But, of course, they did matter to lots of quick-service brands. For a period of time, it seemed there were daily announcements about the menu debut of a panko-breaded fish filet, a 12-herb bread, an Asiago cheese sauce, or a Himalayan goat taco. Such enhancements, the apparent thinking went, now qualified the chains serving them as fast-casual. Any impartial observer would come to the conclusion that, no, it didn’t make them fast-casual—but it did make the menu more sophisticated, which is what consumers wanted.
As a bit of a beer geek, I had followed the development of the microbrew segment with great interest, and it occurred to me somewhere along the way that fast-casual had developed in a similar fashion. Actually, you could probably say they were both born of consumer desire for more sophisticated flavors, for which a premium would gladly be paid.
Pioneers in the microbrew market, no matter how big they became, still accounted for only a small percentage of overall beer sales. But the demand was there, and more players got involved—and ultimately the big dogs got on board, adding new styles to their offerings, and in some cases entering into distribution agreements with microbrewers or buying them outright.
“Microbrews aren’t a trend anymore,” I wrote in the 2002 installment of The QSR 50. “They’re an accepted part of the beer industry. In time, that will be fast-casual’s place in the restaurant industry.”
Five years later, that still sounds right to me. We’re not there yet, though—there’s still too much buzz around the phrase to consider it just another part of the industry.
A look at the numbers certainly shows that fast-casual has staked its claim. Most restaurant observers will tell you it’s impossible to nail down exactly how big the fast-casual market is, again because of the haziness in defining who’s fast-casual and who’s not. However, industry über-consultants Technomic and Mintel put the number at about $10 billion and $12 billion, respectively, so you get a pretty good idea of the ballpark. For perspective, that’s about 8 percent of what the National Restaurant Association reports as total sales in the limited-service sector.
It’s a relatively small claim, though, and while it might get bigger—fast-casual is growing at a rate about double that of more traditional quick-serves, according to the most recent numbers—it’s never going to be the dominant part of quick-service.
But you know what? In the end I don’t think it’s about numbers. The real story of fast-casual is the impact it has had on quick-service. Whether you call it fast-casual, quick-casual, adult fast-food, premium fast-serve, or something else, what it has illustrated is a growing desire among consumers for a higher-quality dining experience in a limited-service setting—one they’re willing to pay more for. Almost everyone in quick-service has adapted in some way, from McDonald’s salads to Subway’s upscale bread choices to Hardee’s Angus-beef Thickburgers.
Stop and consider what quick-service menus look like today. Really consider it. Pretty amazing, wouldn’t you say? I think the most important lesson the fast-casual movement taught us is that quick-service can be whatever it wants—or needs—to be.