
hyper efficient kitchen where the food is served really quickly,
and they make it cheaper for customers by getting rid
of all of the extra real estate and all the
extra employees and just creating this assembly.
Speaker 3 (07:40):
Line but for hamburgers.
Speaker 2 (07:42):
And the results of that is this hyper efficient, extremely
popular hamburger chain, and everyone from all over the country
comes around to see it because they've heard about this
place that is making burgers by the dozen in a
matter of minutes and just turning over so many customers
so fast, and not dealing with any of the inefficiencies
(08:04):
of the business. One of the people who comes to
see this is Ray Kroc, who is a milkshake machine
salesman and a lifelong industry person, and he's shocked by
what he sees. He's stunned at the efficiency and the
success of this place, and he says to himself, I
want this to be everywhere. This should exist everywhere across
(08:25):
the country, dotting the landscape. And he devotes himself to
convincing them to let him open McDonald's franchises. Eventually he
buys it out from under them, and McDonald's becomes this
juggernaut that we all know today, not just in America,
but around the world. It's synonymous with American life, and
it's an impressive story of what vision, an understanding of
(08:48):
human appetite and trends can really take you. And it
was copied ruthlessly by everyone. The founders of Burger King
came by all the way to California and they were
from Florida to check it out. There were so many
chains that dropped by that San Berdardino Steward saw what
the McDonald's brothers are doing and said, we got to
do this the same way.
Speaker 3 (09:06):
We got to copy this.
Speaker 2 (09:07):
There were so many knockoffs and imitators, and it really influenced.
Speaker 3 (09:12):
How we eat today.
Speaker 2 (09:13):
You grab the food, it's wrapped up in paper and
you can take it with you, and that was something
that was revolutionary at the time.
Speaker 1 (09:20):
And you've been listening to Adam Chandler, author of Drive
Through Dreams, a journey through the heart of America's fast
food Kingdom. And it all started in Wichita, Kansas with
Whitecastle and the founders there made well. They made food
standard and safe, affordable and cheap, most importantly, easy to
take with you for a country that was always on
the go and was casual. In other words, it fit
(09:43):
the American character completely. When we come back more of
this remarkable story of how fast food and the drive
through swept the nation and came to define the nation.
Here on our American story, and we're back with our
(10:10):
American stories and with Adam Chandler, the author of Drive
Through Dreams. We just heard some of the firsts of
fast food in an out burger introducing the two way
speaker for ordering, and McDonald's doing away with car hops,
servers and reusable utensils. The rise of success within these businesses, well,
(10:30):
it's astronomical and everybody wants a piece of the pie.
Speaker 4 (10:35):
Back to Adam, you didn't need a college degree or
really great connections to make it in the fast food
industry when it was starting out.
Speaker 2 (10:48):
Looking at the early stories of the founders, most of
them didn't graduate high school, much less go to college.
They were salespeople. They were salesmen driving around the country
trying to sort out a way to create a business
model that would be sustainable. A lot of them served
in the Armed forces at some point and kind of
learned what the meaning of regimented service and operations are.
Speaker 3 (11:11):
And they just worked hard and created.
Speaker 2 (11:14):
A system that was very popular. So all of these
really big American ideals that we cherish as hard work
and that part of the American story really come to
bear in fast food. And it's not just the big
recognizable names, you know, there are also these small entrepreneurs
who open franchises and are able to become wealthy in
(11:36):
a way that you would think you would need connections
or advanced degrees to get. And that's just not the
story of fast food. There are so many different people,
all ages, all backgrounds, all ethnicities that managed to create
something special in that post war era.
Speaker 3 (11:59):
The story of.
Speaker 2 (12:00):
Colonel Sanders and KFC is one of the best stories
there is in fast food. There's nothing else like it.
This is a guy who was born into poverty, grew
up on a rural farm.
Speaker 3 (12:11):
He's basically an orphan.
Speaker 2 (12:12):
He raises his own family while his mother's working after
his father dies at a very young age, and he
works every job imaginable for the first six seven decades
of his life. He's selling tires, he's working for the
Chamber of Commerce, he's building ferries, he's working on trains,
he's trying to become a lawyer. He does all of
(12:34):
these different things and He finds success in some of them,
and he fails at other ones, and he just he
keeps trying, and he ends up in a small gas
station that he owns in southeastern Kentucky, and basically his
entire focus is trying to beat out the other gas
stations for customers on the newly built roads that are
(12:55):
happening in southeastern Kentucky, the Dixie Highway, and he ultimately
succeeds by having excellent service and excellent food. And that's
the beginning of fried chicken.
Speaker 3 (13:09):
He loves it.
Speaker 2 (13:10):
He creates a electric pressure cooker, patents it to make
fried chicken faster than anyone has ever made fried chicken before,
and it is a hit. He gets written up in
national publications, and eventually he turns this idea into a franchise.
He goes around and patents the recipe and sells the
(13:31):
idea on handshake deals to small mom and pop shops
and diners all around Appalachia and the Midwest, basically just
saying here's the recipe for my chicken. I'll send you
the seasoning, and you give me five cents for every
chicken that you cook. It's the most homespun thing imaginable.
It sounds completely insane today, but this is how he
built his empire and eventually he started opening these standalone stores.
Speaker 3 (13:55):
And mind you, he was sixty six when this happened.
He was old.
Speaker 2 (14:00):
That was the standard age that you were suspected to
possibly pass.
