Was it 7 eleven and McD's that started all the chains ?

[blues90]

I was looking back in time , back to the sixty's around the time I remember seeing the first 7 eleven stores who were only open from 7am to 11pm and then McD's starting out on their fast food chain take over .

This seemed to be the end of the stores closing on sundays and the begining of the 24/7 everything is open phase . Now just about everything is open all hours and it is all to sell , sell , sell without end . It has now spread out to make every city look the same .

How I wish people would have seen this coming and stopped it in it's tracks , how I wish . The spawn of the box mega stores .

Just the use of chain to describe these abominations should have been the clue .

[William769]

1. I could be wrong, but I think Kentucky Fried Chicken was the first chain.

[itsrobert]

2. Maybe a simple google search can find an answer?

That's what I would of done.

[William769]

5. If it was really important to me I would have

But on this subject, I felt my memory was sufficient.

[MADem]

23. Our pals at Wikipedia claim it's THE AUTOMAT (I remember those! I thought they were great)

Followed by White Castle....!!

Fast food in America
The modern history of fast-food in America began on July 7, 1912 with the opening of a fast food restaurant called the Automat in New York. The Automat was a cafeteria with its prepared foods behind small glass windows and coin-operated slots. Joseph Horn and Frank Hardart had already opened an Automat in Philadelphia, but their “Automat” at Broadway and 13th Street, in New York City, created a sensation. Numerous Automat restaurants were quickly built around the country to deal with the demand. Automats remained extremely popular throughout the 1920's and 1930's. The company also popularized the notion of “take-out” food, with their slogan “Less work for Mother”. The American company White Castle is generally credited with opening the second fast-food outlet in Wichita, Kansas in 1921, selling hamburgers for five cents apiece. <1> Among its innovations, the company allowed customers to see the food being prepared. White Castle later added five holes to each beef patty to increase its surface area and speed cooking times. White Castle was successful from its inception and spawned numerous competitors.


McDonald's
McDonald's, the largest fast-food chain in the world and the brand most associated with the term "fast food," was founded as a barbecue drive-in in 1940 by Dick and Mac McDonald. After discovering that most of their profits came from hamburgers, the brothers closed their restaurant for three months and reopened it in 1948 as a walk-up stand offering a simple menu of hamburgers, french fries, shakes, coffee, and Coca-Cola, served in disposable paper wrapping. As a result, they were able to produce hamburgers and fries constantly, without waiting for customer orders, and could serve them immediately; hamburgers cost 15 cents, about half the price at a typical diner. Their streamlined production method, which they named the "Speedee Service System" was influenced by the production line innovations of Henry Ford. The McDonalds' stand was the milkshake machine company's biggest customer and a milkshake salesman named Ray Kroc travelled to California to discover the secret to their high-volume burger-and-shake operation. Kroc thought he could expand their concept, eventually buying the McDonalds' operation outright in 1961 with the goal of making cheap, ready-to-go hamburgers, french fries and milkshakes a nationwide business.

Kroc was the mastermind behind the rise of McDonald's as a national chain. The first part of his plan was to promote cleanliness in his restaurants. Kroc often took part at his own Des Plaines, Illinois, outlet by hosing down the garbage cans and scraping gum off the cement. Kroc also added great swaths of glass which enabled the customer to view the food preparation. This was very important to the American public which became quite germ conscious. A clean atmosphere was only part of Kroc's grander plan which separated McDonald's from the rest of the competition and attributes to their great success. Kroc envisioned making his restaurants appeal to families of suburbs. "Where White Tower (one of the original fast food restaurants) had tied hamburgers to public transportation and the workingman...McDonald's tied hamburgers to the car, children, and the family." (Levinstein, p.228-229)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fast_food

The Colonel DID get started early, though:

Born and raised in Henryville, Indiana, Sanders passed through several professions in his lifetime,<1>. Sanders first served his fried chicken during the Great Depression at a gas station he owned in Corbin, Kentucky, and later at a restaurant and motel he bought across the street.<2> He generally served travelers, often those headed to Florida, so when the route planned in the 1950s for what would become Interstate 75 bypassed Corbin, he sold his properties and traveled the U.S. to sell his chicken to restaurant owners. Sanders entered into agreements paying him five cents for each piece of chicken sold.<3> The first to take him up on the offer was Pete Harman in South Salt Lake, Utah; together, they opened the first "Kentucky Fried Chicken" outlet in 1952.<4> The Corbin businesses did not bear that name.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/KFC

