| In the face of changing operating environments large technological systems may force an accommodation sufficient to preserve their essential shape and the overall direction of their development, a phenomenon known as “technological momentum.” Smaller systems, however, are less capable of such a feat and must therefore meet such upheavals adaptively if they are to maintain their growth.; The system constructed by the restaurant company Horn & Hardart (best known for its public face, the automat machine) was of this lesser sort. After decades of essentially uninterrupted growth, following World War II it encountered extraordinary change in the urban environments in which it operated. In the face of a new set of economic, social, and above all cultural challenges, the system proved insufficiently flexible: growth ceased and the system's destruction eventually followed.; Horn & Hardart did not disappear without attempting to fit itself into a new world, but these efforts were frustrated by the intransigence of the associations with which its operations were burdened. Still an icon of abundance and thrift, in the postwar era these values lost their currency. Once popularly associated with speed and a comfortable modernity, the Automat, flagship of the concepts the company operated, came to be thought of as antiquated and slow. Simultaneously the system itself, incrementally balanced and orchestrated over the years, proved impossible to shrink gracefully.; The case of Horn & Hardart is compared with that of White Castle, an early hamburger chain which faced similar problems and likewise largely failed to overcome them, though it did avoid complete destruction. Febo, a Dutch user of the automat technology, is likewise presented for the sake of comparison. Unlike the other companies studied, this one proved capable of remaking itself, but only while relatively unencumbered by a technological system.; The history of the restaurant in the United States, and of the automat machine, are both topics of interest here, but the difficulty of the lesser system's position in the face of a changing environment, and the peculiar problems associated with altering any system's cultural character are the main points of interest. |
