Resources
>
BLOG

Branching Out into Fast Casual

Aug 27, 2015

By Joan Lang, Editorial Director

Ambitious young entrepreneurs and boldface-name chefs aren’t the only ones attempting to cash in on the popularity of fast casual concepts that offer convenient service, affordable prices and an elevated level of food quality and customization to a new generation of customers.

Many established players on either side of the space are moving up and down with fast-casual projects of their own.

 

twenty20_d9552ec7-a04e-46ce-9d92-5fbe2532f1a6

  • Yum Brands has been especially proactive in its attempts to create new brands. Pizza Hut is hard at work refining Slice Bar as part of an attempt to reposition itself in the fast-casual niche, where pizza is already undergoing a revolution with the likes of Pieology and 800 Degrees. Taco Bell is experimenting with U.S. Taco, which touts upgraded offerings like a grilled Manchego taco with molcajete salsa—even as it tests its own new initiatives including delivery. Yum also has Banh Shop, a freewheeling, fast-casual take on Vietnamese street food.

 

  • Buffalo Wild Wings has also been playing in the fast casual field with last year’s investment in Rusty Taco, which has garnered 2015 Breakout Brands status in Nation’s Restaurant News. Now nine units strong, the better-taco concept showcases handmade tacos featuring such distinctive fillings as picadillo (spiced ground beef), brisket and achiote pork, as well as breakfast tacos.

 

  • The Bonanza and Ponderosa group has also been refining its fast-casual entrant, having recently rebranded its year-old Bo’s Steak & Grill as Cole’s Backyard Grill. Located in Lindale, Texas, the new franchise features an ambitious, cookout-style menu of steaks, burgers, chicken fried steak and fried chicken, beer-can chicken, and ribs and brisket.

 

  • Denny’s continues to court millennials with its fast casual spinoff, The Den. With 11 units in operation in University locations, the new-style diner touts all-day breakfast (including Denny’s signatures such as The Grand Slam) and an abbreviated menu of “hand-smashed” burgers, sandwiches, and shakes.

 

  • La Boulanger, a French-inspired bakery-café chain with 18 locations in central California, has announced that not only is it not the chain that’s being closed by Starbucks, but its founders are also looking to open a wine-bar/bistro called Fire, Oak & Barley. Designed to overlap with La Boulanger on breakfast and lunch, the new “fine fast” concept will target dinner sales with pizza, a burger, sandwiches, steaks, pasta and specialties from the woodburning oven.

 

  • It makes sense that organic and vegetarian food manufacturer Amy’s Kitchen would leverage interest in cleaner eating with its fast-casual venue, called Amy’s Drive-Thru. Launched this summer, the vegetarian concept features meatless versions of burgers, pizza, burritos and salads, as well as meticulously sourced ingredients and repurposed or sustainable building materials, solar power, and recycled rainwater.

 

  • John Gilbert, now co-owner and president of Romano’s Macaroni Grill—recently liberated from Ignite Restaurant Group—is the impetus behind a fast-casual component called Romano’s Kitchen Counter, specializing in $7 express lunch and lower tariffs for time- and cash-poor customers. Earlier this year, the Counter concept was expanded to include dinner as well as lunch to-go, seven days a week. The $9 dinner menu includes Pork Belly & Chicken Carbonara, Prosciutto & Chicken Penne, Pesto Chicken Farfalle, Diavola Scaloppine and Chicken Milanese Panzanella.

 

  • Umami Burger founder Adam Fleischman, who stepped down from day-to-day operations at that wildly successful burger juggernaut in 2014, is now working on three fast-casual concepts: Fat Noodle, with chef Joshua Skenes, which will specialize in hand-pulled Chinese noodles; Chop Daddy’s, a two-unit barbecue joint; and Choco Chicken, chocolate-fried chicken concept that has met with mixed success. His AdVantage Restaurant Group also includes the full-service Smoke.Oil.Salt and Taco Teca.