Costa Rica's Fast Food Boom Started With These 2 Staple American Chains

You can find all kinds of fast food in Costa Rica, from Panda Express to Domino's, and not just in San Jose. All over the country, chain restaurants and fast food joints offer standardized burgers and fries, premade tacos, familiar pizzas, and fountain drinks. It wasn't always this way, of course. There was a time not long ago when Costa Rica's dining scene was less abundant and more traditional. Bars and cantinas served bocas, small appetizers that came with your drink, on the house. Restaurants served meals cooked on wood fires and street food was the king of convenience, ranging from empanadas (they look like the Costa Rican version of a calzone, but they're very different) to yuca frita to ceviche. Then came the 1970s, when American fast-food restaurants KFC and McDonald's moved into the country, and everything changed.

Cantinas and bars are still everywhere in Costa Rica, and you'll still find plenty of sodas with their fast, local-style meals. The street food scene is vibrant, too, filled with trucks and stands slinging gallos (filled tortillas), patacones (fried plantains), and the local favorite hot dog and french fry dish, salchipapa. Options, however, have expanded on every street corner. Now, there are more than 70 McDonald's and 60 KFC locations in Costa Rica — plus so many more fast food options.

Kentucky Fried Chicken was founded in the United States in 1930 by Colonel Harland Sanders. A fried chicken-obsessed man, Colonel Sanders had quite a wild story, but managed to find success in the end. KFC created the franchise model for fast food restaurants, opening its first franchise in 1950. McDonald's was founded a whole 10 years later, but was hot on the heels of KFC, with franchising starting in 1955. Both fast food chains ended up in Costa Rica in the same year.

The first KFC to open in Costa Rica was led by Scottish businessman Ian Patton in San Jose, and opened its door in 1970 on Paseo Colon, just west of downtown. In the middle of downtown, just across the street from the Central Bank, that same year McDonald's opened its doors. Both were wildly popular, with McDonald's building a second location in the country just two years later. In 2024, the franchise reported receiving 28 million customers every year in Costa Rica alone. KFC's expansion in Costa Rica went even faster. A second KFC opened in San Jose within a year of the first, and KFC franchises are still popping up everywhere, with plans ongoing to have six more locations built in Costa Rica by the end of 2025.