Busy modern lifestyles have brought about fast food’s popularity in recent decades.
Its lightning-fast preparation, wide availability, portability, and incredibly low price are the reasons why it slowly started replacing home-cooked meals all around the world and causing concern among health professionals.
So, let’s check the numbers and see how popular fast food is in America.
How Much Fast Food Is Consumed Daily in America?
According to CDC’s statistics, at least 36.6% of Americans consumed fast food every day between 2013 and 2016. This translates to a whopping 84.8 million.
Given the fact that the US fast food industry has recently been on steady growth, the number could have massively increased since then.
Exciting Stats and Facts About Fast Food in the US
Americans are generally busy people, constantly juggling between work and other daily activities and struggling to find time for cooking. This explains their level of attraction towards fast food and the amounts of it consumed on a daily basis.
Let’s check out the most recent stats about fast food and see how popular fast food is, what are the most popular fast-food chains, etc.
The market size of the US fast-food restaurants industry amounted to $317.5 billion in 2022.
(IBISWorld)
The industry is expected to increase by 7.1% in 2022.
There were about 191,146 franchised quick-service restaurants in the US in 2021.
(Statista)
The number of quick-service restaurants has significantly increased since 2020 (when there were 183,543 such establishments).
The total revenue of the US quick-service restaurant industry was $239 billion in 2020.
(Statista)
This number represents a significant drop in comparison with $273 billion in 2019. Coronavirus was the main reason for the decrease in revenue.
California had 30,867 quick-service restaurants in 2020.
(Statista) (World Population Review)
This made it the state with the highest number of quick-service restaurants in the US in 2020. The number shouldn’t come as a surprise as California is the US state with the highest number of inhabitants.
Wyoming, the US’s least populated state, had the lowest number of quick-service restaurants in 2020 — 355.
42% of Americans were obese, and 35% were overweight in 2020.
(NIH) (PRNewswire)
High fast food intake is associated with abdominal obesity.
Nine out of 10 fast-food restaurant chains with the highest value in 2022 originated in the US.
(Brandirectory)
They include Starbucks ($45.69 million), McDonald’s ($39.72 million), KFC ($17.62 million), Domino’s Pizza ($7.25 million), Subway ($7.05 million), Taco Bell ($6.33 million), Pizza Hut ($5.89 million), Dunkin’ ($4.78 million), and Wendy’s ($4.76 million).
Haidilao, a hot pot restaurant originating from China, ranked 10th with $4.65 million.
McDonald’s has over 39,000 restaurants in over 100 countries around the world.
(FoodyData) (McDonald’s Annual Report)
This makes it one of the most popular fast-food restaurants in the world.
McDonald’s was valued at $154.9 million in 2021.
(Statista)
This made it the most valuable fast-food brand in 2021.
White Castle was the first fast-food chain in the US.
(Smithsonian Magazine)
The chain was opened in 1921 in Wichita, Kansas.
Conclusion
Fast food has become a part of Americans’ day-to-day food. Although fast food has an impact on obesity and health, Americans still consume it because it’s quick, readily available, convenient, and cheap.
Fast-food restaurants in the US are recognized as well established globally. Due to the large portion of fast-food restaurants in the US, the fast-food industry will continue to grow rapidly.
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