The industry of fast food is incredibly popular, and is rapidly on the rise. Obesity rates have increased dramatically and fast food can be seen to be a big contributor.
I can see however, why people like to eat at fast food restaurants, as the food is tasty, cheap, and not to mention 'fast'.
In many of these restaurants, there is even a drive-thru option, meaning you don't even need to leave the comfort of your vehicle to get something to eat.
Being the billion dollar industry it is today, it's not surprising that this is a competitive field, and only a few of the top fast food franchises make it to the tip top of the tippy top.
1. McDonald's
McDonald's is the worlds largest chain of restaurants in the world, it's empire spanning over a massive 119 countries, serving 68 million customers a day!
Set-up by Richard and Maurice McDonald in 1940, McDonald's was originally a BBQ restaurant.
In 1948, they changed their business to a hamburger stand, and in 1955, had businessman Ray Croc join the team as the franchise agent.
Ray Croc subsequently bought out the McDonald brothers share, and went on to oversee it's worldwide takeover.
2. Burger King
Known for being the best fast food restaurant concerning burgers (hence the name), Burger King is a highly popular worldwide chain of fast food restaurants.
The company began in 1953 Jacksonville Florida and was called Instra-Burger King. After falling into financial difficulties, the company was sold and renamed to burger king in 1955.
This billion pound company boasts more than 12,400 outlets ranging over 73 countries, 66% of these are in the United States alone.
3. Subway
This unique restaurant, that focuses mainly on submarine sandwiches and salads, has grown hugely in publicity and popularity, allowing customers to decide what to put in their sandwich.
Subway restaurants are littered across 100 different countries, with 36,663 restaurants to choose from.
Fred DeLuca borrowed $1,000 from a family friend in 1965 to set up his first sandwich shop. Since then the company has grown strength in strength and is one of my favourite fast food restaurants.
4. Taco Bell
An American chain of fast food restaurants, Taco Bell is situated in America, serving over 2 billion customers every year in over 5800 restaurants.
Founded by Glen Bell in 1962, the first Taco Bell franchise was sold to a former Los Angeles police officer only two years later.
The company grew rapidly and was bought by PepsiCo in 1978 from Glen Bell.
5. KFC
Primarily selling chicken pieces, wraps, salads and sandwiches (although more of a range of food is offered in stores outside the US), KFC (kentucky fried chicken) is a popular chain of fast food restaurants based in (yep you guessed it,) Kentucky.
The company was founded as Kentucky Fried Chicken by Colonel Harland Sanders in 1952, and despite his death in 1980, he still plays an important part in the companies advertising and branding.
6. Pizza Hut
Pizza Hut is an international franchise of restaurants known for selling burgers..... just kidding, pizzas of-course.
With 11,600 restaurants (6000 in the US and 5600 in 94 other countries), Pizza Hut is a well-known and well-enjoyed restaurant.
Many full-size Pizza Hut locations offer lunch buffet, with "all-you-can-eat" pizza, bread sticks, salad and a special pasta.
7. Wendy's
Founded in1969 by Dave Thomas, Wendy's is an international fast food restaurant specialising in hamburgers.
For the first time in the companies history, sales in 2011 exceeded that of Burger King, and went to #2 in hamburger chains (behind McDonald's).
There are currently 6,650 different Wendy locations and approximately 46,000 employees.
The company has introduced a new sandwich, which goes by the name of 'The "W"'. Before this, Wendy's did not have a signature sandwich/meal such as the 'Big Mac' or the 'Whopper'.
8. Arby's
Arby's is a chain of fast food restaurants in the United States and Canada.
It is known for selling roast beef sandwiches and curly fries, but the menu also includes chicken sandwiches, appetisers, salads, sandwiches, wraps, and submarine sandwiches.
There are more than 3,600 Arby's restaurants.
Forrest and Leroy Raffel founded the restaurant in 1964, wanting to exploit the gap in the market for fast food restaurants based on food other than hamburgers.
Arby's was the second name choice, after finding out that their original company name idea 'Big Tex' had already been taken.
9. White Castle
The White Castle is an American chain of fast food hamburger restaurants, and is known for its small, square hamburgers.
White Castle was founded in 1921 in Wichita, Kansas. At the time, Americans were reluctant to eat ground beef after Sinclair's 1906 novel 'The Jungle' had publicised the poor hygienic practices of the meat packing industry.
The White Castle made sure that standards were high and that work uniforms were spotless, and the restaurant grew in popularity and started to gain a name for itself.
Despite there being only 420 outlets, the White Castle has the second-highest sales revenues per store behind that of McDonald's.
10. Dominoes Pizza
Domino's Pizza is an international pizza delivering company and is the second largest of its kind. There are over 9,000 corporate and franchised stores in 60 countries and all 50 U.S. states.
The menu caters for not only us meat eaters, but vegetarians as-well which has proved a hit.
Domino's Pizza have restaurants in all of the world's major cities such as New York, Mumbai, London and
Chicago, with over 145,000 employees.
It is a billion pound company.
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