Why did burgers n fries joints (like McDonalds, Whataburger and Burger King) become so successful as franchises? What social and economic changes made fast food king?

A word beforehand: I can not give you an answer to the first part of your question (why did they become successful as franchise and why especially those joints?). The second part however falls into my expertise, as I’m writing my MA-thesis on time and acceleration. My answer will include a good junk sociology, not only because I’m a stickler for social theories, but also because you ask about social and economic changes. I’ll try to break down the theories as much as possible, so it will be understandable for lay persons. But since we’re on the history subreddit (and I’m majoring in history) I’ll still try to give you a historical perspective. Also, I can only really talk about Europe. I’d assume you can apply this answer to the US as well, but don’t hold me accountable. Finally, English is not my main language, so please have mercy. And it’s getting pretty late here, I’ll be answering follow ups tomorrow!

Short answer:

It has to do with the acceleration of our everyday life which mainly (but not only) is due to capitalism. We need to do things ever faster to hold up with society, which is a cycle we can only hardly break through. Fast food (and other things) are a sign of the times, in which we are incentivised shorten our recreational time to be ever more productive as a work force.

Longer answer:

There are two works I’d like to appoint you to for this question. The first one is a paper by E.P. Thompson, called ‘Time, work-discipline, and industrial capitalism’ (https://academic.oup.com/past/article-abstract/38/1/56/1454624?redirectedFrom=fulltext). The text is a little outdated, but much of it still holds true and is very well written, so check it out! Thompson talks about how capitalism reshaped our relation to time. Before capitalism, humans generally would orient themselves to nature (i.e. get up with the sun, fish when the tides are right, build a coffin when someone died). Mind you, that time was still socially structured, that mean not simply ‘given’ by nature, we’re not talking about a deterministic ‘nature time’. The coffin would be one example for this, religion is another. For a large part of the middle ages, religion used to play a huge role in everyday lives; especially so in time keeping. Calendars, holidays, church bells and so on are a great example for this. With the advent of capitalism however, there was a need for another sort of time keeping. With manufactures came the advent of clock-time. (1) The highly coordinated labour in factories, especially on the assembly line, required the workforce to be punctual – or on time. Where as no one really cared when Marc the peasant milked his cow, Marc the factory worker had to be in the factory at exactly five o’clock in the morning. If not, the assembly line would not be complete, and the producers would lose money. This is also visible in factory regulations of the time, which imposed draconic punishments for being late or skipping work. (2)

As you see, capitalism drove the need for an abstract clock-time. Abstract in the sense that this clock-time was no longer bound to the specific work you had to do (fishing, milking, woodworking). The saying ‘time is money’ was being widespread in the time, not only by factory owners, but also many religious leaders and thinkers. Now we’re still a far way from fast food, but I think you kind of get the point here: through the advent of an abstract clock-time, it was possible to ‘save’ time. You could be more time-efficient. It suddenly mattered, how fast you were working. Whereas the peasant in the field (without modern equipment, anyways) could only do so much to increase the fruits of his labour, the factory worker (and later all other workforce under the logic of capital, that means the logic of self-valorising value) was to be ever more productive, so he could produce ever more value. From this economic and social change, it is only a small step to fast food – and other stuff, like cigarettes. (3)

The second work I want to introduce you to, albeit only briefly, is that of Hartmut Rosa. Rosa is a sociologist who thinks and writes about acceleration and alienation. His theory, in short, is that our current society lives through a time of extreme acceleration. Things that used to be cross-generational (eg. fashion) change now multiple times within one generation. You as an individual are no longer working the same job your fathers and forefathers did for as long as you life, but you change jobs multiple times during your lifetime. He also thinks that the main source for this acceleration is capitalism and its endless strive for more profit, which results in more pressure on individuals to be more productive. But he also has other interesting explanatory approaches, like the idea that through the advancement of atheism, many lost the believe in an afterlife and thus think that they must experience all things during they’re lifetime. Since they think that there comes nothing after death, they cannot simply leave things out. This results in some sort of ‘cultural pressure’ to do more things and ‘live life to your fullest’.

To sum things up: fast food is a result of the acceleration through capitalism. Eating faster means having more time in which you can be more productive (although as we know that is often not the case).

(1) The decisive century for this would be the 19th century. Although clocks existed already in the 14th century, they used to be very inaccurate and were often a status symbol rather than a time telling device. They changed from the former to the latter through the advent of manufactories, as workers demanded a fair, objective way of limiting their work days, since the hand-ringed bells used before mechanical clocks were frequently used to make work days longer and/or meal times shorter, if the producers required so. For more see: Martineau, Jonathan: Time, capitalism and alienation. A socio-historical inquiry into the making of modern time. Chicago 2015.

(2) I’ve analysed some 200 factory regulations of Switzerland between 1840 and 1914, of which most share a same pattern: for being late you could get locked out of the factory, meaning you lost your days salary. On top of that you could get a hefty fine and sometimes you would also had to pay for damages (ie. you had to pay for the replacement staff). Some factories instantly dismissed late workers. Those punishments were not exclusive, they could be all added together at will. This was in a time where most factory workers lived very poorly, so already the loss of your days salary could mean impoverishment of you and your family. For more see (german source only, sorry): Janser, Jacqueline: “Im Takt der Maschinen”. Das Arbeitsrecht des Kantons Glarus im 19. Jahrhundert unter besonderer Berücksichtigung der Fabrikgesetzgebung. Zürich 2010.

Flohr, Bernd: Arbeiter nach Mass. Die Disziplinierung der Fabrikarbeiterschaft während der Industrialisierung Deutschlands im Spiegel von Arbeitsordnungen. Frankfurt 1981.

(3) Reichard for example argues that it was also capitalism – and the shorter breaks in work times – that lead to the advance of cigarettes compared to other tobacco products like the pipe, which is smoked way slower. See (german only): Reichard, Tom: Die Zeit der Zigarette. In: Geppert/Kössler (eds.): Obsession der Gegenwart. Zeit im 20. Jahrhundert. Göttingen 2015.

General sources:

Thompson, Edward Palmer: Time, work-discipline, and industrial capitalism. In: Past & Present, No. 38 (Dec., 1967).

Rosa, Hartmut: Resonanz: Eine Soziologie der Weltbeziehung. Frankfurt am Main 2016.

Rosa, Harmut: Alienation and Acceleration. Towards a Critical Theory of Late-Modern Temporality. Pennsylvania 2010.