The Very First Fast Food Chain
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White Castle is the oldest fast food chain in the United States — the first restaurant opened in Wichita, Kansas, in March 1921.
Walt Anderson was a cook who had been running food stands in Wichita since 1916. He took a converted streetcar and turned it into a diner, and expanded his business into two additional locations. While trying to find a fourth spot, he met Billy A. Ingram, an insurance man and real estate broker.
They put their heads together and said, “Ouch!” because it hurts when you bump your head into someone else’s head. Then they formed White Castle, spending a mere $700 ($12,204 in today’s dollars) to get the restaurant off the ground.
They had an uphill climb. Most Americans thought ground beef was not safe to eat, thanks to Upton Sinclair’s 1906 novel The Jungle, which detailed some questionable meat-packing practices. To combat this, Anderson and Ingram designed uniforms that were white and spotless and ensured their buildings had stainless steel interiors so customers felt like they were in clean areas.
The duo incorporated the business in 1924, and by 1930, there were more than 100 restaurants serving the same burger. In 1933, Anderson sold his half of White Castle to Ingram.
The efficiency of these restaurants was impressive. Every single inch of the grill was used for either burger patties or buns, creating the type of consistency that Americans of the 1920s and 30s craved. The burgers cost 5 cents through 1929 and 10 cents through 1949.
Today, there are 345 White Castle locations across 13 states — about 40,000 fewer stores than McDonald’s has. White Castle has also remained a private company, and its restaurants are all owned by the company, not by franchisees.
Though White Castle is generally regarded as the first hamburger chain in the world, there’s a bit of murkiness when looking at fast food as a whole across the globe. The first self-service restaurant (the "Stollwerck-Automatenrestaurant") opened in Berlin's Leipziger Straße in 1896. Romans often ate food from street vendors and could even purchase to-go items from the Forum. Asian snacks like fried dough, soups and stuffed buns can be traced back to at least the 12th century.
Regardless, we do know that White Castle has been slinging up burgers for more than a century. Who would have guessed Harold and Kumar were such history buffs?