Speaker 3 (14:05):
On at that point.
Speaker 2 (14:06):
That was the life expectancy was where he was basically
at when he decides to turn KFC into an empire.
And he could have just retired, he would have been
fine doing it, but instead he goes out on the
road and he just creates this brand that everyone falls
in love with, and it expands around the world and
he becomes one of the most famous men in the
(14:27):
world after living in obscurity for so long, because he's
got this big personality, he's got this drive, and he's
got this really strong belief in his product. And you know,
the white planter suit with the tie, that's all something
that he came up with as a way to kind
of brand himself. He was a Kentucky colonel, which is
an honorary title in Kentucky, and he uses this to
(14:49):
market himself as the colonel. There are thousands of Kentucky
colonels out there there's only one Colonel Sanders, and everybody
knows who he is.
Speaker 3 (14:57):
So this story of sort of persever.
Speaker 2 (15:00):
Phearance and a real belief in self and in your
own invention is a huge reason why we know KFC
the world around. He gets on television, he's in movies,
he becomes this character. He becomes the second most recognizable
figure in the world according to one poll in the
nineteen seventies, and that's not something that happens to a
lot of people. But through sheer force of will and
(15:22):
a lot of skill, he manages to do this, and
that idea is still a cherished part of the brand's
motto is doing things the hard way, the way that
the Colonel did it. As the industry grew, it becomes
so popular that everyone kind of wanted a piece of it.
So as the country was growing and as these small
(15:43):
mom and pop shops became recognizable figures on the roadside,
you had a lot of big interest kind of swoop
in and take an interest in it. Jack in the
Box is an example of a chain that was eventually
bought out by Ralston Purina, which is a big food conglomerate,
and it's past hands since then KFC also was bought
(16:04):
from Colonel Sanders by a group of investors and eventually
was spun off into a lot of different owners over
the years. Burger King was bought by Pillsbury.
Speaker 3 (16:14):
So there was a big.
Speaker 2 (16:15):
Moment where industries realize that this is an enormous opportunity
for them. McDonald's goes public. There are all these sort
of markers that show fast food is big business. And
when you go from being a small founder led organization
with a couple of restaurants or you know, a small
(16:36):
kind of framework in place, and you become part of
a big corporate machine, sometimes you lose the focus and
a lot of these chains had that happen to them.
Burger Chef grew to become the second biggest fast food
chain in the country.
Speaker 3 (16:51):
It's based in the Midwest.
Speaker 2 (16:53):
They patented the combo meal and the kids meal. These
are things that are huge parts of the fast food experience.
But it was eventually purchased. And what ultimately happened to
it was their operation suffered and consistency, which is a
key aspect of the success of fast food restaurants, eventually
undercut its success and there aren'tny more Briger chefs anymore,
(17:16):
and it was the second biggest one. So there are
stories of big chains that really made it, and ones that,
during the shakeout that happened in the seventies and eighties,
didn't survive as.
Speaker 3 (17:27):
A result of it.
Speaker 2 (17:29):
When you think about in the seventies and eighties, we're
talking about a time when people are working more than
ever and drive throughs have become more of a norm
in the American sort of landscape, and there's a moment
where McDonald's kind of recognizes we need to create a
breakfast menu because this is a huge opportunity, and the
(17:51):
birth of the egg McMuffin and the birth of breakfast
is something that changes basically the way that.
Speaker 3 (17:57):
Americans eat breakfast.
Speaker 2 (17:59):
There were no breaks fists, eating outside of the home.
There wasn't really a model for that. And so to
create this item that again you can hold in one
hand and eat in your car while you're driving to work.
You can put your coffee in a cup holder. These
are innovations that happened because consumers demanded it. They were
(18:19):
in a rush and they wanted to grab food that
was cheap and delicious and go on their way, or
you know, they just needed a break in the middle
of their day and wanted to step out and grab
something quickly, whether it was a lunch or a snack
after school or whatever. The story was McDonald's and fast
food and drive throughs had an answer for it, and
(18:42):
it was just efficient, familiar way of doing business. And
breakfast is another facet of that.
Speaker 1 (18:50):
And you're listening to Adam Chandler tell a heck of
a story about how we eat and why we eat
the way we do. His book Drive Through Dreams is
what we're talking about. And it's true that America really
didn't have a dining culture. Fast food and drive through well,
it democratized dining out and transform the country and how
(19:11):
we live, how we work, and so much more. When
we come back more of this remarkable story of how
we eat. Drive Through Dreams with Adam Chandler continues here
on our American Stories, and we continue with our American
(19:40):
stories and to Adam Chandler with the story of fast
food and drive through restaurants in America. When we last
left off, Adam had just told us about the rise
of fast food breakfast in the nineteen seventies, but the
following decade would tell a different story. Here's adam to
continued with the rest of this remarkable tale.
Speaker 2 (20:01):
In the eighties and nineties, we begin to see the
beginnings of people starting to look at fast food differently.
The effects of American diets in an obesity epidemic that
a lot of people put on the shoulders of fast food,
but to be honest, exists everywhere. Fast food is an
easy target for efforts about American health. Every American eats
(20:25):
there more or less, and some people eat there multiple
times a week, and this draws the attention of a
lot of public health advocates who say, we need to
reform fast food, we need to make changes, and the
industry responds to it by trying to offer new things
that will appeal to them. Wendy's unveils a salad bar
(20:47):
that's famous for a little while for being an alternative.
