Originally Posted by NoParachute

Pretty simple, Americans drive more.

Chain restaurants thrive off giving you something you know when you are in a place you do not. American's are far more likely to drive 20-30 minutes to a strip mall or a movie theater, or whatever else. That is where all the chain restaurants are - along routes to WalMart, right off the interstate, etc. They are generally not in the downtown business area where people will be more knowledgeable about their food choices (not that they don't exist there ever, just less often).

It is not because Americans are "cowards", but because we put ourselves in unfamiliar places more than others.