In the District of Columbia, one could write a doctoral thesis on what does and does not constitute a fast food restaurant.
Sure, McDonald’s and Burger King fit the bill. But the city’s 21-year-old definition of fast food is so confusing that a restaurant’s classification, decided by the Department of Consumer and Regulatory Affairs, can sometimes be settled only after an appeals board hears hours of testimony on queuing, seating and tableware.
That could change Thursday, as the D.C. Zoning Commission considers a simplified definition of “fast food establishment.” An eatery is fast food, under the proposed wording, if it includes a drive-through, if customers pay for the food before eating, or if the food is served in or on anything disposable.
Advisory Neighborhood Commission 6A, which has oversight of much of the H Street Northeast corridor, sought a revision. Like portions of Georgia, Wisconsin and Rhode Island avenues, H Street is a zoning district that requires a special exemption for any fast food restaurant.
The special exemption process provides citizens the opportunity to challenge what would normally be a matter-of-right business. And the H Street ANC, which sees in quick-stop food joints the potential for litter and noise, has wrestled for years with restaurateurs — Cluck-U Chicken, Taste of Jamaica and Blimpie among them — over what is fast food.
Easy answers are hard to come by.
Under existing rules, a restaurant is fast food if it has a drive-through. Or “if the floor space allocated and used for customer queuing … is greater than 10 percent of the total floor space that is accessible to the public.” Or the establishment “primarily serves its food and beverages in disposable containers and provides tableware.” And at least 60 percent of the food items are already prepared or packaged before the customer orders.
“How can DCRA determine what percentage of food is going to be prepared before the place ever opens up?” ANC Economic Development Committee Chair Drew Ronneberg said.
In its report to the zoning commission, the D.C. planning office acknowledged the existing language is “outdated” and “confusing.” The restaurant industry’s evolving business model “allows for increasing flexibility in layout, service style, and food preparation,” the report states.
Ronneberg said the planning office’s proposed language must be bulked up to clarify that physical attributes, such as a service counter, a drink station or trash cans in a public area, characterize fast food establishments.