Speaker 3 (20:50):
To the hamburgers.
Speaker 2 (20:52):
McDonald's creates this low fat burger that gets totally lampooned
because it has seaweed in it. It's an extract to
keep the burger juicier, but people find out at seaweed
and they freak out. Burger King toys with a low
calorie menu and introduces a grilled chicken sandwich, which does
well but eventually kind of falls by the wayside. So
you have all these stories of people trying to respond
(21:15):
within the industry to this pressure for healthier.
Speaker 3 (21:18):
Food, but that's not what people.
Speaker 2 (21:21):
Really go to fast food restaurants for. They go because
they've had a long day and they want a hamburger.
They're not interested necessarily in.
Speaker 3 (21:28):
Having a salad.
Speaker 2 (21:29):
So it's this real hang up because externally there's all
this pressure for fast food to change, but ultimately that's
not really what the customers seem to want. Even as
they introduce healthier items, people still just want to have
hamburger and fries. In the early nineties, there's such a
backlash to fried food in the context of the obesity
(21:49):
epidemic that KFC actually does this crazy thing where they
shorten their name from Kentucky Fried Chicken to KFC because
the f fried was a new f word and people
did not want them to associate fried with the chicken,
and so they were releasing chicken that was grilled and
roasted instead, and it hung around for a while, and
you can still get some grilled chicken at KFC, but
(22:11):
you're there for the original recipe. So you see all
of these changes happening as people and their priorities as
consumers change, and KFC is an example of a company
that paid very close attention to that much earlier than
a lot of them did. What's really fascinating about the
way the fast food industry has changed over the years
(22:32):
is we kind of think of these big companies as
goliaths that kind of determine what we eat and what
we do. This is a perception that's popular about fast
food industry, but the fast food industry is really responsive
to what the mainstream seems to want.
Speaker 3 (22:48):
And it's really interesting to.
Speaker 2 (22:49):
Think of fast food as these companies that are ultimately
receptive to consumer demands, because that's not the wrap that
they get in the public imagination. And there are just
so many ways.
Speaker 3 (22:59):
That this manifest.
Speaker 2 (23:01):
One of the big upshots of the baby boom, you
know that happens is you have all these parents a
lot are coming from two income households, and by the
eighties and nineties, they're looking to fast food as places
where they can go relax, have a meal that their
kids and they are gonna like. And also kind of
(23:23):
you know, just take a minute and let the kids
run wild, and that led to the birth of the
play places and the creation of characters like you know,
the Hamburglar and Grimace, and the playgrounds become again a
place where the elements of the relaxation that goes into
going to a restaurant where the food is cheap and
(23:43):
everyone's happy and you know, likes what they're eating. It
gives it another push because in an era where people
are in a hurry and there are more people in
the workforce than ever before, it becomes important to be
able to just cut kind of stop and let your
kids run wild for a couple of minutes while you
(24:04):
get a moment of peace. And so the playgrounds become
a big part of that aspect, as well as later
hours because people are working longer hours and sometimes different
shifts and different jobs. You have more twenty four hour
fast food restaurants kind of come up in the late nineties,
and that's another response to the various needs of American consumers.
(24:25):
And then a lot of stores have Wi Fi now
as a result of where attention spans are going, and
that is another thing that speaks to how fast food
changes over the years. There's the foodie movement and that happens.
You know, at the beginning of the twenty first century,
we're seeing in response to fast food Nation and Supersize me,
the companies are changing their tune about having certain sized portions,
(24:49):
and they're trying new things and seeing how they work,
and oftentimes it's the thing they're best known for that
ultimately keeps them going through the years. I think it's
it's just what people want and what they know and
what they're familiar with when it comes to fast food.
You know, the excitement that people feel about a happy meal,
there's such a nostalgia for it. We all have these
(25:11):
various markers of our lives. I remember going to birthdays
a McDonald's when I was a kid. I remember sneaking
out of high school to go to Wendy's or Taco bellt.
Speaker 3 (25:18):
With my friends.
Speaker 2 (25:19):
I remember being a broke college student and absolutely needing
Burger King to get me through. And these are all
things that resonate with everyone. That's one of the powers
of fast food is how it, you know, is always
there and just kind of is this consistent force. And
so even as things are evolving, there is that baseline
(25:41):
DNA to fast food that still appeals to American lifestyles.
You know why fast food maintains this intense popularity is
because they focus on the mainstream and what the mainstream
wants and how quickly it's moving towards something, and so
in that way, it will all always be relevant. It's
(26:01):
never going to be cutting edge, but it always knows
what people are looking at and paying attention to and
are interested in trying out. And that's a big part
of why it succeeds is that as the country.
Speaker 3 (26:12):
Moves, fast food moves with it.
Speaker 2 (26:14):
There are certain things that you get at fastiod restaurants today,
whether it's a fancier coffee drink or pumpkin spice everything
or veggie burgers, things that we're not on the consciousness
ten or fifteen or twenty years ago are now big
parts of the experience today, and you can get those things.
