Fast food is the term given to many foods that can be prepared and served quickly. While any meal with low preparation time can be considered to be fast food, such as TV dinners, typically the term refers to food sold in a restaurant or store which is rapidly prepared and served to the customer in a packaged form for take out/take away.Outlets may be stands or kiosks, which may provide no shelter or seating, or fast food restaurants (also known as quick service restaurants). Franchise operations which are part of restaurant chains have standardized foodstuffs shipped to each restaurant from central locations.The capital requirements to start a fast-food restaurant are relatively small, particularly in areas with non-existent or poorly enforced health codes. Small, individually-owned fast-food restaurants have become common throughout the world. Fast food restaurants with higher sit-in ratios, where customers can sit and have their orders brought to them, are known as fast casual restaurants.

On January 10, 2008, international restaurant chain Pizza Hut, Inc filed to protect the trademark Pasta Hut in relation to "restaurant services". This is the company’s first trademark application for this name, as well as the first indication that Pizza Hut is considering opening restaurants using the Pasta Hut brand name. (Trademork Exclusive)

Restaurants are popping up everywhere. Fast food, casual dining, steakhouses, sushi bars, you name it. I'd say this is mostly because more and more people are going out to eat, more and more often (supply and demand at its simplest). Naturally, I have a few thoughts on this.

Fast food has become a way of life for most of us. If you ever find some that doesn’t know the name of at least one Fast Food Company (they speak English of course), I’ll punch myself in the face and post it as a video. I have been to so many different of these so called “fast food restaurants”. Heck I have even worked at a few!

In order to help you make choices that won't sabotage your fitness goals, I went looking for healthier meals. I visited several fast food restaurants, and made a chart with the company name, meal choice and caloric breakdown. If you're trying to lose weight and you eat out, you need to read this article.

Brazil Fast Foods Corp, which operate Brazil's second largest burger chain under the brand name Bob's, was one of the top performing stocks in the restaurant group in 2006, returning 285%. This article is the first in a series of articles that will look ahead for what 2007 may bring for Brazil Fast Foods.