LogFAQs > #985418538

Revelation34 posted...

This thread came up specifically because people do call those places fast food.

A few different people have asked you for the definition you want to use for fast food. Perhaps you should take a stab at defining it instead of just looking for examples of things that you think don't qualify.

It's also worth noting that "fast food" is often used as a blanket term for any ultra-processed convenience food, regardless of how the restaurant is configured. In that regard, it's being used to refer to the nutritional value of the food, not the delivery format. You'll have to look at the context to figure when that connotation comes into play.

Revelation34 posted...

If you're going by speed only then free bread at sit down restaurants and buffers are fast food.

It's not just speed, it's the extent to which the model prioritizes customer turnover. The idea is for customers to be able to order their meal, receive it, and be on their way quickly, offering a convenient, flexible experience for the customer and allowing the restaurant to serve a large number of people in a relatively short amount of time.

If the expectation is that customers are sitting down to eat (as is the case with free bread and buffets), you don't have a model that prioritizes customer turnover, and therefore you can't really call it fast food.