(26:36):
But you can still also get your burger and fries,
which is what a lot of people still want. So
even as parts of it changed slowly, there are the
core parts of the DNA of fast food that remain
universal and highly appealing. And you know, it's why ninety
six percent of Americans eat fast food every year. It's
why it's something that everyone is familiar with. It's why
(26:57):
that's something that everyone loves, all ages, all raised, is
all economic backgrounds. You'll see it at a fast food restaurant,
and there are very few places that get that kind
of broad support. That kind of loyalty doesn't exist in
a lot of other industries. The American relationship with fast
food is deeper than I think a lot of people
(27:20):
give credit for, because we are a country that is
scrappy and that values time and values of affordability and
familiarity and custom and isn't pretentious. Eating a hamburger is
a very American experience. It's part of how we live.
(27:41):
Beef itself is something that we look back on with
fondness in America because it reminds us of the frontier
and the cattle trails and the cowboys, all of these
really important things that define us as a country. Our
mythology is really tied up in this concept. And I
think that even as people within the States or abroad
(28:03):
kind of characterize Americans as being a certain way or
having a certain way about them that is a little
too casual, a little less formal, a little too familiar,
I think fast food really stands as a symbol of
why that is such a popular thing. There's something egalitarian
about fast food where you go into a store and
there is no weight service, there's no hierarchy, there's not
(28:26):
a good table, there's not a bad table, there's not
a good table.
Speaker 3 (28:30):
And that's a very American concept, to not.
Speaker 2 (28:33):
Really have special status one place to another. You know,
everyone kind of has to stand in a line. And
that's meaningful because that's kind of encoded in American life.
And I think that that's why it'll always stand separate
as a part of an American experience, because that's really
kind of who we are or who we aspire to be.
Speaker 1 (28:56):
And a terrific job on the production and storytelling by
Madison Derricot and his special thanks to author Adam Chandler
his book Drive Through Dreams, a journey through the heart
of America's fast food kingdom. Well, go to a local
bookstore and get it, go to Amazon or wherever you'd
get your books. This all started or really took off
in southern California after World War Two, the booming housing market,
(29:20):
the booming car culture, and of course this idea that
we're a people on the go and we just want
to go in, have a quick meal and move on.
And my goodness, how many times my family stops at
fast food restaurants Chick fil A once a week, Jersey
Mike Subs, wherever I can get a chance. And I
would compare those dining establishments to any five star restaurant
any day. In some ways, I like them even better.
(29:42):
They're consistent, they're there, and they're good. And let's not
forget the McDonald fries. Sometimes we just stop for those alone.
The story of fast food, how it came to be
and why Americans love fast food is it's darn tasty.
This is our American stories.
And we continue here with our American stories. Pulling up
your favorite drive through and grabbing a quick, familiar meal
is a part of everyday American life. That this idea
was once unheard of. So ha did fast food and
drive through restaurants come to be such appealing and significant
aspects of American culture. Here's Adam Chandler, author of Drive
(00:33):
Through Dreams, A Journey through the Heart of America's Fast
Food Kingdom, with the full history and evolution of fast
food in our country.
Speaker 2 (00:48):
The history of fast food is a fascinating one, in
part because it really is the history of America. You
can look back one hundred years. That's basically when fast
food started as we know it in Wichita, which is
where we have the birth of White Castle. And what
White Castle does is create this experience that is very standardized.
(01:09):
It looks the same wherever you go. And that is
a large part because people were very suspicious of food
and ground beef, especially at that time in American history.
That infamous book The Jungle had come out fifteen years
earlier and really kind of riled people up about what
was in the food.
Speaker 3 (01:30):
They were eating.
Speaker 2 (01:31):
So they made a big show of emphasizing that this
food was affordable, but also cleaned and prepared expertly in
very sterile environments, because there was a real fear about
the health and safety of what you're eating. White Castle's
old slogan was buy them by the sack, which meant
you'd buy all these small sliders for nicola pop and
(01:53):
you'd walk out and you'd have food for however long
you wanted. Billy Ingram is the kind of marketing pie
behind Whitecastle who wants to make the hamburger something that
you would serve to your family safely, as opposed to
something that was thought of as just for factory workers
and people who didn't really have a lot of regard
(02:14):
for maybe the health and safety of what they were
eating in you know, factory commissaries.
Speaker 3 (02:19):
And things like that.
Speaker 2 (02:20):
So the idea of eating something that's affordable and cheap
and easy to kind of take with you is an
American story in a way that's casual and approachable.
Speaker 3 (02:32):
The history of it really speaks to.
Speaker 2 (02:34):
This idea that we are a country that likes to
keep moving, that we're hyper efficient, that we are constantly
on the go, and you know that starts with small
hamburgers and Eventually that becomes a food that you can
take with you, and it becomes eating in your car
and cup holders in your car drivers. So the context
(02:56):
for how we got white castle and burgers and fast
food in general was because of mobility. There are these
portable little items you can take with you wherever you go.
And that directly links to the rise of the car
one hundred years ago was the model T was becoming
more affordable as for assembly lines were.
Speaker 3 (03:16):
Producing them for cheaper and cheaper.
Speaker 2 (03:18):
And where fast food really takes off, where we start
seeing the beginning of drive thrus is in southern California.
Speaker 3 (03:25):
Right after World War Two.
Speaker 2 (03:29):
There's this moment where the world is coming back from war.
America's power and standing in the global order is strong,
and the economy is booming and there are no more
regulations on gasoline and steel cars are being built again.
During the war there were all these rations and you
couldn't create new cars.
Speaker 3 (03:50):
And car culture takes off.
Speaker 2 (03:53):
They're building the suburbs, they're building the highways, and so
all of this kind of creates this convenience culture where
people are on the road they want to take food
with them. Drive throughs become an upshot of this whole
movement to eat on the go and explore the country
and be out in the world.
