DonRocks Posted February 3, 2015 Share Posted February 3, 2015 "The Chipotle Effect: Why America Is Obsessed With Fast-Casual Food" by Roberto A. Ferdman on washingtonpost.com "It's all very confusing, said Darren Tristano, executive vice president of Technomic, an industry research firm. "The truth is that no one really has the right answer." Response: "Fast-Casual is when you walk up to a line of steam-tables containing pre-cooked and/or pre-chopped food items, order a combination from a menu on the wall, and then a team member or members will assemble your order by the time you get to the register, often heating a starchy container along the way," says Don Rockwell, President of donrockwell.com. "It's really quite a simple concept, and was actually pioneered by Subway, not Chipotle - the difference being that Subway uses cold cuts, and Chipotle uses meats that have been cooked earlier in the day." 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Hersch Posted February 3, 2015 Share Posted February 3, 2015 "The Chipotle Effect: Why America Is Obsessed With Fast-Casual Food" "It's really quite a simple concept, and was actually pioneered by Subway, not Chipotle - the difference being that Subway uses cold cuts, and Chipotle uses meats that have been cooked earlier in the day." Wasn't it pioneered by the cafeteria, long, long ago? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Hersch Posted February 4, 2015 Share Posted February 4, 2015 Speaking of the cafeteria, it occurs to me that I posted something apposite in the "Music" forum about Lee Wiley the other day. She wonderfully sings "Manhattan" by Rodgers and Hart, their first real hit song from 1925, which includes the lines We'll go to Yonkers Where true love conquers In the wilds, And starve together dear In Childs'.... Childs' (first restaurant 1889, talk about hot and new!) was very much a pioneer of the "fast casual" dining concept, which you can read about in this Wikipedia article. You can read about the history of Childs' restaurants in Washington on the excellent "Streets of Washington" website here. The striking, roughly trapezoidal building at the confluence of F and North Capitol Streets and Massachusetts Ave. NW, near Union Station, which now houses a Sun Trust branch, is all that remains of Childs' in Washington. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
darkstar965 Posted February 18, 2015 Share Posted February 18, 2015 Wasn't it pioneered by the cafeteria, long, long ago?Sounds right to me if steam tables are a key component. Military mess halls and cafeterias. Schools and other institutions. That said, I've never thought a steam table was a default component for the category.Something like this is what I've always associated with the term. "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." http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fast_casual_restaurant Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark Slater Posted February 18, 2015 Share Posted February 18, 2015 An interesting article about calories at Chipotle recently in the New York Times (paywall warning) : http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2015/02/17/upshot/what-do-people-actually-order-at-chipotle.html?_r=0&abt=0002&abg=1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tujague Posted February 20, 2015 Share Posted February 20, 2015 Fast casual is so yesterday. Here's the next big trend in dining. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DonRocks Posted October 4, 2015 Author Share Posted October 4, 2015 But isn't quick-serve lunch a lot different from frozen yogurt? As an example, you have to eat lunch 7 times a week, generally. How many times a week, month, or year do you eat frozen yogurt? I think the quick-serve model is based upon the local economy. Frozen yogurt is a whole other thing. Oh, totally. I changed subjects abruptly. I was just brainstorming and could be completely wrong - who knows, if fast food is on its way out, *something* needs to replace it. Maybe the quick-serve market is only 10% saturated. I think the biggest upside right now is in sous-vide (which is not incompatible at all with quick-serve). Yes, it's crap, but it's still better than fast food, and in many cases, a lot better. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
weezy Posted October 4, 2015 Share Posted October 4, 2015 I think it's a geographic thing as well -- quick serve does better in places where drive-thru windows aren't an option, fast food will stay strong in a suburban car-centric model. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DonRocks Posted January 29, 2016 Author Share Posted January 29, 2016 I have a question for people in the industry: Do you prefer "Quick-Serve" or "Fast-Casual" as a descriptor? Is there any difference at all between the two? I know there are entire lobbying groups and expensive journals dedicated to this mega-concept, so I suspect within the industry, there's probably a distinction - if so, then what is it? And is there a difference between what you call yourselves internally, and what you call yourselves in the public eye? We have a gazillion of these restaurants in DC, and I've been using the tags interchangeably - it would be nice to make them all the same, if that's accurate, and if it's not accurate, it would be nice to divvy them up correctly. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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