Photo from money.cnn.com courtesy of Jollibee Foods.

Though higher-end restaurants are struggling as people try to scrimp and save, fast food restaurants in the United States are doing as well as ever. In fact, more foreign fast food restaurants are opening locations in the United States, even during this recession.

CNN Money wrote a series on several foreign fast food restaurants that are continuing to spread their businesses across the United States. Here are some highlights.

Jollibee

CNN Money says “Jollibee is known universally as the McDonald’s of the Philippines.” There isn’t a Jollibee anywhere near me, unfortunately, but this place sounds pretty good. Jollibee burgers can come with pineapple on them and sides of spaghetti. A side of spaghetti with a burger? Sure, why not.

I like the cute, smiling bee that’s the restaurant’s mascot. Also, instead of apple pies like McDonald’s, Jollibee has mango pies. Sounds delicious! And, because it’s fast food, you can keep up on your debt consolidation loan and still afford to eat there. Jollibee also serves a side dish called palabok, made of shrimp and noodles, and fried chicken.

Pollo Campero

Speaking of chicken, another restaurant continuing to open U.S. stores is Pollo Campero, the Guatemalan chicken place that beat out KFC in South America. CNN Money writes:

The problem, however, is describing exactly what Pollo Campero’s taste is. “Even when you talk to most experienced and devoted followers,” says Roberto Denegri, president of Campero USA, “describing the flavor is so hard.”

So as the chain grows in the United States — 52 stores so far, since they first opened in 2002 — they’re trying out a new marketing slogan this year: “Flavor you can’t Compero.”

Although it is a fast food place, it serves exotic foods — well, foods that seem exotic here in the U.S. — like yucca fries and fried plantains, and drinks like horchata, cinnamon-flavored milk served cold, and agua de tamarindo, a sweet-and-sour fruit drink. Pollo Campero is growing quickly and ambitiously. It has 52 U.S. stores now and plans to bring that number to 300 by 2014, so keep an eye out.

Chutney Joe’s

I am a huge fan of Indian food, but in some areas it’s so hard to find! If Chutney Joe’s has its way, though, that won’t be the case anymore. The founder, Vijay Puniani, had a restaurant in New Delhi, but moved to the U.S. to work in real estate. Apparently cooking and serving Indian food is where his heart is because he is back to it.

Chutney Joe’s uses healthy cooking techniques — no frying — and doesn’t use butter or heavy cream. Puniani said turning Chutney Joe’s into a fast food chain is challenging because Indian food is complex and consistency is an important element of a chain. He’s managed to focus on a few simpler dishes, and he plans to open five new locations in Chicago in the near future before expanding to New York, Dallas, Atlanta, and Los Angeles.

Nando’s

Most Americans have had Indian and Latin American food, but cuisine from South Africa is not easy to come by unless you’re in a large city. One of those places you could get South African food in Washington, D.C. is Nando’s, which expanded to several other countries — Botswana, Australia and Great Britain just to name a few – before finally coming to the U.S.

Though Nando’s serves foreign food, it’s using a very American marketing strategy, which is to tell people that Oprah Winfrey is a fan. No one’s saying that isn’t true, but I am hoping that the food will be able to speak for itself when it expands to 10 more stores in the next couple of years. CNN Money says:

At the heart of this chain is a Portuguese-style of cooking chicken in a spicy, vinegary sauce known as “peri-peri,” brought to South Africa long ago by Portuguese explorers.

Wendy's is putting a two-year hiatus on breakfast at up to 475 stores.

Well, it appears as though nothing is safe. Even though recent studies have shown that fast-food places are virtually recession-proof, according to CNN Money at http://money.cnn.com/2009/01/13/news/companies/wendys_arbys.reut/index.htm?postversion=2009011310, up to 475 Wendy’s restaurants are preparing to stop serving breakfast.

In 2007, when Arby’s bought Wendy’s, Wendy’s added breakfast to the menu in hundreds of locations. The recent decision represents yet another casualty of the recession. The odd thing is, as with payday loans, demand for fast food is increasing, not decreasing.

Adding hunger to injury

Official financial reports for the company won’t be released until March, but in November the company posted losses. This is an exception among fast-food places, most of which have seen improving or steady sales as Americans seek ways to save money.

Wendy’s plans for this to be a temporary situation. The company’s CEO says Wendy’s breakfast will be relaunched in 2011. He said the recent decision is part of an effort to cut costs by $60 million. He said the company is also aiming for overall growth of $100 million.

Helping out the competition

McDonald’s is currently the nation’s leading fast-food chain, financially. It credits breakfast with increasing sales in the United States. No doubt even more customers, faced with decreasing choices, will be spilling through McDonald’s doors in the morning.

Curiously, during November, the month that Wendy’s/Arby’s reportedly posted losses, several fast food companies saw gains. McDonald’s, Burger King, Subway, Pizza Hut and Taco Bell all reported growth.

Eating our way through the recession

Wendy’s move to reduce breakfast service strikes me as a strange one. Fast-food chains in general are doing better because of the recession. Another industry that is reportedly doing well is the “comfort food” industry. Inexpensive grocery items like Spam and macaroni and cheese are selling very well.

Other studies show that people tend to gain weight during a recession because they turn to less expensive, and also less healthy, foods. All the cultural indicators out there seem to say that now is the perfect time to beef up a cheap breakfast menu, not pare it back.

