<Tr> <Td> </Td> <Td> The examples and perspective in this article deal primarily with the United States and do not represent a worldwide view of the subject . You may improve this article, discuss the issue on the talk page, or create a new article, as appropriate . (April 2012) (Learn how and when to remove this template message) </Td> </Tr> <P> Some trace the modern history of fast food in the United States to 7 July 1912, with the opening of a fast food restaurant called the Automat in New York . The Automat was a cafeteria with its prepared foods behind small glass windows and coin - operated slots . Joseph Horn and Frank Hardart had already opened the first Horn & Hardart Automat in Philadelphia in 1902, but their "Automat" at Broadway and 13th Street, in New York City, created a sensation . Numerous Automat restaurants were built around the country to deal with the demand . Automats remained extremely popular throughout the 1920s and 1930s . The company also popularized the notion of "take - out" food, with their slogan "Less work for Mother". </P> <P> Some historians concur that A&W, which opened in 1921 and began franchising in 1923, was the first fast food restaurant (E. Tavares). Thus, the American company White Castle is sometimes considered the second fast - food outlet in Wichita, Kansas in 1921, selling hamburgers for five cents apiece from its inception and spawning numerous competitors and emulators . What is certain, however, is that White Castle made the first significant effort to standardize the food production in, look of, and operation of fast - food hamburger restaurants . William Ingram's and Walter Anderson's White Castle System created the first fast food supply chain to provide meat, buns, paper goods, and other supplies to their restaurants, pioneered the concept of the multi-state hamburger restaurant chain, standardized the look and construction of the restaurants themselves, and even developed a construction division that manufactured and built the chain's prefabricated restaurant buildings . The McDonald's Speedee Service System and, much later, Ray Kroc's McDonald's outlets and Hamburger University all built on principles, systems and practices that White Castle had already established between 1923 and 1932 . </P> <P> The hamburger restaurant most associated by the public with the term "fast food" was created by two brothers originally from Nashua, New Hampshire . Richard and Maurice McDonald opened a barbecue drive - in in 1940 in the city of San Bernardino, California . After discovering that most of their profits came from hamburgers, the brothers closed their restaurant for three months and reopened it in 1948 as a walk - up stand offering a simple menu of hamburgers, french fries, shakes, coffee, and Coca - Cola, served in disposable paper wrapping . As a result, they could produce hamburgers and fries constantly, without waiting for customer orders, and could serve them immediately; hamburgers cost 15 cents, about half the price at a typical diner . Their streamlined production method, which they named the "Speedee Service System" was influenced by the production line innovations of Henry Ford . </P>

What was the first chain of hamburger resturants in the united states