User:SlashleyMA/sandbox4
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Fast food is food that can be prepared and served very quickly. While any meal with low preparation time can be considered to be fast food, such as TV dinners, typically the term refers to food which is cooked in bulk in advance, kept warm or reheated to order, and sold ready-to-eat from an outlet.
![Thumb image](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/3/32/Generic_Fastfood.jpg/320px-Generic_Fastfood.jpg)
Outlets may be stands or kiosks, which may provide no shelter or seating,[1] or fast food restaurants (also known as quick service restaurants). Franchise operations which are part of restaurant chains have standardized foodstuffs shipped to each restaurant from central locations.[2]
The capital requirements to start a fast-food restaurant are relatively small, particularly in areas with non-existent or poorly enforced health codes. Small, individually-owned fast-food restaurants have become common throughout the world. Fast food restaurants with higher sit-in ratios, where customers can sit and have their orders brought to them, are known as fast casual restaurants.