The original automated ‘fast food’ was long before the modern kiosk ordering
Teleportation represents the ability to move instantaneously from one location to another without physically occupying the space in between.
Stay where you are while three words, actually two words and an ampersand, jettisons elderly readers decades into the past.
Ready? Horn & Hardart.
Before current fast food enterprises dominated dining out opportunities, Horn & Hardart automats, literally vending machines with pretty good food selections were all the rage.
No visible people existed in this business created by Joseph Horn and Frank Hardart in Philadelphia in 1902, only walls of stainless steel machinery with glass cubby holes that held food entrees and desserts.
Customers peered into small windows, found their desired item, felt for coins in pockets or purses and followed the Horn & Hardart famous slogan of “Just drop it in the slot.”
A variety of sandwiches, cakes, pies, hamburgers, even macaroni and cheese waited behind small glass doors.
Actually, take a menu from any good diner and place each item inside its own small nook. That’s the reality of Horn & Hardart.
Meals were fresh, tasty and delicious as a behind the scenes food operation kept the miniature wall vaults filled.
Philadelphia offered about 50 Horn & Hardart cafes while these first “fast food” restaurants totaled more than 100 in New York City, allegedly feeding approximately 800,000 people there daily.
A trip to the Big City, for me that meant Camden or Philadelphia, presented fascination with cars, people and Horn & Hardart.
Horn & Hardart sounds similar to McDonalds as modern technology, presents kiosks and touch pads for order placement.
By the way, before Starbucks and freshly brewed coffee at places like WaWa and 7-11?
You guessed right with a Horn & Hardart answer. The famous entrepreneurs delivered coffee to the masses more than 125 years ago.