Speaker 3 (04:14):
The rise of.
Speaker 2 (04:14):
Fast food really happens in southern California, where all of
these big American features that we're developing after World War
Two happen everywhere, but happen in California.
Speaker 3 (04:26):
On steroids.
Speaker 2 (04:27):
We're talking about the space program, defense spending, the building
of the highways, the creation of the suburbs, all of
these big things, and so that really influences the fast
food industry. And from southern California, we get Taco Bell,
we get McDonald's in and out, Burger, we get Del Taco,
we get Jack in the Box. We have a lot
of these major chains. Bob's, Big Boy, Durener Schnetzel is
(04:51):
another one that's a little bit lesser known, but these
all influences all the other chains that come about after
White Castle may have started and been a pretty big success,
but the real explosion of fast food happens in southern California,
and that is because of economic prosperity after the war.
And what's really interesting about this is we're coming out
(05:12):
of the shadow of the Great Depression at this time,
you know, World War two has just ended, but we're
not that far back from you know, breadlines. And there
wasn't a really established culture of dining out in America
among working class people. It was mostly reserved for wealthier folks.
And so what fast food really does is give American
(05:33):
dining culture and the way that you know, drive ins
and drive throughs do in entree in an affordable, accessible
way to kind of start dining out. And so what
in and out Burger does. And this is a mom
and pop operation started by Harry and Esther Snyder in
nineteen forty eight. So these are literally a newlywed, married
(05:54):
couple starts this hamburger chain in a working class suburb
of Los Angeles, and part of the technology that they
rely on is a two way speaker and they're the
first ones to do it in nineteen forty eight. You
drive up and you give your order through the speaker,
and you drive it to the window and you get
the food and you pay for it. This is the
most normal thing in the world to us now, but
back then, nobody knew about it.
Speaker 3 (06:16):
Nobody had any idea what the story was, what the
history was. People were perplexed.
Speaker 2 (06:20):
They had no idea what they were doing when they
drove up because they'd never seen something like this before.
Speaker 3 (06:25):
They'd constantly have.
Speaker 2 (06:26):
To explain it over and over again, and so these
little innovations are a big part of the story McDonald's.
The McDonald's brothers move out to California from New Hampshire
to work and show biz, and it doesn't quite work
out that way for them.
Speaker 3 (06:38):
But what happens is they.
Speaker 2 (06:42):
Open a barbecue stand in nineteen forty and this is
in San Bernardino. It's on Route sixty six and along
the way, they find success, but they're still not happy.
They want it to be better. They see these inefficiencies
and even though they have a successful business, they decide,
we can do something different with this. So they close
(07:03):
the restaurant in nineteen forty eight and they spend three
months totally refitting it, totally remastering and reassembling and reformatting
all the way that they were going to do business.
And everyone thought they were crazy. And what they do
is they streamline the whole operation. They get rid of
car hops, they got rid of the cups that were
(07:24):
in plates that were disappearing, and they set up this
hyper efficient kitchen where the food is served really quickly,
and they make it cheaper for customers by getting rid
of all of the extra real estate and all the
extra employees and just creating this assembly.
Speaker 3 (07:40):
Line but for hamburgers.
Speaker 2 (07:42):
And the results of that is this hyper efficient, extremely
popular hamburger chain, and everyone from all over the country
comes around to see it because they've heard about this
place that is making burgers by the dozen in a
matter of minutes and just turning over so many customers
so fast, and not dealing with any of the inefficiencies
(08:04):
of the business. One of the people who comes to
see this is Ray Kroc, who is a milkshake machine
salesman and a lifelong industry person, and he's shocked by
what he sees. He's stunned at the efficiency and the
success of this place, and he says to himself, I
want this to be everywhere. This should exist everywhere across
(08:25):
the country, dotting the landscape. And he devotes himself to
convincing them to let him open McDonald's franchises. Eventually he
buys it out from under them, and McDonald's becomes this
juggernaut that we all know today, not just in America,
but around the world. It's synonymous with American life, and
it's an impressive story of what vision, an understanding of
(08:48):
human appetite and trends can really take you. And it
was copied ruthlessly by everyone. The founders of Burger King
came by all the way to California and they were
from Florida to check it out. There were so many
chains that dropped by that San Berdardino Steward saw what
the McDonald's brothers are doing and said, we got to
do this the same way.
Speaker 3 (09:06):
We got to copy this.
Speaker 2 (09:07):
There were so many knockoffs and imitators, and it really influenced.
Speaker 3 (09:12):
How we eat today.
Speaker 2 (09:13):
You grab the food, it's wrapped up in paper and
you can take it with you, and that was something
that was revolutionary at the time.
Speaker 1 (09:20):
And you've been listening to Adam Chandler, author of Drive
Through Dreams, a journey through the heart of America's fast
food Kingdom. And it all started in Wichita, Kansas with
Whitecastle and the founders there made well. They made food
standard and safe, affordable and cheap, most importantly, easy to
take with you for a country that was always on
the go and was casual. In other words, it fit
(09:43):
the American character completely. When we come back more of
this remarkable story of how fast food and the drive
through swept the nation and came to define the nation.