[rasputin1952]

37. Thing about Ray Kroc and McD's is that Kroc was a real jerk

when it came to employees, etc...he was just downright cheap. His wife however, when Kroc died, became quite the philanthropist. While McD's employees are still paid pretty poorly, (but that is really up to the franchisee), under Ms. Kroc, McD's started offering health insurance and a few other perks. Probably the best known philanthropic idea Ms. Kroc is known for is the system of Ronald McDonald Houses, which help parents of cancer stricken children to be close to a hospital that specializes in child cancer treatments. A noble venture to be sure.

Quietly, Ms. Kroc also has given to several charities that aid Africa and So America, as well as many in the US.

Ray Kroc was a miser, but that is history now, and good things can come from some things that may seem evil on the surface if only because there are so many of the things.

Now the "Burger King" guy is just plain spooky! I can tell you what; If I wake up and that guy is in the sack w/me, offering me a breakfast sandwich, with a bunch of construction guys in the room looking on...someone's gonna die, and it ain't gonna be me...:D

[MADem]

44. Bwaahahahahaha!!!!! You gave me my laugh of the day!!! THANK you!!!!

If I wake up and that guy is in the sack w/me, offering me a breakfast sandwich, with a bunch of construction guys in the room looking on...someone's gonna die, and it ain't gonna be me...


:rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl:

[Robbien]

3. White Castle and KFC's came first in our area

then the invasion of the burger franchises. For us, Seven Eleven's were slow to come in probably because gas stations were our version of 24/7 shopping.

[SoCalDem]

4. Pizza Hut?

:)

[SoCalDem]

9. wikipedia entry here..

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fast_food#Fast_food_in_America

[CTyankee]

18. When I first came to NYC I ate in one of the last automats.

They were great. It was a coin op deal. Your slice of pie was in a little box with a clear window and you dropped in your dime or whatever the box unlocked and you got your pie. I can't remember how good the food was but the whole thing struck me as fun. That was about 1960. The automats disappeared after that.

[NYCGirl]

28. There's a new "Automat" on St. Marks Place in the Village. It's called "BAMN"

Not much of a variety — mostly snack type food — but it's fun.

http://bamnfood.com/index.html

[CTyankee]

34. I'm glad they're back! The old automats were colorless and drab

but of course I was a kid and so enthralled with just being in New York everything was a wonder! "Breakfast at Tiffany's" came out about that time and I (and lots of other young women) fancied myself a Holly Golightly (I was also from Texas like Holly). It was a great time to live in NYC!

[NYCGirl]

41. I moved here (with my ex) in the mid-70s. My NY role model was Ann Marie

in "That Girl"!

:hi:




Edited to add: I'm a native San Franciscan, so I'm a city girl, anyway.

[NYCGirl]

6. According to Wikipedia, White Castle was the first fast food chain (unless you

count Horn & Hardart's Automat) and Piggly Wiggly and A&P were the first supermarket chains.

[rasputin1952]

30. Yep, White Castle....I can recall buying them by the sackful and

after about 10, wondering why I did...:D

Something about going in, smelling the onions,,,,oh Jeez, that takes me back.

One can buy them frozen out here, but they are not the same, and the price has skyroketed for the little "belly-bombs".

Sure fired cure for constipation...5+ burgers and a large, over syruped Coke...it'll clear barbed wire out of your colon. Maybe that is a little too much knowledge...;)





http://www.whitecastle.com/

[Crabby Appleton]

40. yep , Sure fired cure for constipation

Whitey one-bites.

[jaysunb]

7. Woolworths & W.T. Grants

come to mind, as well as Big Boys, Sonic Burger,White Castle.

McDonalds & 7/11 were much later.

[Speck Tater]

8. 1879 - F.W. Woolworth Co.; 1902 - Rexall Drugs chain (nt)

[A HERETIC I AM]

11. Western Auto also. 1909

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Western_Auto

[Speck Tater]

16. Pep Boys (Manny, Moe and Jack) 1921 (nt)

[A HERETIC I AM]

10. There were "Chain Stores" before 7-11 came long but they were mostly regional

From 7 Eleven's website;
<snip> 7-Eleven pioneered the convenience store concept way back in 1927 at the Southland Ice Company in Dallas, Texas. In addition to selling blocks of ice to refrigerate food, an enterprising ice dock employee began offering milk, bread and eggs on Sundays and evenings when grocery stores were closed. This new business idea produced satisfied customers and increased sales, and convenience retailing was born!

