Fast Food Industry

When it comes to customer service, the fast-food industry is bookended by two chicken chains, according to a recent survey topped by Chick-fil-A. KFC was at the bottom of a list compiled by consulting firm Temkin Group, which asked diners how they felt about 18 major quick-service chains. The industry as a whole saw its average rating increase to 76.3% this year from 74% last year. Chick-fil-A, an Atlanta company that ran into controversy this summer over the gay marriage debate, landed an 82% score that helped it place first for the second straight year.

For 10 years, Walt Disney Co. and McDonald's appeared to have the perfect marriage. Happy Meals bore little figurines of Nemo, Mr. Incredible and 101 Dalmatians. But no more. This is one relationship that's ending in part because of the children. Disney is not renewing its cross-promotional pact with the fast-food giant, ending the arrangement with this summer's release of "Cars" and "Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest."

Barely 300 feet separate Fullerton Union High School from a McDonald's restaurant on Chapman Avenue. Researchers say that's boosting the odds that its students will be super-sized. Teens who attend classes within one-tenth of a mile of a fast-food outlet are more likely to be obese than peers whose campuses are located farther from the lure of quarter-pound burgers, fries and shakes.

Yuck. A McDonald's  worker in South Carolina has been arrested after surveillance video allegedly caught him spitting into cups of iced tea that had been returned by the customers because they weren't sweet enough. Meanwhile, the operator of the Simpsonville, S.C., fast-food franchise where the incident reportedly took place is asking the public to withhold judgment about his restaurant. “Nothing is more important to me than the safety and well-being of my customers," the franchise operator, John Kennedy, said in a statement released to The Times.

John Galardi has died, placing a period on one of the fast-food industry's greatest rags-to-riches stories. The Wienerschnitzel founder once said, simply: "I had to be wealthy. " At age 19, the Midwestern boy of humble origins had never eaten out or taken a vacation. At 25, he was a millionaire.  In a 2012 article, the Los Angeles Times' Tiffany Hsu outlined Galardi's rise in the industry, writing: "John Galardi knows his own mind and isn't afraid of hard work. " Galardi himself said: "I realized really young that what I wanted in life was to do what I want in the way that I want.

It's a McDonald's vision of the future: an automated fryer cooks and bags French fries while a vertical grill machine removes patties from the freezer and prepares them -- no burger flipper needed. Out front, customers choose between speedy counter lines and self-service kiosks that send orders straight to the tables of harried moms and their kids. And everywhere hover friendly staffers, computer-trained in McDonald's hospitality.

For nearly two decades in China, the KFC logo has enticed the hungry with the promise of juicy, crispy chicken. Now, Yum Brands Inc. -- which owns KFC and Pizza Hut as well as Taco Bell in the U.S. -- has some competition for the cravings of Chinese diners. After watching Yum gobble up much of China's emerging middle class, McDonald's Corp., which has 800 restaurants in operation in China, is ramping up development in the country.

As America gets fatter, policymakers are seeking creative approaches to legislating health. They may have entered the school cafeteria -- and now they're eyeing your neighborhood. Amid worries of an obesity epidemic and its related illnesses, including high blood pressure, diabetes and heart disease, Los Angeles officials, among others around the country, are proposing to limit new fast-food restaurants -- a tactic that could be called health zoning.

When John Galardi began hustling his buns in 1961, it was in a single restaurant with four parking spaces. Since then, his chain--Wienerschnitzel International--has grown to become the No. 1 hot dog chain in the world. Today, there are 276 Wienerschnitzel fast-food restaurants in 11 Western states. Of those, 200 are franchised, with the rest run under a limited-franchise program in which the company owns the land, building and equipment and subleases it to the operator.

In the first-ever product recall of a food because of its genetically engineered ingredients, Taco Bell brand taco shells are being pulled from supermarket shelves after tests confirmed the presence of an ingredient not approved for human consumption. The Taco Bell restaurant chain also said that, as a precautionary measure, it has begun substituting taco shells sold in its 7,000 locations nationwide. The Kraft Foods unit of Philip Morris Co.