Fast Food Nation Entry 3

      In the book Fast Food Nation by Eric Schlosser he talks about how transportation influences the food industry in the first chapter “The Founding Fathers”.  This all took place in the west where things were still growing.  Back in the east the cities were all built in the railroad era.  Trains and trolleys were the main source of transportation because that’s how the cites were designed.  In the west, mostly in Los Angeles things were still being built and the tremendous growth of the automobile industry had a lot to do with how things were being built and marketed.   Schlosser states that  “Southern California had recently given birth to an entirely new life-style – and a new way of eating.  Both revolved around cars.” (p22)  “other cities were being transformed by car ownership, nut none was so profoundly altered.  By 1940, there were about a million cars in Los Angeles, more cars than in forty-one states.” (p23)  Not only were drive in restaurants being introduced because of the booming car industry but also motels and drive-in banks were popping up all over Southern California.  Jesse G. Kirby said that “People with cars are so lazy that they don’t want to get out of them to eat!” (p24)  Sadly this laziness is still present in modern day.  As more and more Drive-in restaurants were being built the owners had to becoming more creative in catching the customer’s eye as they drove by your establishment at high rates of speed in their fancy automobiles.  I know I can see those golden arches as soon as they are in my line of sight whether I’m looking for them or not.  So all these restaurants are around now and they are convenient to go to but if you’re in a rush they may not be that “fast”.  In the 1940’s the McDonalds brothers change the drive-in industry for years to come.  Carhops were no longer used, the menu was reduced in size, utensils were eliminated, and grills were made to handle larger orders faster.   Schlosser  said that “they divided food preparation into separate tasks performed by different workers.” (p28)  Once customers got used to there being no car hops the new “speedee Service System”  made every other food chain convert to it because if they didn’t they would be out of business.  The McDonald brothers may be the most important founding fathers.