Wouldn’t that result in the portions getting smaller and smaller, instead of larger and larger?
(That is what happens with jars or cans of things for sale in grocery stores. The 8 ounce cans have worked their way over my life down to about 5 or 5 1/2 ounces; the pound cans have worked their way down to about 12 ounces, sometimes less.)
I honestly don’t know if I can get a quadruple Whopper in my area; I’ve never eaten more than a double, and that was on the… extravagant side of things.
My personal theory, which is basically what I understand of history seasoned with a bit of business school, is that until the 1950s/1960s, fast food wasn’t even a thing. There were a small handful of local takeout type joints, but they were competing more with home cooks than anything else.
Once national and regional fast food chains became commonplace, they had to have a way to compete with each other- what was going to distinguish McDonald’s from Whataburger from Burger King, from Jack in the Box? Menu offerings was/is one way they do it, speed is another, but the third leg of that stool ended up being size.
It started relatively slow, I’m sure- slightly larger burgers, an extra size option for fries and drinks, etc… But at some point in the mid-late 1980s, after a frenzied round of diverse menu options (Arch Deluxe, McDLT, BK International chicken sandwiches, various sorts of chicken nuggets, Frings, Bell Beefers, etc…) size became the big deal- it seemed like suddenly the restaurant chains were about double quarter pounders, triple whoppers, super-sized fries and drinks, etc…
In parallel to this, you had the rise of the fast casual restaurants like Chili’s, TGI Friday’s, etc… and of the counter-service places that were in between them and fast food- the Taco Cabanas, Five Guys, Chipotle, Boston Market, etc… They basically had the same issue- how to compete? When your competitor decides their “standard” burger is a 1/3 lb patty, you sort of have to have an equivalent, or look like you’re providing a wimpier, less valuable burger by comparison.
From there, it’s just been a virtuous circle (of sorts) where the various restaurants are trying to out compete each other based on portion size & “bang for your buck”.
well fast food started in the 20s when cars became cheaper and hit it big in the 50s with the high way system… in certain parts of the county you can see off ramps that seem specially built for motels and restaurants to the point they have a big sign saying “off ramp 236” with all the logos of the businesses under it and its the only stop 150 miles either way
my personal record count was 4 fast food places 3 sit down places and 3 hotels and 2 gas stations …one of the servers in the restaurant said a group of about 8 people owned the entire “court”
I can’t speak for the States. I’m Canadian.
We were allowed to drink pop after a hockey game but didn’t generally have it in the house, growing up. Maybe why I drink too much of it now. Cans were 280mL (10oz). Switched to 330mL (12oz) twenty-five years ago here.
I remember when 7-11 started here, around 1982, the 1.36L Super Big Gulp seemed obscene. Friend of mine called it “the disgorged bladder size” and wasn’t wrong. This led to other convenience stores having big drinks, but not restaurants, which often allowed refills anyway. In 2011, Tim Horton’s, a popular coffee/donut place, turned their medium coffees into small ones. I think they were chasing Starbucks, though.
Canada never had the really big food portions more common stateside. Of course you could get a big pizza or bucket of chicken. A few places had triple burgers on the menu, but I’m not sure I’ve ever seen anyone order one. The biggest common burger is probably a Baconator. The big box of fries was usually meant for families. A cheap family buffet/steak house, Ponderosa, basically closed down in Canada maybe 1990 (outside of New Brunswick, where they remain popular). All you can eat sushi and “Chinese-Canadian” (presumably the same as Chinese-American) buffets are still popular in bigger Canadian cities, but you don’t see too many breakfast/brunch buffets compared to the US. (Though please open up Waffle Houses here ASAP).
Big portions of cheap food might be a selling point. In the US one can buy a lot of food at Taco Bell for ten bucks. In Canada, dollar menus disappeared when minimum wage increases became mandatory – a single taco now might cost $2.50 — to get a good deal on most fast food one needs a coupon.
