The first form of fast food could be traced back to Ancient Rome. However, these rapid production-based restaurants weren't created for enjoyment but rather to fix the needs of individuals that were often away from home. Fast forward to the 1920s, the creation of the Wichita Kansas hamburger chain, White Castle, forever changed the restaurant business around the world. Through the owners' entrepreneurial ideas, people fell in love with the idea of the fast cooked good-tasting burgers that were easily affordable. Although White Castle is the first known mainstream fast food restaurant, the market was changed when the McDonald brothers opened their first restaurant in 1948 (Wilson 2020).

McDonalds is, without a doubt, the face of fast food. Ever since Ray Kroc bought the McDonald brothers' franchise in 1961 for 2.6 million dollars, the fast-food market has been expanding. An excellent example of this is how McDonalds now has over 36,000 different restaurants in 100 different countries (McDonalds Authors). This shouldn't be a surprise for anybody considering the fast-food market is estimated to exceed 690 billion dollars by 2022 due to its average growth rate of 4.2%. Both the countries around the world and owners of the various restaurants are finally seeing the economic opportunity that can be achieved by expanding the establishment locations overseas (Wilson).

One of the main reasons that these American fast-food chains can survive across seas is that they change their menu to satisfy their target market. Whether this is done through experimentation of examining a culture’s taste buds or adapting a menu to follow the needs of popular religion, it is proven that it helps restaurants survive internationally. An excellent example of this can be found by restaurants that have been branching out to India. Considering Hindus don’t eat beef, Muslims don’t eat pork, and a large portion of the population identify as vegetarians, these fast-food chains must change their menus to become successful. One of the most successful menu tweakers, hands down, has to be McDonalds. As this corporation reached India in 1996, they decided to ditch their beef patty. Instead, they implemented the Maharaja Mac (lamb), Chicken patties, but the vegetarian McAloo Tikki ( a burger made from potatoes and peas) was even more popular. Mcdonalds may be the restaurant that is known for trying different menu items for specific places, but every corporation overseas is now doing it (Stern, 2010).

Perhaps the reason for the growth of fast food markets internationally is not just low prices, but also the increase in the middle-class population across the globe. It’s been reported that the middle class eats the most fast food within the United States, but a new connection is now being formed in the international market. The majority of Fast Food international success is occurring in Asian countries. This should be eye-opening considering Asia is doing well economically right now. As a matter of fact, their middle class has been growing for quite a while now. This should be living proof that these fast food corporations look at which economies that they should implement themselves into. Going international is a gamble for every company, but by examining the current financial conditions of a potential suitor, advisors can estimate the success rates that can be reached (Johnwschoen 2014).

International farmers are either affected positively or negatively by the expansion of fast-food chains. They could be affected positively because with a specific company coming to an area, they are going to need to get the proper ingredients there somehow. Considering these American chains pride themselves on having fresh ingredients, they will need to have a farm nearby to provide for them. If a farmer can do this properly, they are looking at an entirely new opportunity to make more income than ever before. These chains usually rather have local farmers running their crop harvesting and meat preparing operations to save them money and effort. However, it is known that these companies can also harm local farmers. An example of this could be found with what happened to some of the farmers in Russia recently. Considering these farmers were unable to grow beef to the quality that McDonalds expects to serve to their customers, they had to start up their own farms to prepare for the company. By having to establish their own farms, McDonalds took jobs away from their economy and may have also created more competition within the farming industry. Even though these farms were initially formed to provide ingredients to these fast-food chains, it wouldn’t be a surprise if these American businessmen could make the most profit from them possible (Boyd 2008).

The idea of fast food expansion hasn’t been more popular than it currently is. Today, every growing nation will like the option to be able to grab a tasty, quick meal whenever possible. However, the possibility of growing rates of childhood obesity is raising red flags in these countries. For instance, according to the China National Nutrition and Health Survey, the nation’s intake of fruit and vegetables has decreased dramatically since western fast food corporations made their presence in the country. In particular, since the 1980’s the fruit and vegetable intake has reduced from 276.2g to only 45g. Their explanation for this is that more families are starting to eat fast food and abandon essential food groups. Besides grocery stores, there are now selling high caloric things that relate to the western diet like dairy products (mostly cheese) and red meats. Countries with strict population control laws are also expected to see the same type of negative impact on their population. Considering China currently has a one-child policy per family due to overpopulation and the economy there is rising, parents don’t mind treating their children more than they should (Anderson 2019).

Jamaica has also shown extreme interest in fast food corporations in their country but is also nervous about the adverse health effects. One of the main experiments that the Jamaica School Health Survey conducted showed that 60 percent of their overweight students in 41 tested schools had at least one carbonated beverage per day, which is a known staple in the menu fast-food chains. However, as mentioned before, they are trying their best to change the menu of available fast food joints to promote healthy eating. So far, they are finding success with this idea as one of their own fast-food chains Island Grill has gained more popularity ever since it started adopting a healthy menu and made nutritional info available to their customers. Even though there are already multiple western fast food chains available on the island, officials plan to implement more once they can prove that they can clean up their menus like the Island Grill (Ewing-Chow, 2019). Perhaps if Jamaica fast food expansion becomes a success, the market will grow even more, considering this is the major problem that currently prevents foreign nations from adopting western food habits.