Ten years ago if you’d told uber-chef Thomas Keller he’d be serving fried chicken and West Texas barbecue, he’d probably have laughed in your face—politely, of course. Same with Tom (‘wichcraft) Colicchio and Hubert (Burger Bar) Keller, both of whom have made a lot of bread serving sandwiches and burgers rather than foie gras.
Nancy Silverton was on to the trend early, when she introduced Thursday night grilled cheese sandwiches and tapped into a huge hunger for upgraded comfort food, adult beverages, and a casual, drop-in atmosphere—not to mention approachable prices.
Turns out she was right. As the rest of the industry languishes, fast casual and burgers are two segments that shine.
The favorable image of fast-casual trendsetters like Chipotle and mega-growth success stories like Five Guys have injected a no-shame aura around catering to the mainstream; in fact, they’ve made it rather hip. The guttering economy has made the strategy really smart. The fact that these concepts have expansion possibilities—think Danny Meyer and Shake Shack—is even smarter.
Here are some examples of chefs who have made their names in fine dining and are bringing their rarefied take to the task of redefining fast casual:
- After finding widespread popularity with DMK Burger Bar, Michael Kornick, of mk in Chicago, has introduced clam shack chic with his new Fish Bar
- James Beard award winner Rob Evans of Hugo’s, in Portland, ME, is on to something expandable with duckfat, which specializes in panini sandwiches, duckfat fries and housemade sodas and shakes
- Roger Andrews, who made his bones at the upscale Restaurant 821 in Wilmington, DE, is packing them in at El Diablo Burritos , a taqueria where everything is made from scratch
This is definitely a trend we can expect to see more of, as serious chefs plumb the depths of menus specializing not only in burgers and sandwiches, but also ethnic food, pizza and other concepts that lend themselves well to an upgraded fast-casual model.