Here on our American story, and we're back with our
(10:10):
American stories and with Adam Chandler, the author of Drive
Through Dreams. We just heard some of the firsts of
fast food in an out burger introducing the two way
speaker for ordering, and McDonald's doing away with car hops,
servers and reusable utensils. The rise of success within these businesses, well,
(10:30):
it's astronomical and everybody wants a piece of the pie.
Speaker 4 (10:35):
Back to Adam, you didn't need a college degree or
really great connections to make it in the fast food
industry when it was starting out.
Speaker 2 (10:48):
Looking at the early stories of the founders, most of
them didn't graduate high school, much less go to college.
They were salespeople. They were salesmen driving around the country
trying to sort out a way to create a business
model that would be sustainable. A lot of them served
in the Armed forces at some point and kind of
learned what the meaning of regimented service and operations are.
Speaker 3 (11:11):
And they just worked hard and created.
Speaker 2 (11:14):
A system that was very popular. So all of these
really big American ideals that we cherish as hard work
and that part of the American story really come to
bear in fast food. And it's not just the big
recognizable names, you know, there are also these small entrepreneurs
who open franchises and are able to become wealthy in
(11:36):
a way that you would think you would need connections
or advanced degrees to get. And that's just not the
story of fast food. There are so many different people,
all ages, all backgrounds, all ethnicities that managed to create
something special in that post war era.
Speaker 3 (11:59):
The story of.
Speaker 2 (12:00):
Colonel Sanders and KFC is one of the best stories
there is in fast food. There's nothing else like it.
This is a guy who was born into poverty, grew
up on a rural farm.
Speaker 3 (12:11):
He's basically an orphan.
Speaker 2 (12:12):
He raises his own family while his mother's working after
his father dies at a very young age, and he
works every job imaginable for the first six seven decades
of his life. He's selling tires, he's working for the
Chamber of Commerce, he's building ferries, he's working on trains,
he's trying to become a lawyer. He does all of
(12:34):
these different things and He finds success in some of them,
and he fails at other ones, and he just he
keeps trying, and he ends up in a small gas
station that he owns in southeastern Kentucky, and basically his
entire focus is trying to beat out the other gas
stations for customers on the newly built roads that are
(12:55):
happening in southeastern Kentucky, the Dixie Highway, and he ultimately
succeeds by having excellent service and excellent food. And that's
the beginning of fried chicken.
Speaker 3 (13:09):
He loves it.
Speaker 2 (13:10):
He creates a electric pressure cooker, patents it to make
fried chicken faster than anyone has ever made fried chicken before,
and it is a hit. He gets written up in
national publications, and eventually he turns this idea into a franchise.
He goes around and patents the recipe and sells the
(13:31):
idea on handshake deals to small mom and pop shops
and diners all around Appalachia and the Midwest, basically just
saying here's the recipe for my chicken. I'll send you
the seasoning, and you give me five cents for every
chicken that you cook. It's the most homespun thing imaginable.
It sounds completely insane today, but this is how he
built his empire and eventually he started opening these standalone stores.
Speaker 3 (13:55):
And mind you, he was sixty six when this happened.
He was old.
Speaker 2 (14:00):
That was the standard age that you were suspected to
possibly pass.
Speaker 3 (14:05):
On at that point.
Speaker 2 (14:06):
That was the life expectancy was where he was basically
at when he decides to turn KFC into an empire.
And he could have just retired, he would have been
fine doing it, but instead he goes out on the
road and he just creates this brand that everyone falls
in love with, and it expands around the world and
he becomes one of the most famous men in the
(14:27):
world after living in obscurity for so long, because he's
got this big personality, he's got this drive, and he's
got this really strong belief in his product. And you know,
the white planter suit with the tie, that's all something
that he came up with as a way to kind
of brand himself. He was a Kentucky colonel, which is
an honorary title in Kentucky, and he uses this to
(14:49):
market himself as the colonel. There are thousands of Kentucky
colonels out there there's only one Colonel Sanders, and everybody
knows who he is.
Speaker 3 (14:57):
So this story of sort of persever.
Speaker 2 (15:00):
Phearance and a real belief in self and in your
own invention is a huge reason why we know KFC
the world around. He gets on television, he's in movies,
he becomes this character. He becomes the second most recognizable
figure in the world according to one poll in the
nineteen seventies, and that's not something that happens to a
lot of people. But through sheer force of will and
(15:22):
a lot of skill, he manages to do this, and
that idea is still a cherished part of the brand's
motto is doing things the hard way, the way that
the Colonel did it. As the industry grew, it becomes
so popular that everyone kind of wanted a piece of it.
So as the country was growing and as these small
(15:43):
mom and pop shops became recognizable figures on the roadside,
you had a lot of big interest kind of swoop
in and take an interest in it. Jack in the
Box is an example of a chain that was eventually
bought out by Ralston Purina, which is a big food conglomerate,
and it's past hands since then KFC also was bought
(16:04):
from Colonel Sanders by a group of investors and eventually
was spun off into a lot of different owners over
the years. Burger King was bought by Pillsbury.
Speaker 3 (16:14):
So there was a big.
Speaker 2 (16:15):
Moment where industries realize that this is an enormous opportunity
for them. McDonald's goes public. There are all these sort
of markers that show fast food is big business. And
when you go from being a small founder led organization
with a couple of restaurants or you know, a small
(16:36):
kind of framework in place, and you become part of
a big corporate machine, sometimes you lose the focus and
a lot of these chains had that happen to them.
Burger Chef grew to become the second biggest fast food
chain in the country.
