The California Cities Beefing With Fast Food Drive-Thrus
A sign stands outside of a McDonald's restaurant in San Francisco, California. (Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)
The burgers are so good that they’re causing traffic jams. At least that’s what’s happening in Culver City, where the line of cars at spots like In-N-Out Burger spills beyond the parking lot and into the street. Now officials there are trying to ban new drive-thrus outright. These bans are not an entirely new phenomenon — San Luis Obispo banned drive-thrus back in 1982 — but they’re getting newfound attention as recent pushes gain national attention. We’ll look at California’s role in the rise of fast food drive-thrus and examine whether the current moment could be the beginning of the end for a fast food staple.
Guests:
- Shawn Hubler, Los Angeles bureau chief, The New York Times
- Adam Chandler, food columnist, The Wall Street Journal; author of “Drive-Thru Dreams: A Journey Through the Heart of America’s Fast-Food Kingdom”