Fast Food

Adam Chandler laments the recent trend of regional fast food chains spreading across the country. His argument is that the nationalization of chains carries with it a loss of local flavor and charm. Whataburger is no longer confined to Texas, having spread to numerous southern states. In-N-Out Burger has moved beyond California to Arizona, Utah, and Colorado, and has also opened numerous stores in Texas. Dunkin’ used to be a Massachusetts phenomenon, but as Chandler shows, that is no longer the case:

Culver’s has also more than doubled its number of stores since 2011, from about 450 to over 1000, as it continues its expansion well beyond its Wisconsin roots:

As Chandler notes, the king of chain expansion has been Chick-Fil-A, which has quadrupled its sales over the past decade. The chicken chain now has over 3,000 stores, up from about 1,600 in 2011, and can be found in every state except Alaska and Vermont. The Chick-Fil-A franchise map now looks very much like the US population density map published by the Census Buearu:

Chandler points out the incongruity of seeing In-N-Out Burger’s palm tree motif outside of California. But is this any more odd than having an NBA team in Los Angeles called the Lakers, who were originally the Minneapolis Lakers before their westward move in 1960? Times change, and if regional chains have lost some of their exclusivity, perhaps there are other local treasures still waiting to be discovered.

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