The power of a meatball…

In the middle of the 19th century, many Germans leave the country for America from the port of Hamburg. Ground beef is the main dish served on the ships of the Hamburg Amerikanische Paketfahrt Actien-Gesellschaft (HAPAG), the shipping line from Hamburg to the United States (Hamburg America Line). At the time, the meat is salted, mixed with onions and bread crumbs, and sometimes smoked, to be able to be preserved during the long crossing. The hamburger crosses the Atlantic with immigrants. On the port of New York, stalls attract German sailors with the slogan “steak cooked in the style of Hamburg”.

But it’s really in America that the demand for the famous sandwich has grown and become the economic force we know … From 1931, there have been Wimpy’s restaurants who have opened nearly 1500 restaurants but are all closed to the death of their founder according to his last wishes … (The gentleman did not want to leave any trace of his passage on this earth probably !!!)

 But the real explosion of hamburger popularity came with the arrival of the McDonald brothers (1940) and their concept of “self-service” and later by Ray Krock (1951) who acquired the rights to the brand and developed the chain that we know today.

Looking at the chart below, especially sales figures in BILLION US dollars for the only ten largest chains (while there are several hundred) we can really say that the hamburger is the most important meal of the world ….

 A simple meatball between two loaves….Americans eat 50 billion a year (153 burgers per person) and consumption continues to grow .

RANK	NAME	SALES (BILLIONS)	RESTAURANTS (US)	RESTAURANTS TOTAL
1	McDonald	38	14350	36200
2	Burger King	9.9	8500	13000
3	Wendy’s	9.5	6000	9800
4	Sonic Drive In	4.4	3560	3500
5	DQ Chill and Grill	3.6	2200	2200
6	Jack in the Box	3.5	4500	5600
7	Whataburger	3.5	900	900
8	Hardee,s	2.1	1900	1900
9	Five Guys	1.6	1500	1600
10	Culver,s	1.5	710	710