Innovations in Eating

Drive-thru restaurants were an innovation in 1948. Today, robots that make tossed salads and self-driving cars that deliver pizza are innovative. Go back to the scene when Jesus feeds 5,000 people with virtually no food on hand. That's innovative!

Over the past century, huge changes have been made to the way food is prepared and delivered to us. From drive-thru restaurants to driverless cars, our eating and drinking have been transformed by innovation.

Food delivery began in 1922. Telephone-based food ordering started at a Chinese restaurant in Los Angeles, and spread rapidly. Now, delivery is a $43 billion business in the United States, involving apps such as Grubhub and Postmates.

Drive-thru restaurants first appeared in 1948, when In-N-Out Burger allowed people to order and pick up food without ever leaving their car. Today, up to 70 percent of fast-food sales are drive-thru, and even businesses such as Starbucks and Chipotle are in on the act.

The McDonald's system was created in 1955, using consistent preparation methods and a dependable supply chain. Now, almost every fast-food restaurant develops a similar system, with a newcomer called Just Salad bragging that its employees can toss a salad every minute.

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