A Quick Service Restaurant (QSR) more popularly known as fast-food joints or “eateries” in Nigeria, is a specific type of restaurant that serves fast food cuisine and has minimal table service.
Brief History.
In 1896, the first self-service restaurant (the “Stollwerck-Automatenrestaurant”) opened in Berlin’s Leipziger Straße.
In Nigeria, there is a plethora of QSRs, from the more refined eateries like Mr. Bigg’s, Chicken Republic, Tantalizers, Tastee Fried Chicken, Mega Chicken, KFC and Domino’s Pizza etc to the lower classes of what is known as mama put. These Mama-Put spots are found in nearly every street in the country, and are considerably cheaper and more affordable.
Typically, quick service restaurants cater to fast food items over a limited menu as they can be cooked in lesser time with minimum possible variation.
Types of Quick Service Restaurant (QSR)
Self service restaurants:
The customers approach the counter and order. For receiving the order, they collect it themselves from the counter.
Assisted self service restaurants:
Places where either the order is collected at the table of the customer or the food is delivered to the table of the customer.
Full serviced restaurants:
Places where both the order placing and the food delivery are done by the staff at the table.
Do Quick service restaurants affect society? Yes, they do.
The effects of QSR happen in different way. Some are beneficial to us, while some others are detrimental.
Benefits of Quick Service Restaurants.
QSRs help save time
Even fast home cooking requires 15-30 minutes of time for the average individual or family in preparation and cooking. Then another 15-30 minutes of eating time. Meanwhile, visiting a fast food restaurant can cut those time requirements in half.
With fast food, you can eat in the vehicle (though that is not advisable) or take the food to your next destination. Fast food makes it possible for people to find time to eat together, even during busy days.
It supports local business owners.
An average eatery in Nigeria employs a minimum of 10-15 workers. Even the street corner mama-put employs at least 2 persons. So eating at these establishments is a way to support local jobs and businesses.
It offers choices to the consumers.
Quick-service restaurants have evolved beyond burgers and fries, meat pie and coke. These days, you can walk into an eatery and eat almost any delicacy of your choice. These delicacies range between intercontinental dishes to local dishes, giving you array of options to choose from.
QSRs even afford you to opportunity to eat some foods you ordinarily wont or can’t prepare yourself.
Downsides of Quick Service Restaurants
- There are possibilities that you will not always find healthy items that are fresh at fast food restaurants.
- Some QSRs offer a lower average quality of food than other high end eating establishments, or personal cooking.
- Eating in some QSRs can be unhealthy, mostly because of poor hygienic conditions and the little or no knowledge of the ingredients used in food preparations.
- Eating at a QSR is not always the cheaper option. As of matter of fact, you are likely to spend more eating at QSRs than you would spend if you cooked at home.
- Most Quick service restaurants offer menu items which contain unhealthy levels of fat, sugar, and salt.
- QSRs also offer food products that contain several addictive qualities. People feel good when they eat fast food items, which make them, want to eat more of them.
- Furthermore, if eaten for a long enough time periods, fast foods can even encourage dependence with some people.
- Fast food restaurants encourage the busy lifestyle. Most people no longer spend quality time in cooking decent meals, or even learning how to cook for themselves and their families, because they can just drop by any QSR and pick up something to eat.
- QSRs can be held responsible for obesity, higher cholesterol levels, and an increased chance of developing heart diseases.
Fast food may be necessary on a busy day, though it shouldn’t become the normal go-to requirement for a meal.
Eat slower, plan some meals in advance, and look for ways to incorporate home meals into your busy routine. In doing so, it could become easier to eat healthier on a regular basis.