The Growing Fast Food Boom Near Schools: Fueling the Addiction Economy

Addiction Economy thought for Today - Inescapable availability is the second driver of the addiction economy and here is a great report from the young people at the food activist group Bite Back on the growth of fast food chains, particularly around schools.

What the research and the article here in the Guardian don't really go into is that these food shops don't pop up by magic, they are given permissions by local councils. Our research questions why local councils are not preventing fast food outlets near schools, the percentage of outlets in any community and restricting their saturation of the high street, and similarly with vapes, cigarettes and alcohol.

Doing this would give us more diverse high streets and better choices. But unfortunately they are the ones with the money, because their products and this food environment are addictive by nature. So is it even fair to ask Councils to keep sites empty or perhaps take reduced rates when the fast food outlets want them and they will be profitable and full. Tricky.

Here some stats:

The number of outlets operated by the 10 chains within 400m of a school has soared from 5,202 in 2014 to 7,388 – up 42%.

58% of Subway premises are near a school, as are many branches of Greggs (56%) and KFC (50%).

Five of the firms – Pret, Domino’s, KFC, Greggs and Starbucks – have at least half their total outlets near schools.

The number of outlets the 10 chains operate altogether, in all locations, has also risen by 42% in a decade, from 9,024 in 2014 to 14,333

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