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Sunday, February 27, 2005
found this article interesting.. it's abt the Fastfood scene in Sg. This below extract is from ST dtd 190205...
A & W was fast-food kingIt all began with the root beer almost 40 yrs ago, when fast food made its first foray into SG, capturing the imagination and taste buds of thousands
Leading the way was the A & W family restaurant — famed for its first outlet along Dunearn Rd in 1966. The American fast-food chain introduced hamburgers, hot dogs and drive-ins.
Many other fast-food chains soon followed suit: McDonald's, KFC, BK, Popeye's Famous Fried Chicken and Dunkin' Donuts.
Fast-food prices were high compared to hawker fare. A Big Mac @ McDonald's in 1981 cost $2.50 — almost twice a bowl of noodles. A 2-piece KFC chicken meal was priced @ $3.50 then.
Nevertheless, thousands flocked to the outlets, drawn by the novelty of American food and the air-conditioned env.
In fact, the opening of McDonald's 1st outlet @ Liat Towers in Oct 1979 was so successful it set a world record serving the world's highest volume of hamburgers in a single day, according to the CAN Book of Records. It was only to be broken in 1990s by McDonald's in Beijing.
For library asst Mr X, 46, a visit to a fast-food restaurant then was like dining @ Swensen's or Jack's Place now.
He said, "Being able to eat @ a fast-food restaurant was a treat... Many youngsters saw it cool to associate themselves with fastfood. It was an 'in' thing to do."
An economic slump in the early 1980s forced smaller restaurants to close down. In 1985, market analysts predicted that the fastfood compeitition wld be reduced to a 4-horse race — McDonald's, BK, KFC and A & W.
They were mostly right. Today, McDonald's leads the race with 130 outlets islandwide, followed by KFC (70 outlets) and BK (45 outlets). A & W closed down its operations here in 2003 due to poor business.
