The Oldest Fast Food Restaurant Chain In The World Has Been Serving Food Since 1899

For many fast food lovers, grabbing a quick counter service meal feels like a quintessentially American experience. If you've ever seen the 2016 film "The Founder," you know how McDonald's became a fast food empire across the United States in the 1950s and, eventually, an international icon. But before there was ever a McDonald's, there was Yoshinoya, a Japanese fast food outlet that opened a restaurant in Tokyo in 1899 and has been serving customers ever since. Even though this popular fast food chain originated outside the U.S., you don't need to cross the Pacific Ocean to try Yoshinoya, which has had restaurants stateside since the late 1970s. Today, Yoshinoya has over 2,800 locations in Asia and the United States, with the American locations found exclusively in California. 

The signature dish at Yoshinoya is the Gyūdon Beef Bowl with rice and vegetables, although you can also order chicken, sliced ribeye, or salmon for your protein at U.S. stores, with options for an udon noodle or vegetable base. The beef variation is so strongly associated with the Yoshinoya brand that the first Yoshinoya in Los Angeles, which opened in 1979, featured the words "Beef Bowl" on the storefront in larger letters than the restaurant's name. Yoshinoya's American menu also includes snacks like tempura shrimp and crispy gyoza and a dessert section, where you can get that wonderfully bouncy Japanese cheesecake.

When the first Yoshinoya restaurant opened in the Chuoku district of Tokyo during the very end of the 19th century, founder Eikichi Matsuda was just looking to sell hot meals to hungry fishermen — they didn't have time for leisurely dining as they worked at the Nihonbashi Fish Market. Sensing a market for quick, filling, inexpensive dishes before the rise of now-beloved Japanese convenience stores, the original location sold modestly priced rice bowls with beef, tofu, and vegetables that could be served and eaten quickly. It was a hit, enough so that the restaurant was able to rebuild after being destroyed twice, once in the Great Kanto earthquake in 1923 and again in the bombing of Tokyo during World War II.

It was only after the war that Mizuho Matsuda, Eikichi's son, took over the restaurant and decided to expand. He was the first person in Japan to pioneer the concept of the 24-hour restaurant, with Yoshinoya starting all-day operations in 1952. In the 1960s, he started expanding into multiple locations, and by 1977, there were 100 Japanese branches of Yoshinoya. While quality control issues from the rapid expansion led to a bankruptcy filing in 1980, Yoshinoya was able to rebuild again. The chain remains iconic in Japan and abroad, with a user on the r/JapaneseFood subreddit stating, "Nothing beats a Yoshinoya Beef Bowl" and declaring it "Japan's classic comfort food."