Future losses

I highly doubt people are just going to skip breakfast until 2011. They will simply go somewhere else. And we all know what that means in America, a land filled with creatures of habit. Customers will develop brand loyalty for other restaurants. Who knows if they will ever come back?

Sure, some people might be ready for a change when Wendy’s relaunches breakfast in two years. But who knows what the economy will look like then? Americans may go back to their old ways of hitting up the corner diner and shelling out $10 for breakfast by then.

For the time being, I expect to see sales increase at fast-food places that do offer breakfast. With Americans taking out payday loans to pay for basics, I predict they’ll continue to eat up offers of $1 breakfast sandwiches until the economy straightens out.

Juicy Burgers contributes to the childhood obesity epidemic in America

Fast food is cheap, easy, and unhealthy, but quick payday loans can help you pay for real groceries. Unfortunately, nutrition comes at a cost. America’s alternative to nutrition is fast food. The world’s alternative to nutrition is no food at all. Fortunately for Americans, this is the land of the free, and one of our financial freedoms is the access to all kinds of loans. If you want to feed your family nutritious, healthy food, it’s comforting to know that grocery stores boast aisles of wholesome foods and quick payday loans are available as a short term financial solution for paying the grocery bill. The rest of the world isn’t so fortunate.

Obesity Epidemic and World Hunger

While American children are getting fatter, children around the world are starving. An obesity epidemic and world hunger? It seems like a sick contradiction, but the numbers don’t lie. Obesity in American children ages 6-11 has more than tripled in the last twenty years. Nearly 20% of American children are overweight or obese, and almost one-third of American children eat fast food every day. Fast food consumption accumulates to about six extra pounds each year for every child. Elsewhere in the world, one child dies every six seconds from starvation. The World Food Programme has calculated that hunger now kills more people on an annual basis than tuberculosis, malaria and AIDS collectively.

Unequal Distribution

The unequal distribution has been one of the biggest contributors of world hunger. This year, more food has been produced worldwide than in all of history, which means that there should be more food per person. However, the way food is distributed denies those dying of hunger the right to eat. Other reasons for increasing world hunger include high transport costs, more droughts, and the depletion of natural resources like water, farmable land, and oil.

Limited Resources

Like oil, food is a limited resource, but Americans eat and consume as though food is a never-ending commodity. Americans take food for granted, and our meat-eating habits are taking a toll on the world. It takes about seven pounds of grain to produce one pound of beef. So every time you roll through the drive-thru to order juicy burgers for your children, not only are you contributing to the childhood obesity epidemic in America, you are also contributing to world hunger. Imagine how much further seven pounds of grain could go than one pound of beef.

Smart Food, Smart Money

It’s easy to understand that eating fast food is more convenient for you and your family. Although both are pricey, getting fresh produce and other healthy foods at the grocery store can definitely be more expensive than your favorite fast food restaurant. It’s even easier to understand that cheap food is appealing right now because of how the economy is going. Your budget is tight, and the more money you can save, the better. However, in this case, even though the nutritious foods are more expensive, it will be worth it in the long run. By feeding your family healthy foods and skipping those greasy burgers, you’ll be making the world a healthier, better-fed place. In case you’re running low on cash until your next payday, don’t give into the convenience and low price of fast food. Opt for quick payday loans to pay for those wholesome foods.

If you’ve ever felt guilty about ordering up the latest triple layer, double beef, nacho cheese and four-cheese blend concoction from your local Taco Bell, you’re not alone. But if you should dine at one of a certain fast food empire’s franchise locations, at least they can’t say they didn’t warn you. Yum Brands, the umbrella corporation who owns the Pizza Hut, Taco Bell, and Kentucky Fried Chicken franchises, has announced that all of their restaurant locations will have calorie content displayed next to names of all menu items and their prices by January 1, 2011. Therefore, by knowing exactly what you’re getting before placing an order, it’s possible that consumers no longer could file high-profile lawsuits under the premise of, “the Chihuahua made me do it!”

New Laws, New Advertising

The fast food empire, which also owns the Long John Silver’s and A&W Restaurant chains, announced the corporate-wide change as a way to do California Governor Schwarzenegger one better in his efforts. The day before Yum’s announcement, Schwarzenegger signed a bill into law that would require all restaurants with 20 or more locations in the state to disclose calorie content on all items by January 1, 2011. Yum has also vowed to refrain from future television advertisements targeting children under 12. Now, for anyone who’s been reading my blog for a while, you probably know that I’m not that big of a fan of any kind of restrictive action. I mean, if kids don’t see an ad during Saturday morning cartoons conning them to eat at KFC, they’ll still get the message when they watch TV with their folks. Therefore, I don’t agree with that portion of this new measure. On the other hand, in the age of blogs, YouTube, and people making movies about gorging themselves on a McDonald’s-only diet, we all crave information. We want to know what something is, where we can get the best price on it, and, in this case, exactly what we’re getting ourselves into by purchasing it.

Up Front For All To See

Many years ago, packaged food manufacturers began placing government-mandated nutrition facts and ingredient lists on all of their products. This way, the guesswork was taken out of whether or not an allergy-prone person should consume something. The food industry has also taken a page from the no fax payday loans industry who, since its infancy, has lent money to people who have fallen on temporary financial times and need the payday loans. But even before a customer begins filling out an application, all terms, conditions, fees and repayment schedules are disclosed up front. Then, a customer must verify, in writing, that they understand what they’re getting themselves into, before the funds change hands. Certainly, our society would be a better place to live if all companies were to take a cue from Yum Brands and no fax payday loans companies.