Speaker 3 (16:51):
It's based in the Midwest.
Speaker 2 (16:53):
They patented the combo meal and the kids meal. These
are things that are huge parts of the fast food experience.
But it was eventually purchased. And what ultimately happened to
it was their operation suffered and consistency, which is a
key aspect of the success of fast food restaurants, eventually
undercut its success and there aren'tny more Briger chefs anymore,
(17:16):
and it was the second biggest one. So there are
stories of big chains that really made it, and ones that,
during the shakeout that happened in the seventies and eighties,
didn't survive as.
Speaker 3 (17:27):
A result of it.
Speaker 2 (17:29):
When you think about in the seventies and eighties, we're
talking about a time when people are working more than
ever and drive throughs have become more of a norm
in the American sort of landscape, and there's a moment
where McDonald's kind of recognizes we need to create a
breakfast menu because this is a huge opportunity, and the
(17:51):
birth of the egg McMuffin and the birth of breakfast
is something that changes basically the way that.
Speaker 3 (17:57):
Americans eat breakfast.
Speaker 2 (17:59):
There were no breaks fists, eating outside of the home.
There wasn't really a model for that. And so to
create this item that again you can hold in one
hand and eat in your car while you're driving to work.
You can put your coffee in a cup holder. These
are innovations that happened because consumers demanded it. They were
(18:19):
in a rush and they wanted to grab food that
was cheap and delicious and go on their way, or
you know, they just needed a break in the middle
of their day and wanted to step out and grab
something quickly, whether it was a lunch or a snack
after school or whatever. The story was McDonald's and fast
food and drive throughs had an answer for it, and
(18:42):
it was just efficient, familiar way of doing business. And
breakfast is another facet of that.
Speaker 1 (18:50):
And you're listening to Adam Chandler tell a heck of
a story about how we eat and why we eat
the way we do. His book Drive Through Dreams is
what we're talking about. And it's true that America really
didn't have a dining culture. Fast food and drive through well,
it democratized dining out and transform the country and how
(19:11):
we live, how we work, and so much more. When
we come back more of this remarkable story of how
we eat. Drive Through Dreams with Adam Chandler continues here
on our American Stories, and we continue with our American
(19:40):
stories and to Adam Chandler with the story of fast
food and drive through restaurants in America. When we last
left off, Adam had just told us about the rise
of fast food breakfast in the nineteen seventies, but the
following decade would tell a different story. Here's adam to
continued with the rest of this remarkable tale.
Speaker 2 (20:01):
In the eighties and nineties, we begin to see the
beginnings of people starting to look at fast food differently.
The effects of American diets in an obesity epidemic that
a lot of people put on the shoulders of fast food,
but to be honest, exists everywhere. Fast food is an
easy target for efforts about American health. Every American eats
(20:25):
there more or less, and some people eat there multiple
times a week, and this draws the attention of a
lot of public health advocates who say, we need to
reform fast food, we need to make changes, and the
industry responds to it by trying to offer new things
that will appeal to them. Wendy's unveils a salad bar
(20:47):
that's famous for a little while for being an alternative.
Speaker 3 (20:50):
To the hamburgers.
Speaker 2 (20:52):
McDonald's creates this low fat burger that gets totally lampooned
because it has seaweed in it. It's an extract to
keep the burger juicier, but people find out at seaweed
and they freak out. Burger King toys with a low
calorie menu and introduces a grilled chicken sandwich, which does
well but eventually kind of falls by the wayside. So
you have all these stories of people trying to respond
(21:15):
within the industry to this pressure for healthier.
Speaker 3 (21:18):
Food, but that's not what people.
Speaker 2 (21:21):
Really go to fast food restaurants for. They go because
they've had a long day and they want a hamburger.
They're not interested necessarily in.
Speaker 3 (21:28):
Having a salad.
Speaker 2 (21:29):
So it's this real hang up because externally there's all
this pressure for fast food to change, but ultimately that's
not really what the customers seem to want. Even as
they introduce healthier items, people still just want to have
hamburger and fries. In the early nineties, there's such a
backlash to fried food in the context of the obesity
(21:49):
epidemic that KFC actually does this crazy thing where they
shorten their name from Kentucky Fried Chicken to KFC because
the f fried was a new f word and people
did not want them to associate fried with the chicken,
and so they were releasing chicken that was grilled and
roasted instead, and it hung around for a while, and
you can still get some grilled chicken at KFC, but
(22:11):
you're there for the original recipe. So you see all
of these changes happening as people and their priorities as
consumers change, and KFC is an example of a company
that paid very close attention to that much earlier than
a lot of them did. What's really fascinating about the
way the fast food industry has changed over the years
(22:32):
is we kind of think of these big companies as
goliaths that kind of determine what we eat and what
we do. This is a perception that's popular about fast
food industry, but the fast food industry is really responsive
to what the mainstream seems to want.
Speaker 3 (22:48):
And it's really interesting to.
Speaker 2 (22:49):
Think of fast food as these companies that are ultimately
receptive to consumer demands, because that's not the wrap that
they get in the public imagination. And there are just
so many ways.
Speaker 3 (22:59):
That this manifest.