Tote'm store The company's first convenience outlets were known as Tote'm stores since customers "toted" away their purchases, and some even sported genuine Alaskan totem poles in front. In 1946, Tote'm became 7-Eleven to reflect the stores' new, extended hours - 7 a.m. until 11 p.m., seven days a week. The company's corporate name was changed from The Southland Corporation to 7-Eleven, Inc. in 1999. <snip>

http://www.7-eleven.com/about/history.asp

I remember a "U-Totem" store in S, Fla in the early 60's that was bought out by 7-11. Another Florida chain (or southern anyway) was/is "Farm Stores" that were strictly drive-thru's and have what their name suggests: Dairy, eggs, ice cream, etc. Don't see too many of them around anymore. Seems to me that where they exist they are now convenience stores. I haven't seen a Farm Stores drive thru for ages.

[Fridays Child]

12. A&P

George authored one of A&P's earliest successes, when he discovered that A&P could keep costs down by manufacturing its own products. This philosophy continues today with A&P's successful private label products such as America's Choice, Master Choice, Health Pride and the most popular, Eight O'Clock Coffee.

However, it was John's experiment that led A&P to national prominence early in the 20th century. In 1912, he persuaded both his father and brother George to try a new cash and carry "economy" store, as opposed to deliveries and charge accounts that were popular at the time. Competing against one of the company's most profitable stores nearby, the tiny store drove the larger one out of business in just six months!

Within two years, 1,600 of the new economy stores opened, an average of almost three per day. By 1916, A&P's sales had more than doubled, from $31 million to $76 million, and the elder John Hartford completely turned the business over to his two sons. Under the Hartfords' customer-oriented, price-driven philosophy, A&P had 13,961 stores and sales of $437 million by 1925. Their business approach even enabled them to survive Wall Street's crash in 1929 unscathed.

The advent of "super" markets in the early 1930's briefly threatened to unravel the A&P "empire." But the Hartford's responded by closing their economy-style stores and opening new supermarkets - nearly six closings per new store opening! But store volume grew so much during this time that A&P's sales, profits, payroll and employees continued to rise.

http://www.scripophily.net/greatatandpa1.html

[dysfunctional press]

52. that would be my guess- A(tlantic)&P(acific)

[L. Coyote]

13. Sears, Penney's, Montgomery Ward, Standard Oil, Ford, GM, take your pick!

[johnaries]

14. Do you mean "chain" or "franchise"?

Retail chains go way back in history. Retail chains go back to the 1800's. Retail chain stores are all owned and managed by the same company.
Franchises are locally owned, but pay fees to use share the branding and business model. Franchising alsodates back to the 1800's, as early as Singer Sewing machines and Coca-cola.

[blues90]

21. I get confused , maybe they are franchise

I know there were sears and the other common stores and wal greens and FW grants but not at every corner and none were open 24/7 . They were all closed by 9pm or earlier .

I guess the area I was brought up in did not make it so noticable and when we went on trips from Chicago to Tampa FL each state was different and I don;t recall anything more than Holiday Inn's , the rest were private owned . There were road side independant food stops back then like diners .

[DianaForRussFeingold]

15. Anyone remember winkys

;-) My dad and mom would take all 5 of us kids to Winkys give us a dollar and drop us off. Then they would go out by themselves to their favorite restaurant and eat in peace! :rofl: The good old days!

[KittyWampus]

31. Oh, child abandonment? JUST KIDDING!

;)

[blues90]

17. i guess it depends on where you live

I lived in Chicago then the horrid suburbs . I was aiming more of when this began to bring us where we are today .

I don't recall gas stations having more than a soda machine and there were a few fast food places that had car hops with the try on your rolled down window .

Now everything is open and a chain of some sort . Not where I lived , it took time before there were even chain super markets .

It was the foothold of the corporate takeover IMHO .

People get used to things . Here one day there is a building that stood for decades and the next day stands an empty lot with a chain link fence and I find I can't remember what used to be there .

For me it is just sad that all that used to be one of a kind small shops are all but gone .

It's everything now , even book stores that everything looks the same from one block to the next , even across state lines it's the same damn thing . Sterilized america !

