Illustrative image: (Sources generated with Google Gemini Flash Image 2.5) When I drive around our cities I’m always slightly amazed by how many fast-food outlets there are. I think, if you’re not careful, you’ll probably trip over one almost as often as you would a petrol station (of course, the two are often on the same premises).
It’s not surprising in a way, since we are following international trends and just don’t cook as much as we used to. And who can blame us – it takes so much time and, that other word, “effort” (dreaded by members of a generation that can be called “echo-boomers”, or children of the people born during the post-World War 2 baby boom).
But I do wonder how often our tastes change.
Before fast food was really a thing, in the world’s first big consumer market, burgers were not that fashionable. In fact, Bill Bryson’s Made in America reports that as late as the 1940s Americans were eating more pork than any other meat.
And, during those times, when divisions between Catholics and Protestants were still political in that society, fish was frowned upon in some circles (I presume it was the Catholic practice of eating fish on Fridays that had something to do with it, but I’m really not certain).
I don’t need to remind you about the brand that changed everything; you would have probably seen two of them on your way home this evening.
But McDonald’s has probably done more than any other company in history to revolutionise what we eat and how we eat it.
Along the way, they and others have surely contributed to all sorts of bad things – rising levels of obesity, the fact we don’t have to do anything to get our food, and of course, huge amounts of rubbish that for a long time was simply not recyclable.
A large amount of that was food that is wasted goes somewhere to rot.
But this business is changing in interesting ways.
Famous Brands, the owners of Wimpy, Steers, Debonairs Pizza and all sorts of other things, reported today that in their 2025 financial year: “We sent no food waste to the landfill, and all food waste was either converted to compost or used as animal feed.”
Amazingly, they also reduced their plastic consumption by 93%!
While it’s tempting to be churlish and suggest that dolphins everywhere must be celebrating (if you have been out to eat with a child of a certain age you might have suffered a lecture about how plastic straws kill dolphins – while Donald Trump, in his infinite wisdom, signed an executive order opposing paper straws), this is a very impressive achievement.
It couldn’t have been easy. But it does also tell you that companies like Famous Brands do respond to what their customers demand.
And I think parents from Musina to Cape Town can agree, without teenagers the fast-food industry would halve.
Much more interesting on my drives around our cities is which of their chains are growing and which are not. Because that tells you what people are really eating.
Obviously, while burgers are popular, nothing seems to beat chicken. Just count the KFC and Chicken Licken billboards. Even Burger King is now advertising a “Crispy Chicken burger”.
Famous Brands clearly has decided to leave that knitting to those two behemoths (I have just discovered that word is spelt without a “u” – who knew!) and concentrate on their own.
Debonairs Pizza is still their biggest brand. They had 710 outlets (during the year they opened 29 but closed seven). Steers is growing quickly – they started last year with 652, opened 27 and closed eight.
Wimpy, on the other hand, started with 458, opened 10 but closed 11. Which suggests things are not going well there (frankly, I’ve always found them a little insipid – give me a Steers any day).
Mugg & Bean opened 35 after starting with 254, and closed four.
I was interested to see that Milky Lane, which really sells sugar disguised as cold dairy products, started the year with only 102 outlets, although during the period they opened another 19 and didn’t close any.
It’s been a long time since I went to one of those places, but I remember it fondly from my teenage years. And clearly another generation will be doing the same.
Because that’s incredible growth.
The problem for many of the people in this market is that while Milky Lane might be growing at nearly 20% now, that growth might not last.
Famous Brands used to operate the yogurt brand Wakaberry. I never went to one, but there was a time when around the world they were considered one of the fastest-growing brands in this space.
At one point they had more than 40 branches here. But in the last financial year Famous Brands decided to shut the last one.
Clearly, the craze for yogurt and whatever you can pour on it is officially over.
I’ve never worked in the fast-food space. But whatever you think about it, it’s a massive employer in our society.
The fact, that so many of us just don’t want to cook is keeping those people employed.
And long may it continue! DM