This is just so untrue. There's tons of fast food restaurants all across Europe. There's a McDonalds in most historic city centers in Europe, and often a Burger King and a KFC as well. You picked Olive Garden as an example, and it's correct that they don't have any franchise locations in Europe, but there's plenty of American fast food (and fast casual to some extent) in Europe from other brands.
They just have mostly the bottom of the barrel stuff, the stuff you find everywhere (Mcdonalds, KFC etc.). France even lost BK from 97 to 2012. I recall seeing only like 1 BK location in all of Paris back in 2015.
The US section is significantly larger than any other country. Having lived in Paris, the French are missing out on a ton of amazing fast food options.
I picked Olive Garden because I know that they have fast food, and it's pretty popular.
What they don't have is that sit down casual niche, of deeply mediocre and inexpensive food. It's filled with trattorias and bistros, which make the food in house. It's slower and pricier and smaller portions, but the food is made with more care and they feel that deeply.
" In a recent survey of French restaurants, more than a third fessed up that they serve industrially prepared, and often frozen, food. Fast-food outlets, mind you, weren't even included in that poll, which was conducted by Synhorcat, a French restaurant trade group. "
This is just so untrue. There's tons of fast food restaurants all across Europe. There's a McDonalds in most historic city centers in Europe, and often a Burger King and a KFC as well. You picked Olive Garden as an example, and it's correct that they don't have any franchise locations in Europe, but there's plenty of American fast food (and fast casual to some extent) in Europe from other brands.