[likesmountains 52]

19. Howard Johnson's....

[MADem]

20. Not everything should be stopped in its tracks. If you lived under Blue Laws, you'd

like to be able to buy a beer on Sunday, or go to the grocery store.

If you don't like the sell, sell, sell, and do not want to buy, buy, buy, then don't, don't, don't. But some of us who don't have endless amounts of free time appreciate being able to buy groceries after a long workday, on a Sunday, or after working a late shift.

These stores wouldn't be open if they weren't serving a need. They aren't charitable enterprises, after all.

[blues90]

25. I don't buy

If people were not forced to work all hours and days of the week then we didn't need these forsaken dreadfull looking clones peppering the landscape .

There in no beauty to them and they now are everywhere you look , if you tripped and fell out of McD's you would fall into the door of burger King .

And even with this vast assortment of horror the service you get is the worst I have ever seen .

Instead of phone booths we have chains of cell phone stores and instead of a small well knowledged hardware store you are now forced to pull into an enormous box store like home screw you and cross an oil drip stained giant parking lot and only to get lost in the madness .

I am from a time were people knew what they were talking about and not everything was made in China . It's all junk , even a small box of wood screws hald are useless .

Maybe I have lived to long because I don't like much of what I see anymore .

[MADem]

29. People have ALWAYS been forced to work all hours of the day and night

Factories had swing and graveyard shifts well before the invention of television. Hospitals always work round the clock. So do toll booth cashiers, police, fire, a whole host of businesses.

These big box stores aren't charities. They're there for one reason, and one reason only--they're profitable. Work hours of the rest of the population aren't the reason they are there.

Frankly, if we didn't have more flextime, the commutes would take three times as long for many workers.

It's a multinational world. If we turn back the clock, we might as well cede our place in the world economically. And it's not going to happen, so it's best not to wish for the impossible, and instead, carve out your life in a way that satifies you.

If you REALLY don't like that sort of 24 hour society, there ARE places you can move to where you won't see that kind of stuff--cheap places, too. Northern Maine is VERY affordable, scenic, too, with small towns that make you feel like you've gone back in time to Mayberry North. Lovely people, too. Salt of the earth. Only problem is, if you need to work to eat, the jobs there don't grow on trees. They don't pay real well, either. Winters are beautiful, but cold and you WILL have lots of snow. If you like snow, well, that's a good thing. If you think you might have trouble affording to heat your house, you will want a very SMALL place.

They've got pay phones and hardware stores up there, too, and you'll pay twice as much for your hardware on half your salary, but you'll get the atmosphere you seek.

Life is a trade-off. We have choices. Sometimes, you have to choose NOT to partake. It's what I do when I pick up my TV remote and vote with it--with the OFF button.

Rather than decry what's out there, because it ain't gonna change, actively CHOOSE where and when you'll spend your money and how you'll live your life. Focus on the things that are important to you, and don't contribute to things that cause you angst.

[blues90]

39. I know what you are saying

However it has gotten far out of control , yes there were jobs with shifts but they were few compared to now .

I would imagine soon there will not be a place left untouched by this madness and it's very difficult to avoid it now when there in nothing else left as a choice .

Maybe soon the internet stores will kill all of the buildings or the entire economy will collapse and begin over , who knows anything can happen at anytime .

[MADem]

42. Naaw, the internet tried, but they didn't kill Big Box. People like to touch!

And some people consider shopping a substitute for hunting.

I just don't participate, but I don't worry about those who do.

To each his or her own.

The rest of the world is doing the same thing. It's like wishing for a return to the horse and carriage days. If you live on a farm, you can hitch up your horse to the carriage and tool around, but the rest of the world is going to continue to zoom, zoom, zoom.

Like I say, head for northern Maine. They manage what little development they have very sensibly, indeed. They don't forbid it, they just regulate it. You may have to drive a ways to find your Big Box outlet, but they don't seem to mind.

There are other states in the union with the same attitude and space, many out west. Still lots of room if you want to get away from the madding crowd.

[blues90]

50. I guess I am just missing simple times

I was not cut out for this rush and hurry . it was not like this when I moved here , I have never been a country sort of guy but this is getting to be to much .

I stay clear of shopping malls and box stores , don't really buy anything other than life sustaining items .