Speaker 2 (23:01):
One of the big upshots of the baby boom, you
know that happens is you have all these parents a
lot are coming from two income households, and by the
eighties and nineties, they're looking to fast food as places
where they can go relax, have a meal that their
kids and they are gonna like. And also kind of
(23:23):
you know, just take a minute and let the kids
run wild, and that led to the birth of the
play places and the creation of characters like you know,
the Hamburglar and Grimace, and the playgrounds become again a
place where the elements of the relaxation that goes into
going to a restaurant where the food is cheap and
(23:43):
everyone's happy and you know, likes what they're eating. It
gives it another push because in an era where people
are in a hurry and there are more people in
the workforce than ever before, it becomes important to be
able to just cut kind of stop and let your
kids run wild for a couple of minutes while you
(24:04):
get a moment of peace. And so the playgrounds become
a big part of that aspect, as well as later
hours because people are working longer hours and sometimes different
shifts and different jobs. You have more twenty four hour
fast food restaurants kind of come up in the late nineties,
and that's another response to the various needs of American consumers.
(24:25):
And then a lot of stores have Wi Fi now
as a result of where attention spans are going, and
that is another thing that speaks to how fast food
changes over the years. There's the foodie movement and that happens.
You know, at the beginning of the twenty first century,
we're seeing in response to fast food Nation and Supersize me,
the companies are changing their tune about having certain sized portions,
(24:49):
and they're trying new things and seeing how they work,
and oftentimes it's the thing they're best known for that
ultimately keeps them going through the years. I think it's
it's just what people want and what they know and
what they're familiar with when it comes to fast food.
You know, the excitement that people feel about a happy meal,
there's such a nostalgia for it. We all have these
(25:11):
various markers of our lives. I remember going to birthdays
a McDonald's when I was a kid. I remember sneaking
out of high school to go to Wendy's or Taco bellt.
Speaker 3 (25:18):
With my friends.
Speaker 2 (25:19):
I remember being a broke college student and absolutely needing
Burger King to get me through. And these are all
things that resonate with everyone. That's one of the powers
of fast food is how it, you know, is always
there and just kind of is this consistent force. And
so even as things are evolving, there is that baseline
(25:41):
DNA to fast food that still appeals to American lifestyles.
You know why fast food maintains this intense popularity is
because they focus on the mainstream and what the mainstream
wants and how quickly it's moving towards something, and so
in that way, it will all always be relevant. It's
(26:01):
never going to be cutting edge, but it always knows
what people are looking at and paying attention to and
are interested in trying out. And that's a big part
of why it succeeds is that as the country.
Speaker 3 (26:12):
Moves, fast food moves with it.
Speaker 2 (26:14):
There are certain things that you get at fastiod restaurants today,
whether it's a fancier coffee drink or pumpkin spice everything
or veggie burgers, things that we're not on the consciousness
ten or fifteen or twenty years ago are now big
parts of the experience today, and you can get those things.
(26:36):
But you can still also get your burger and fries,
which is what a lot of people still want. So
even as parts of it changed slowly, there are the
core parts of the DNA of fast food that remain
universal and highly appealing. And you know, it's why ninety
six percent of Americans eat fast food every year. It's
why it's something that everyone is familiar with. It's why
(26:57):
that's something that everyone loves, all ages, all raised, is
all economic backgrounds. You'll see it at a fast food restaurant,
and there are very few places that get that kind
of broad support. That kind of loyalty doesn't exist in
a lot of other industries. The American relationship with fast
food is deeper than I think a lot of people
(27:20):
give credit for, because we are a country that is
scrappy and that values time and values of affordability and
familiarity and custom and isn't pretentious. Eating a hamburger is
a very American experience. It's part of how we live.
(27:41):
Beef itself is something that we look back on with
fondness in America because it reminds us of the frontier
and the cattle trails and the cowboys, all of these
really important things that define us as a country. Our
mythology is really tied up in this concept. And I
think that even as people within the States or abroad
(28:03):
kind of characterize Americans as being a certain way or
having a certain way about them that is a little
too casual, a little less formal, a little too familiar,
I think fast food really stands as a symbol of
why that is such a popular thing. There's something egalitarian
about fast food where you go into a store and
there is no weight service, there's no hierarchy, there's not
(28:26):
a good table, there's not a bad table, there's not
a good table.
Speaker 3 (28:30):
And that's a very American concept, to not.
Speaker 2 (28:33):
Really have special status one place to another. You know,
everyone kind of has to stand in a line. And
that's meaningful because that's kind of encoded in American life.
And I think that that's why it'll always stand separate
as a part of an American experience, because that's really
kind of who we are or who we aspire to be.
Speaker 1 (28:56):
And a terrific job on the production and storytelling by
Madison Derricot and his special thanks to author Adam Chandler
his book Drive Through Dreams, a journey through the heart
of America's fast food kingdom. Well, go to a local
bookstore and get it, go to Amazon or wherever you'd
get your books. This all started or really took off
in southern California after World War Two, the booming housing market,
(29:20):
the booming car culture, and of course this idea that
we're a people on the go and we just want
to go in, have a quick meal and move on.
And my goodness, how many times my family stops at
fast food restaurants Chick fil A once a week, Jersey
Mike Subs, wherever I can get a chance. And I
would compare those dining establishments to any five star restaurant
any day. In some ways, I like them even better.
(29:42):
They're consistent, they're there, and they're good. And let's not
forget the McDonald fries. Sometimes we just stop for those alone.
The story of fast food, how it came to be
and why Americans love fast food is it's darn tasty.
This is our American stories.
Host
Lee Habeeb
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