Skift Take
The term "fast-casual" seems loosely defined as fast food steps up its game and full service restaurants become more casual to adapt to changing times. Now, some of the elements that define fine dining are showing up in more casual formats. Lines = blurred.
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Elements of Fine Dining Creep Into Fast-Casual
The concept of fast-casual is hard to define absolutely, though there are plenty of signifiers: fresh ingredients, operational flow, menu offerings and price, and the availability of alcohol are all high on the list. But as competition increases (there are nearly 24,000 fast-casual restaurants in the U.S., according to NPD Group’s fall 2016 Restaurant ReCount) and as they work to differentiate themselves, they’re taking cues from fine dining, interpreting elements of pricier restaurants into their service.
Wine lists, for one, are becoming increasingly important at fast-casual locations, with some even producing private labels to offer at their locations. At New York’s MakiMaki, which opened in June, owner Kevin Takarada sells sushi rolls made fresh right in front of guests — with prices starting at $4. "There is a very specific problem for sushi bars: a lack of qualified, highly trained sushi chefs,” Takarada, tells Chefs+Tech. “This very issue informed my novel concept for an elevated fast-casual sushi restaurant, a concept that eliminates the complexity and difficulties of the high end sushi bar, instead focusing on what consumers really want: great sushi r
