First fast-food restaurants

The earliest examples of what we would consider today to be fast food were served in the various eateries that proliferated in the ancient Roman Empire in the 1st and 2nd century CE. A retail revolution, inspired by the explosion in size of Roman cities, saw the emergence of outlets with masonry sales counters designed to be open to the street. These outlets typically featured a kitchen area to the rear where food was prepared, and countertops from which hot dishes and drinks were served.

One of the most recently excavated examples is the thermopolium (literally, "a place where [something] hot is sold“) found in Regio V at Pompeii, Italy, preserved by the eruption in 79 CE; the establishment contains a street-level deli-like counter with a series of deep holes for housing pots (dolia) that would have been filled with food. According to Dr Steven Ellis, Associate Professor of Classics at the University of Cincinnati, "82 per cent of the masonry counters at Pompeii included cooking facilities". Remnants found in Pompeian earthenware vessels reveal a menu of ducks, pigs, goats, fish and snails, which were likely to have been sold hot with cheese, lentils and wine; a bill of fare found written in charcoal on one eatery wall in the city also lists onions, sausages, dates and dried fruits.

Roman historians used the terms tabernae, popinae, cauponae and thermopolia to describe inns, hostelries and eateries that might have featured these marble-topped service areas. While the selling of ready-made hot food has a long history, the fast-food industry can be traced back to the emergence of this specific architectural form: a shop with an open countertop, often ornately decorated with marble.