I’m actually surprised that you mentioned Cracker Barrel - they’re one of the few places I can think of that don’t have exclusively enormous portions. Most restaurants have such large portions that I can’t finish something on the dinner menu - but at least some of CB’s dinners are normal sized. Whether they are healthy is another story.
You may not like Cracker Barrel, but their portions are smaller than most restaurants. They are probably are two reasons for that: they have an older clientele, who can’t eat big portions, and most of their customers are travelers, who have problems taking leftovers with them.
If that’s happened, it must be the VERY recent past. 40 years ago, cars didn’t have built-in cupholders at all.
I see what you did there. 
Not intentionally, I swear! (funny as that is).
I’ve heard the same thing- IIRC, it was sometime in the mid-late 1990s; cars prior to that with cupholders had smaller cupholders, and couldn’t handle things like the Big Gulp.
Thats what the documentary “super size me” claimed which despite its best intentions helped fuel the current portion increase boom it was reported all over the news and the like which is where most people heard it …
I doubt thats true just because pretty much all fast food beverages have that narrowing thing if they’re a large size where the bottom 30% is almost half the diameter so it can fit into any cup holder. If cup holders were bigger they wouldn’t need to do that.
thorny_locust
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Wouldn’t that result in the portions getting smaller and smaller, instead of larger and larger?
Well, the bloated servings in this cycle would occur right before the sale/audit, disappear after it, and come back gradually as old customers complained and needed to be lured back. Not sure what happened with Carnegie Deli sandwiches, they were freakish.
Yeah, half chicken was common. Slightly smaller bird, sure.
You had to ask for a "doggie bag’ the concept was the the bone was for your dog. Of course many people just took leftovers, but it was considered no class.
For us, maybe once a week from the local burger place- a nice sit down was like once a month.
That film was so full of lies it was incredible.
I just happened to read an article that claimed the reason why soft drink sizes are vastly bigger in America than in Europe is because nobody in Europe drinks soda with ice, while in America cups are half to 75% full of ice, leading to an almost 50% loss in soda capacity (so a 32 ounce only holds actually 16 ounces of soda). The reason you see the 52 ounce sodas at convenience stores are because they’re meant for people who want to keep the soda cold for a longer period of time, so they’ll fill it up to 75% ice capacity and bring down the actual soda holding capability to a more “reasonable” 32 ounce or so.
I notice the bigger the soda I get as a gas station, the more ice I put in it as well.
Well here in my area of ca the sodas come from refrigerated fountains so I don’t use ice because of sensitive teeth so they lose money on me lol
I’ve always considered the massive amount of ice in American drinks as a scam that the U.S. public just accepts for some reason. It’s watering drinks, nothing more. The soda is already cold when it comes out of the machine, and servings that size should have sufficient mass to retain a low temperature for more than enough time.
Ice belongs in bourbon, not in Coke.
the title above is misleading the actual title of the article is The Bizarre But True Story of America’s Obsession With Ice Cubes
But apparently ice cubes in drinks started in pubs and taverns in the 1700s which is also around the time we started drinking cold beer then filtered down to soda fountains and then to restaurants and fast food places so people who were traveling could keep their drinks cold …
So when did taking home leftovers become acceptable?
As I remember, back in the 70’s it was definitely a “doggie” thing–you were taking home the remains of your steak, to feed to your dog, not your family. And it was a sort of low-class thing to do.
The restaurant was willing to do it, but reluctantly. So they kept plastic containers and a plain white paper bag, with no logo, ready for use, The waitress would hand you the bag when she returned your change from the cashier. But it wasn’t something that you , or the waitress, wanted to be seen doing. The handoff of the bag was done discreetly, almost an under-the-table operation.
I don’t remember the waitress hiding the doggie bag. I did remember that when we visited my husband’s uncle he was a little ashamed to take the leftovers home. At the Chinese place, he would tell the waitress to put it all in one box, because he wanted to give the impression he didn’t care, i think. But I’ve never felt uncomfortable asking for a doggie bag, nor being upfront about it being for me to eat, not for my dog.