What Is Considered Fast Food?

When someone thinks of fast food, images of on-the-go grub grabbed during the lunch break, in the after-work exhaustion, on road trip adventures, or in between the kid’s soccer practices may come to mind. Toys plastic-wrapped inside grease-stained paper bags, drive-thru windows, and hamburger-french-fry-soda combos all being the staples of these establishments.

But is there more to it than the bright yellows and reds and corner-stop logos that these mouthwatering memories render in the mind’s eye? You bet there is. Turns out, what’s considered fast food is more diverse than what’s on their menus.

With so many terms floating around out there like QSRs, FSRs and fast-casual restaurants, it might leave you wondering, “What is considered fast food nowadays?” This short guide aims to answer this question while supplying concrete examples and drawing clear distinctions between the different categories of fast food.

What’s the Difference Between Fast Food & a Restaurant?

According to QSR magazine, dining establishments have previously been itemized into two categories: full service and limited service. Full service means exactly how it sounds–a sit-down restaurant with a waiter or waitress who brings the menu, food and bill directly to the table, and limited service consisting of everything else.

However, there’s too much distinction between the everything else that limited service is being subcategorized into quick service and fast casual. Let’s delve a little deeper into what constitutes the different types of fast food.

QSR Vs. Fast Casual

Like many others, the foodservice industry is constantly evolving and adapting to meet unexpected challenges and shifts in trends. The most recent and notable hurdle was seen during the COVID-19 pandemic when restaurants and fast food establishments had to pivot and innovate to stay afloat amidst shutdowns and social distancing protocols.

Innovations like no-contact delivery and payment options, smaller interiors and seating areas and ghost kitchens are the reason why many fast-casual restaurants are starting to blur the lines between full-service and quick-service dining establishments.

Quick Service Restaurants

Let’s find out what is considered fast food by taking a look at a few key characteristics of a quick-service restaurant:

• Fast service – Fast food is synonymous with fast service, meaning you receive your meal right away or are only kept waiting for a few short minutes. These establishments are designed for quick in and out service. Meals are usually taken to-go through a drive-thru or eaten inside within 15 minutes.


• Low costs – You can usually get away with feeding yourself for as cheaply as $10 at a quick-service restaurant.


• Unhealthier food – You’ll also find the menu is a little greasier than your fast casual dining establishments, with their food containing a higher composition of salt, fat, carbs and sugar served in larger portions.


• Limited menu – QSRs are also your average burger-fry-soda combo restaurant with a few main ingredients dressed up in different ways.


• Minimal seating – Because of the take-it-to-go style of service, the interior typically only houses a couple of tables that are flipped often, as customers are not expected to stay or to stay for very long.

List of Quick Service Restaurants

It might be helpful to associate real-life examples with this term, so here are 10 examples of fast food:

• McDonald’s


• Burger King


• Subway


• Wendy’s


• KFC


• Starbucks


• Culvers


• Taco Bell


• Chick-fil-A


• Taco Bell

Fast Casual Restaurants

Fast casual restaurants, on the other hand, cater more to professionals whose busy schedules don’t leave time for them to prepare home-cooked meals. For this reason, the meals tend to be a little healthier, incorporating more fresh fruits and vegetables to reflect a balanced diet. At fast-casual restaurants, you also get more opportunities to customize your dishes with made-to-order food. Because of this, a meal may fall into the $15-25 price range.

Service might be a little slower than fast food joints, but customers are expected to sit down with their meal and might even get it delivered to their table. The ambiance also tends to be a little more welcoming and higher end, although not as much as a dine-in restaurant would be.

List of Fast Casual Restaurants

As you can see from the list below, some of these restaurants may seem very similar to the ones listed above. That’s because there’s a lot of overlap when it comes to these two types of fast food establishments:

• Panera


• Chipotle


• Five Guys


• Wingstop


• Panda Express


• Noodles & Company


• Mod Pizza


• Jimmy Johns


• Fuddruckers


• McAlister’s Deli

What Is Considered Fast Food?

To summarize, fast food typically refers to a foodservice business model that focuses on affordability, speed of service and convenience over the nutritional content and quality of the food. These establishments offer drive-thru windows, limited menu options, modest indoor seating arrangements, and food that is cheap and contains a high percentage of fat, carbs, sugar and salt in proportion to the recommended daily intake of these nutrients.