An appetite for fast casual

Customers Demand Fast Casual

The fast-casual segment of the foodservice industry has gained traction in recent years, its demand influenced by an increasingly common desire to continue eating out at a lower price. The search for higher-quality, more-affordable food that combines flavor with convenience is driving customers and chefs from upscale dining rooms and full-service restaurants to fast-casual concepts. The popularity of fast-casual options experienced rapid growth during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, helping secure this type of restaurant as a staple in the industry instead of a trend. Below, we'll go over the impact the fast-casual segment has had on the restaurant industry and look at why customers are gravitating to these establishments.

Table of Contents

  1. What is Fast Casual?
  2. Chefs Trade in Formal for Fast-casual Fare
  3. Fast-casual Restaurants & the Pandemic
  4. Full-service Restaurants Open Fast Casuals

What is Fast Casual?

Fast-casual restaurants offer the convenience of quick service while maintaining the food quality expected of full-service dining. These restaurants offer healthier, more customizable options than their quick-service counterparts without providing table service like full-service setups. Although quick-service and casual-dining restaurants dominate the market, fast-casual restaurants have experienced 550 percent growth over the past 20 years, which is expected to continue.1 As of 2016, millennials accounted for nearly half of fast-casual traffic,2 but the convenience and quality-focused marketing of the fast-casual sector has attracted loyalty from patrons of all generations.

Fast Food vs. Fast Casual vs. Full Service

Quick Service

Quick-service restaurants emphasize efficiency and fast service. These restaurants tend to serve food at a cheaper price than other commercial segments, have drive-thrus, long hours, and fewer customizable options for customers.

Fast Casual

Fast casual has the accessibility of quick service and the food quality of dining in at a restaurant without a traditional waitstaff. Instead, fast-casual operates using counter-service, and the food tends to have a higher price tag than fast food with more options for customization.

Full-service Dining

Full-service restaurants seat customers in a dining room, where they are regularly tended to throughout their visit. Meals are brought out by waitstaff or food runners, and tips are expected.

Chefs Trade in Formal for Fast-casual Fare

It's unlikely you'll be seeing casual chain restaurants close the doors of their flagship, full-service dining establishments any time soon. Still, the growing fast-casual segment in the industry continues to attract high-end chefs.

Good Stuff Eatery was developed by Top Chef alum Spike Mendelsohn in 2008 and has since expanded to seven locations. The fast-casual brand's executive chef, Max Albano, takes his fine-dining knowledge and aims to make it accessible to the public without sacrificing quality.3 Beefsteak, founded by renowned chef José Andrés, is a fast-casual restaurant that focuses on creating dishes that spotlight vegetables. For uniform food quality, Andrés determined that every vegetable Beefsteak offers must be cut differently before steaming to ensure each ingredient is consistently cooked when served together.4

Along with professionals opening their own fast-casual restaurants, established fast casuals are hiring fine-dining chefs to enhance their menu. Chick N Max hired upscale chef and industry consultant Robert Kabakoff as its culinary director in 2020. Since joining Chick N Max, Kabakoff has created and updated several menu items and maximized their kitchen layout to improve service speed.5 As of 2022, the Wichita-based fast-casual chain is expanding into other states and hopes to continue its growth into the central and southeastern regions.6

Fast-casual Restaurants During the Pandemic

During the height of the pandemic, fast-casual restaurants had an advantage over their competitors. Unlike traditional dine-in restaurants that had to greatly modify their entire business model to focus on curbside and delivery, fast-casual restaurants were able to quickly adapt to CDC guidelines and continue business with minimal hiccups. Prior to the pandemic, many fast casuals already had online ordering and drive-thrus, and around 70 percent of orders were placed through the latter,7 which eased their transition into pandemic-era restrictions.

When restaurants closed their dining rooms for much of 2020 and 2021, customers weren't deterred from giving fast-casual concepts their business. The pandemic accelerated the use of technology and operational features built into the fast-casual format, but they were already equipped with the tools necessary to provide food customers could enjoy at home.8

Moreover, fast casuals are equipped to withstand the demands of customers as the world moves into a post-pandemic period where convenience is still a primary motivator for consumers. Curbside pickup became a common solution throughout the pandemic, and customers still expect to have this option available to them as a quick and convenient way to receive their order without paying for delivery.

Full-service Restaurants Open Fast-casual Concepts

Several well-known full-service chains have responded to customer demand and the shifting foodservice industry landscape by opening fast-casual spinoffs of already-popular brands. With offsite ordering in full-service restaurants gaining traffic throughout the pandemic, patrons now expect the convenience of these accommodations to stick around. Restaurants such as IHOP, Buffalo Wild Wings, and Hooters opened fast casual concepts with a corresponding brand name.

  • Hooters debuted Hoots Wings in 2017 after seeing an increase in offsite ordering in 2010.11 The fast-casual offshoot sells the full-service's top sellers and strives to provide convenience and variety to its customers.
  • Buffalo Wild Wings opened Buffalo Wild Wings GO in 2020 to compete with their competitor, Wingstop, which saw a 33 percent increase in sales in April of the same year.10
  • Flip'd by IHOP opened in 2021 and has since expanded beyond the original Kansas location.

These restaurants continue to pop up across the United States, and customers welcome the convenience of the fast-casual sector.

References

  1. Fast Casual vs. Fast Fine Dining Trends. Lightspeed. Accessed June 2022.
  2. Fast-Casual Consumers: Who Are They? Restaurant Business. Accessed June 2022.
  3. 5 Fine-Dining Chefs Changing Fast Casual. QSR. Accessed June 2022.
  4. Why Jose Andres' Fast Casual Beefsteak is One to Watch. QSR. Accessed June 2022.
  5. Chick N Max hires fine-dining chef to elevate menu. Fast Casual. Accessed June 2022.
  6. Chick N Max heading to Texas. Fast Casual. Accessed June 2022.
  7. The 2018 QSR Drive-Thru Study. QSR. Accessed June 2022.
  8. Fast Casual Restaurants Exit the Pandemic Positioned for Growth. QSR. Accessed June 2022.
  9. 5 dining trends left behind by COVID-19. Fast Casual. Accessed June 2022.
  10. Buffalo Wild Wings Unveils a Delivery and Takeout Riff Called GO. Restaurant Business. Accessed June 2022.
  11. 5 Full-Service Chains Getting Into Fast Food. QSR. Accessed June 2022.