Fast casual restaurant

A fast-casual restaurant is a type of restaurant that does not offer full table service, but promises a higher quality of food with fewer frozen or processed ingredients than a fast-food restaurant.[1] It is a concept used in the United States, positioned between fast-food and casual dining. The typical cost per meal is in the USD $8-15 range.[2] The category is exemplified by chains such as Chipotle Mexican Grill, Culvers, Zaxby's and Panera Bread.[1]

History

The concept did not become a popular and common one in the United States until the early to mid-1990s, and did not truly become mainstream until the end of the 2000s and the beginning of the 2010s.[3]

During the economic downturn beginning in 2007, fast casual dining saw an uptick in sales from the 18–34 demographic.[4] Customers with limited discretionary meal spending tend to use it on dining perceived as healthier.[4]

Logistics

Publisher and founder of FastCasual.com Paul Barron is credited for coining the term "fast-casual" in the late 1990s.[5] Horatio Lonsdale-Hands, former Chairman and CEO of ZuZu Inc., is also credited with coining the term "fast-casual". ZuZu, a handmade Mexican food concept co-founded by Lonsdale-Hands in 1989, filed a U.S. Federal trademark registration for the term "fast-casual" in November 1995.[6] In the July 1996 edition of Restaurant Hospitality, editor/associate publisher Michael DeLuca calls Lonsdale-Hands a "progressive pioneer in the burgeoning ‘fast-casual’ market segment."[7]

The company Technomic Information Services defined the term "fast-casual restaurants" as meeting the following criteria:[8]

See also

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Julia Moskin (25 July 2014). "Hold the Regret? Fast-Food Seeks Virtuous Side". New York Times. Retrieved 2014-07-27. These ambitious new chains make up only a sliver of the nation’s $683 billion restaurant industry. But all are within its swiftest-growing segment, "fast-casual", a subset of fast-food that includes places like Chipotle and Panera, whose offerings are marketed as a rung or two higher than those of Burger King or Taco Bell: fewer frozen and highly processed ingredients, more-comfortable seats, better coffee and (sometimes) healthier food.
  2. ↑ "Fast Casual – Insights for Innovative Restaurants". FastCasual.com. Retrieved 29 June 2011.
  3. ↑ "2010’s Twenty Largest Fast-Casual Franchises". BlueMauMau. Retrieved 29 June 2011.
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 Jargon, Julie (1 February 2010). "As Sales Drop, Burger King Draws Critics for Courting 'Super Fans'". The Wall Street Journal (Yahoo! Finance). Retrieved 1 February 2010.
  5. ↑ Wheelen, Thomas L.; Hunger, J. David (2006). Strategic Management and Business Policy: Cases (10th ed.). Upper Saddle River, N.J: Pearson Prentice Hall. ISBN 978-0-13-149460-2.
  6. ↑ "Fast Casual Trademark Serial Number: 75017852".
  7. ↑ "Formula for Success". Restaurant Hospitality 80 (7): 81–86. July 1996.
  8. ↑ "What exactly is fast casual?". Franchise Times. January 2008. Retrieved 23 January 2011.