The fast food industry originated in the United States as "hamburger joints," but has subsequently become a global industry. As the industry has grown, so has the menu of a typical fast-food outlet, in number and variety of items. This trend has produced an opening for a fast food chain that concentrates on preparing a few items well, offering those items with superior quality at a competitive price. For purpose of discussion, this concept has been dubbed Basic Burger.
Competitive Analysis of the Industry:
The fast food industry is an important and growing segment of the broader food-service industry, which can broadly be defined as providing ready-to-eat meals, as distinct from food items to be prepared at home, or snack foods requiring no preparation before eating. Fast food in some form is as old as sidewalk food vendors, but in the form we know it now it appeared in the United States in the 1950s, as particularly suited to drive-up or drive-through service.
Originally provided by individual stand-alone outlets or small local chains, since the 1960s it has been dominated by nationwide and then global chains, of which McDonald's is dominant. The primary advantage of large chains is branding (Bodine). Branding in turn implies a reliability of experience. A stand-alone outlet might well be better than any chain, but is at least as likely to be worse. At a McDonald's or KFC outlet, customers know what they can expect.
In addition to competing with one another, fast foods face competition from two sides. On one side, they are challenged by convenience stores or grocery stores offering food, sometimes heated. On the other side, they are challenged by the lower-priced and simpler-service end of the conventional restaurant spectrum, which (particularly in the United States) itself includes chains, such as Coco's, often located along highways.
This second group of restaurants have been a particular point of ...