[aquart]

22. Ever heard of Howard Johnson's?

[MADem]

24. There's still one in TIMES SQUARE in NYC with the classic acqua blue seat covers nt

[BrotherBuzz]

26. 7 -11's started out as U-tote-um...

owned by a big ice company called Southland Corp. People needed ice on Sundays, and Southland (U-tote-em) started selling a few staples, too - Bread, milk, eggs, etc. It grew!

[ThomWV]

27. Well, U-tote-m's Didn't Show Up Until Years Later In Miami

7-11's were there in the 50's. I didn't see a U-tote-m until the early 70's.

[BrotherBuzz]

32. Southland Ice Company's Tote'm stores were in Texas and date back to 1927

They never even made it to California because 7-11 is all I remember.

In 1977 I read a fifty year history of Southland Corp. Fortunately, I've forgotten more than I remember. of Southland Corp.

[RB TexLa]

33. Started in Oak Cliff didn't it?

[BrotherBuzz]

35. Based in Dallas - is Oak Cliff a suburb of Dallas

Hey, I'm west coast stupid, here. ;)

[RB TexLa]

38. I was just making sure. I thought it was.

It's not a suburb really. It's more a section, used to be a city to it's self, in fact many people still call Jefferson Main. :)

[BrotherBuzz]

43. We can assume it was a seperate area in 1927

Tote'm Stores changed names to 7-Eleven in 1946

[RB TexLa]

36. I like things open 24/7

[blues90]

47. What have you got other than

Instant gratification and a bunch of cheap slave labor products to show for it . It's hardly a step forward .

Americans are spoiled to the extent that they don't even realize it or see it anymore .

[RB TexLa]

49. I've gotten the ability to buy gas and other things when I'm traveling in the middle of the night

or just when I am wanting something during times other than 9am to 5pm.

And you feel there is something bad about being able to do that?

[dysfunctional press]

53. for people on the second and third shifts, they get to have a more normal life...

doing the shopping after work, groceries, clothes, housewares, etc.

[enid602]

45. Bob's

I think Bob's Bid Boy may have been the first chain. Earl Scheib? Vic Tanny? Merle Norman? Fred Astaire Dance Studios?

[krispos42]

46. White Castle was the first burger chain

According to Wikipedia...

The company was founded by Brian Philip Curtis in 1921 in Wichita, Kansas, when entrepreneur Billy Ingram partnered with cook Walter Anderson. At the time, Americans were hesitant to eat ground beef after Upton Sinclair's 1906 novel The Jungle had publicized the poor sanitation practices of the meat packing industry. Founders Edgar Waldo "Billy" Ingram and Walter Anderson set out to change the public's perception of the cleanliness of the industry. They constructed small buildings with hygenically white exteriors and stainless steel interiors, and outfitted their employees with spotless uniforms. Their first restaurants in Wichita, Kansas, were a success, and the company branched out into other midwestern markets, starting in 1923 with Omaha, Nebraska. White Castle Building No. 8, built in Minneapolis, Minnesota in 1936, was an example of the chain's prefabricated porcelain buildings. The building measured 28 feet by 28 feet and was modeled after the Chicago Water Tower, with octagonal buttresses, crenellated towers, and a parapet wall.<2>

mmmm.... slyders....

[Cleita]

48. There was Newberry's and Woolworth's before then, not to

mention all the gas stations. There were also chain restaurants but they weren't as widespread as McDs. Usually, they were confined to a county or even a state. I forgot about A&Ws. Really silly of me since I worked at one frying hamburgers as a teenager.

[Maru Kitteh]

51. A&P, Woolworths and Sears according to Wiki were the first chain stores.

But they were ubiquitous to our childhoods, so we didn't notice them.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chain_store

[Doremus]

54. Yes, Woolworth's.

The sixties were also the beginning of chain drug stores. I worked in the home office of Revco during the 1970s and they were already a huge chain by the standards of that time, probably several hundred stores. (As an aside, the SEC actually enforced anti-trust laws back then, but I digress...)

"Blue laws," the slang term for the prohibition on Sunday store hours, were being repealed in many cities then too. I can remember thinking how nice it would be to grocery shop on Sundays, but age and 20/20 hindsight now lets me see that we were uncorking the genie's bottle.

Revco was one of the first retailers to offer discount pricing. Prior to that time it was the manufacturer who dictated retail prices .... and several of them sued Revco when they sold their products less expensively than they thought they should! It's bizarre thinking about that now ...