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A fast casual restaurant, found primarily in the United States and Canada, does not offer full table service, but advertises higher quality food than fast food restaurants, with fewer frozen or processed ingredients. It is an intermediate concept between
A fast casual restaurant, found primarily in the United States and Canada, does not offer full table service, but advertises higher quality food than fast food restaurants, with fewer frozen or processed ingredients. It is an intermediate concept between fast food
Fast food is a type of mass-produced food designed for commercial resale, with a strong priority placed on speed of service. It is a commercial term, limited to food sold in a restaurant or store with frozen, preheated or precooked ingredie ...
and casual dining. In Canada, it is also often referenced by a wordplay fast good or a francization haut-de-gamme (literally "top notch").
History
The concept originated in the United States in the early 1990s, but did not become mainstream until the end of the 2000s and the beginning of the 2010s. During the economic recession that began in 2007, the category of fast casual dining saw increased sales to the 18–34-year-olddemographic
Demography () is the statistical study of populations, especially human beings.
Demographic analysis examines and measures the dimensions and dynamics of populations; it can cover whole societies or groups defined by criteria such as ed ...
. Customers with limited discretionary spending for meals tend to choose fast casual for dining perceived as healthier.
Definition
The founder and publisher of FastCasual.com, Paul Barron, is credited with coining the term "fast-casual" in the late 1990s. Horatio Lonsdale-Hands, former Chairman and CEO of ZuZu Inc., is also credited with coining the term "fast-casual". 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, 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.'' The company Technomic Information Services defined "fast-casual restaurants" as meeting the following criteria: * 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 adrive-through
A drive-through or drive-thru (a sensational spelling of the word ''through''), is a type of take-out service provided by a business that allows customers to purchase products without leaving their cars. The format was pioneered in the United ...
See also
*List of casual dining restaurant chains
This is a list of casual dining restaurant chains around the world, arranged in alphabetical order. A casual dining restaurant is a restaurant that serves moderately priced food in a casual atmosphere. Except for buffet-style restaurants and, mor ...
* List of fast food restaurant chains
The following is a list of notable current and former fast food restaurant chains, as distinct from fast casual restaurants (see List of casual dining restaurant chains), coffeehouses (see List of coffeehouse chains), ice cream parlors (see Lis ...
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Fast-Casual Restaurant restaurants by type