And McDonald's wasn't alone in slowing down: Other chains also saw their drive-through performance slow down.

Big fast food chains in New York city have started to obey a first-of-its-kind rule requiring them to post calorie counts right on the menu.

Speed, of course, is essential to the drive-through experience, and drive-throughs are hugely important to chains such as McDonald's, Burger king and Taco Bell.

Starting last Saturday, chains big enough to fall under the rule will face penalties of up to 2, 000 dollars for not showing calorie information in a prominent spot on their menus, preferably next to the price.

The microwave and fast-food chains were the biggest catalysts, but the big food companies—which want to sell anything except the raw ingredients that go into cooking—made the home cook an endangered species.

Iced coffees sold by some popular chains are contaminated.

The World Cancer Research Fund (WCRF) conducted a survey of iced coffees sold by some popular chains in Britain including Starbucks, Caffe Nero and Costa Coffee to gauge the calories as studies increasingly link obesity with cancer

As stories go through the chains of people, they are refined, corrected and sorted out until they come finally to me and I have a chance to read through most stories before I go on the air.

Most large supermarket chains have cured ham in little packets.

These examples are just the tip of the iceberg, but they demonstrate how helping customers get more use of their materials can transform value chains and operations.

Big chains have been collecting sales tax nationwide because they typically have physical stores in whatever state a purchase is being shipped to.

Fast-food chains should also stop offering "inducements" such as toys, cute animals and mobile phone credit to lure young customers, Stephenson said.

The ruling is a victory for big chains with a presence in many states, since they usually collect sales tax on online purchases already.

Then there's the fact that large American companies are much more globalized than ever before, with supply chains spread across a larger number of countries.