The fast-food revolution began in Philadelphia on June 9, 1902, when Joe Horn and Frank Hardart opened their first Automat on Chestnut Street, writes Tommy Rowan for The Philadelphia Inquirer.
This approach to food appealed to the new, faster-paced society.
Horn, a Philadelphia native, started his own restaurant at age 27. He partnered with Hardart, a 38-year-old Bavarian immigrant who had worked in kitchens in New Orleans before moving to the East Coast.
They opened their first Horn & Hardart location, a tiny luncheonette across from Wanamaker’s department store, in 1888. Over the years, they added more locations and shipped prepared food from a commissary to streamline the supply chain and reduce costs.
As Horn & Hardart grew, they became fascinated by a new Swiss-designed machine made in Germany that delivered food automatically, a primitive form of vending machine. The machine had a bank of small windows filled from the back. Customers inserted a nickel or two and retrieved their meal from behind the glass.
The concept was a hit in Philadelphia, and the partners kept adding locations. At its peak in the late 1950s and early 1960s, the company had over 165 locations. Hamburger drive-ins and drive-throughs eventually forced it out of business.
Read more about Horn & Hardart and what it meant to Philly’s fast-food history in The Philadelphia Inquirer.
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