Discussion Questions for Appetite for America by Stephen Fried

Discussion Questions for Appetite for America by

Stephen Fried

1. Why did Western railroad passengers eat a trackside restaurants rather than in dining cars?

2. How and why did Fred Harvey create the first national chain of restaurants (and later hotels)?

3. How and why were the famous Harvey Girls invented?

4. Did Fred Harvey’s businesses change attitudes about gender and race in America?

5. Why did the Fred Harvey company later go into the dining car business--and compete against itself by still running trackside restaurants?

6. How and why did Fred Harvey and the Santa Fe Railroad turn New Mexico and Arizona into major international tourist attractions?

7. How did family issues affect the business after Fred Harvey was no longer involved?

8. How did Fred Harvey assure that his name and his standards would live on after his death?

9. How and why did Fred Harvey's heir Ford go into business with Native American artisans?

10. What role did the Fred Harvey operation at the Grand Canyon play in the development of western tourism and the national parks?

11. What early restaurant and hotel chains were influenced by Fred Harvey?

12. There are examples of Harvey House restaurants’ generosity, during the Great Depression, for instance. “It was company policy never to let anyone who couldn’t afford to pay to leave hungry.” (Chapter 37: Loaves and Fishes). Are there examples of this today or are such practices entirely a thing of the past?

13. What role did the Fred Harvey Indian Detours play in the development of Santa Fe as one of the nation's top tourist attractions?

14. How did the Great Depression affect the Fred Harvey company--and the tourism industry?

15. How did the business model and climate change over the years? Was it inevitable the company would fall on hard times after World War II with the advent of faster rail service, automobiles, modern highways and passenger air/jet travel?

16. Why did the Fred Harvey company get out of the airline business, after pioneering in-plane dining?

17. Could anyone, in any other location (other than Fred Harvey in 1876 in Kansas) have built a business as successful as Harvey’s? What elements helped and hindered the Harvey company’s early successes?

18. What lessons can hospitality executives today learn from the Fred Harvey company?

19. How did Fred Harvey’s businesses shape Americans’ diets, tastes and expectations--either positively or negatively?

Find more at www.stephenfried.com, www.fredharveybook.com/blog, and www.harveygirlscookbook.com.