Editing Cafeteria (section)

==History==
[[File:Postcard from Childs Philadelphia 1908.jpg|thumb|right|Childs Restaurant, [[Philadelphia]], [[Pennsylvania|PA]], {{circa|1908}}]]
Perhaps the first self-service restaurant (not necessarily a cafeteria) in the U.S. was the Exchange Buffet in [[New York City]], which opened September 4, 1885, and catered to an exclusively male clientele. Food was purchased at a counter and patrons ate standing up.<ref>John F. Mariani, ''America Eats Out'', William Morrow & Co (October 1991), {{ISBN|978-0-688-09996-1}}</ref> This represents the predecessor of two formats: the cafeteria, described below, and the [[automat]].

During the 1893 [[World's Columbian Exposition]] in [[Chicago]], entrepreneur John Kruger built an American version of the [[Smorgasbord|smörgåsbord]] he had seen while traveling in [[Sweden]]. Emphasizing the simplicity and light fare, he called it the 'Cafeteria' - Spanish for 'coffee shop'. The exposition attracted over 27 million visitors (half the U.S. population at the time) in six months, and it was because of Kruger's operation that the United States first heard the term and experienced the self-service dining format.<ref name="Zuber">Amy Zuber, [https://web.archive.org/web/20080508160846/http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m3190/is_nSPEISS_v30/ai_18091875 "Samuel & William Childs"], ''Nations Restaurant News'', February 1996</ref><ref name="CuisineNet">[https://web.archive.org/web/20000418023908/http://www.cuisinenet.com/digest/custom/restaurant/timeline.shtml "A Restaurant Timeline"], ''CuisineNet Diner's Digest'', retrieved April 28, 2009</ref>
[[File:Cafeteria Server.jpg|thumb|Hospital cafeteria tray line server in [[Port Charlotte, Florida]]]]
Meanwhile, the chain of [[Childs Restaurants]] quickly grew from about 10 locations in [[New York City]] in 1890 to hundreds across the U.S. and [[Canada]] by 1920. Childs is credited with the innovation of adding trays and a "tray line" to the self-service format, introduced in 1898 at their 130 Broadway location.<ref name="Zuber" /><ref name="CuisineNet" /> Childs did not change its format of sit-down dining, however. This was soon the standard design for most Childs Restaurants, and, ultimately, the dominant method for succeeding cafeterias.

It has been conjectured that the 'cafeteria craze' started in May 1905, when Helen Mosher opened a downtown L.A. restaurant where people chose their food at a long counter and carried their trays to their tables.<ref>Charles Perry, [https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2003-nov-05-fo-cafeteria5-story.html "The cafeteria: an L.A. original"], ''The Los Angeles Times'', November 5, 2003, </ref> California has a long history in the cafeteria format - notably the Boos Brothers Cafeterias, and the [[Clifton's Cafeteria]] and Schaber's. The earliest cafeterias in California were opened at least 12 years after Kruger's Cafeteria, and Childs already had many locations around the country. [[Horn & Hardart]], an [[automat]] format chain (different from cafeterias), was well established in the mid-Atlantic region before 1900.

Between 1960 and 1981, the popularity of cafeterias was overcome by [[Fast-food restaurant|fast food restaurants]] and [[fast casual restaurant]] formats.

Outside the United States, the development of cafeterias can be observed in France as early as 1881 with the passing of the [[Jules Ferry laws|Ferry Law]]. This law mandated that public school education be available to all children. Accordingly, the government also encouraged schools to provide meals for students in need, thus resulting in the conception of cafeterias or cantine (in French). According to Abramson, before the creation of cafeterias, only some students could bring home-cooked meals and be properly fed in schools.

As cafeterias in France became more popular, their use spread beyond schools and into the workforce. Thus, due to pressure from workers and eventually new labor laws, sizable businesses had to, at minimum, provide established eating areas for their workers. Support for this practice was also reinforced by the effects of [[World War II]] when the importance of national health and nutrition came under great attention.<ref>Abramson, Julia Luisa. Food culture in France. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 2007. 122–23. Print.</ref>