According to the Cambridge English Dictionary, fast food is defined as hot food such as hamburgers that is quick to cook or is already cooked and is therefore served very quickly in a restaurant with cheap price. We can actually noticed that the number of the well-known international branded fast food restaurants such as McDonald and KFC grow very fast from one city to another, indicates that they are highly preferable and popular.
Moreover, the availability of the fast food nowadays are high as most of the fast food restaurants were built on the main street, in business buildings and also in residential area to allow a quick access to the clients. So, here comes a question: what are the effects of growing popularity of fast food restaurant?
In this modern era, where peoples are leading a fast-paced life, the time-saving and convenient fast food restaurants such as McDonald, KFC, Pizza Hut and Burger King have become their first choice to settle their meals as most of them do not have much time to cook. Nowadays, most of the family both the father and mother are working in order to decrease the financial pressure of the family and also to provide a better education and brighter future for their children. Having fast food allow the mother to take a break, as she does not need to cook.
Moreover, this allow the family members to spend more time with each other. If you have the experiences of preparing meals for your family, you will know that the preparation and the cleaning process after that can be very exhausting, especially when you have many members in your family. Next, fast foods have also become white collars’ and students’ first choice. Why? Simply because the fast food restaurants serve the food faster than the normal restaurants, as the time for them to have a meal are very limited as they have to rush back to work or to school and fast food allow them to spend more time on their work or studies. Plus, the price is cheap.
The increasing number of fast food restaurants in an area also give pressure to each other. This phenomena successfully create positive competitions among them as the manager of the fast food restaurants have to put more effort in improving the quality of their food and services. Now try to imagine that when you want to order for food at the restaurant’s counter, but the person in charge or we call them as cashier did not serve you with a good manner, will you come back to the same restaurant again? I think no.
For example, I once went to Singapore and I had fast food there, the cashier served me with smile and they asked me whether I have any special requests for my order such as choices of sauces or extra lettuces. Such small action really impressed me and I will definitely be back next time. Thus, from here we can know that the high rating of customer service is one of the most important keys for the fast food restaurants to survive in such fierce competition.
Another important key is the quality of food. They have to work hard on the quality of food to give their customers an experience that is both enjoyable and wholesome. Besides, the fast food restaurants have to change their strategies in order to keep their customers. Apart of providing excellent service and good quality of food, some fast food restaurant also provide a playing area or playground for kids. This help the parents a lot as they can have their meal without any disturbance from child.
However, when there is pros there will be cons. One of the effect of growing popularity of fast food restaurant is that it leads to health problems. A study of The Annals of Internal Medicine indicates that more than 70% of men and more than 60% of women have extra pounds because of the consumption of fast food in large amounts. As we know fast food are usually oily, high in cholesterol and sugar content which are the main causes of diabetes, obesity and cardiovascular diseases. Fast food is also low in nutritional values. In kids the problems gets more extreme. Having a healthy body and happy childhood is the children’s right. As parents, they should avoid their children from having too much fast food. Having obesity and overweight at young age will bring significant impact on children’s physical health, social, emotional well-being, and self-esteem. It is also associated with poor academic performance and a lower quality of life experienced by the child. So, parents should prevent those kinds of health issues in their kids because it will be reflected in them as adults.
As the saying goes, you are what you eat. We should control the consumption of fast food in order to have a healthy body. To conclude, the effect of growing popularity of fast food restaurant are saving consumers’ money as the price are cheap, saving time as fast food are quick serve as well as by helping people to avoid some household tasks, creating positive competition among the fast food restaurant. At the same time it also bring health issues.