ND0929112

Title: While QSRs Struggle, Fast Casuals Thrive

Description: Celebrity chefs revive the fast casual segment, with a variety of new flavors and concepts.

Page Content: NEW YORK ? While QSRs and family restaurant chains are recording their lowest sales all year, the fast casual segment is ?sizzling,? ABC News reports.

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Bolstered by ?celebrity? chefs from popular foodie TV shows (?Iron Chef,? ?Top Chef,? ?The Chew?), fast casual food is undergoing a facelift.

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?We?re seeing people interested in all sorts of tastes?Mexican, Asian, Indian is really big right now,? said Blair Chancey, editor of QSR Magazine.

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Last year, sales in the fast casual sector totaled $18 billion, a reflection of Americans? search for quality, not just speed, according to ABC. And that?s exactly what Chipotle?s founder, Steve Ells, said his chain delivers.

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?Just because it?s fast doesn?t mean it has to be a typical fast-food experience,? Ells said, noting that his company?s mission is to serve chickens that are fed a vegetarian diet as well as naturally raised pork and beef.

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Hoping to follow in Chipotle?s footsteps is a California chain called The Melt, which specializes in grilled cheese.

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"Americans want high quality, but they want it to be an affordable value and inexpensive, and that's what I think the fast casual industry is trying to do," said The Melt?s founder, Jonathan Kaplan. "There's really a niche there where restaurants are able to offer high-end quality ingredients, artisanal breads, really high quality cheeses, but they can do it at a fast casual price point."

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Content Subject: Foodservice

Formatted Article Date: September 29, 2011

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