500 Lunches in 90 Minutes or Less!

Tonight I used the Internet to see if I could find out how many restaurants there are in the United States. I learned that there are approximately 750,000 in total and that of these, more than 50,000 are classified as “Fast Food.” McDonald’s, Wendy’s, Burger King, and KFC all operate on pretty much the same premise – people walk in to the restaurant, wait in line for a relatively brief amount of time, then they get their food and leave, or they sit down and eat it pretty quickly.

It is likely that there is tremendous research on the eating habits of fast food lovers. For instance, it would be interesting to know the average number of minutes a person stays in one of these establishments. I would be curious to know how much money the average person spends and how many people can be served in one hour. The caloric content of fast food meals has been under intense scrutiny in recent years along with fat content and sodium levels – yet these establishments continue to flourish with hungry customers.

If I were to offer fast food franchise owners the opportunity to have more than 500 customers a day for 180 days a year, most would likely jump at the opportunity. This proposition would provide a chance to serve more than 90,000 meals a year. Let’s say I was to tell the fast food owners that the 500 meals per day would be served in less than 90 minutes? I think that would make the offer even better. Imagine the profits that could be made!

Now imagine that any meal served must meet Dietary Guidelines, which recommend that no more than 30 percent of an individual's calories come from fat, and less than 10 percent from saturated fat. These regulations also establish a standard for meals to provide one-third of the Recommended Daily Allowances of protein, Vitamin A, Vitamin C, iron, calcium, and calories. And one more thing….the maximum that can be charged for a meal is $2.50 (and it must include milk).

Mahar parents were recently notified of a twenty-five cent increase in an individual student lunch. The current fiscal situation both locally and nationally made this a very difficult decision to make. Mahar’s commitment to providing nutritious meals for its students remains – but it is becoming increasingly expensive to maintain.