A fast casual restaurant, found primarily in the United States, is a restaurant that does not offer full table service, but advertises higher quality food than fast-food restaurants. It is an intermediate concept between fast food and casual dining.[1]
History
The concept originated in the United States in the early 1990s, but did not become mainstream until the late 2000s to early 2010s.[2] During the economic recession that began in 2007, the category of fast casual dining saw increased sales to the 18–34-year-old demographic. Customers with limited discretionary spending for meals tend to choose fast casual for dining which they perceive as healthier.[3][4]
Many fast casual restaurants including Cava, Chipotle Mexican Grill and Sweetgreen serve what are derisively called "slop bowls"[5], where the meal consists of what the New York Times called a "nebulous mash of ingredients"[6]
Origin of the term
The founder and publisher of FastCasual.com, Paul Barron, is credited with coining the term "fast-casual" in the late 1990s.[9] Horatio Lonsdale-Hands, former chairman and CEO of ZuZu Inc., is also credited with coining the term. ZuZu, a handmade Mexican food concept co-founded by Lonsdale-Hands and Espartaco Borga in 1989, filed a U.S. Federal trademark registration for the term "fast-casual" in November 1995,[10][11] leading Michael DeLuca to call Lonsdale-Hands a "progressive pioneer in the burgeoning 'fast-casual' market segment" in the July 1996 edition of Restaurant Hospitality.[12]
Definition
The company Technomic Information Services defined "fast-casual restaurants" as meeting the following criteria:[13]
- Limited-service or self-service format
- Average meal price between $8 and $15
- Made-to-order food with more complex flavors than fast food restaurants
- Upscale, unique or highly developed décor
- Most often will not have a drive-through
Examples of fast casual restaurants
- Au Bon Pain
- Barburrito
- Beef-a-roo
- Blaze Pizza
- BurgerFi
- Captain D's
- Cava
- Chipotle Mexican Grill
- Chick fil a
- Chopt[14]
See also
References
- Evie Liu. Fast-Casual Restaurant Stocks Lost Their Sizzle. What Could Bring Them Back. barrons, retrieved 2026-01-08^
- 2010's Twenty Largest Fast-Casual Franchises BlueMauMau, retrieved June 29, 2011^
- Jargon, Julie. As Sales Drop, Burger King Draws Critics for Courting 'Super Fans'