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With big-box retailers closing up shop, more than 140 million square feet of desirable retail space has become available, presenting the opportunity for restaurants such as fast-casual concepts to expand their businesses. In more recent years, there's been a wider adoption of fast-casual concepts. Has it evolved?
From salted egg yolks and chili crunch fusions to mushroom-infused teas and freeze-dried fruit powder garnishes, Kimpton’s in-house experts share the standout ingredients, menu items and techniques that will come to the table in 2025.
Internal communication, especially between front- and back-of-house staff, is one of the most overlooked drivers of operational efficiency and l asting loyalty. After all, when teams are aligned and able to provide quality service almost instantly, guests notice, appreciate the teamwork and keep coming back.
With households increasingly treating dining out as a luxury, every menu item and service interaction becomes a potential make-or-break moment. With households increasingly treating dining out as a luxury, every menu item and service interaction becomes a potential make-or-break moment. At the same time, U.S. chain sales grew just 3.1
Across the globe, and largely amongst younger age groups, more and more people are choosing to go out to eat by themselves. With solo dining on the rise globally, consumers are fundamentally changing the way they dine out. With solo dining on the rise globally, consumers are fundamentally changing the way they dine out.
So much data is generated at every point within a restaurant, whether fast casual or fine dining. The quicker businesses can feed that information back into operations, the better, whether for personalized dining, staffing optimization, or advertising and marketing.
Which brings us back to the restaurant industry. According to a study conducted by Technavio , the fast casual restaurant industry will witness a compound annual growth rate of over 12 percent from now until 2026. I believe that fast casual continues to be a great place for savvy multi-unit restaurant franchisees to diversify.
A chief reason is due to caution or uncertainty exhibited by conscious consumers, with 48 percent saying they are taking the ‘wait and see’ approach and holding back on spending in 2024. Moving to Multichannel Dining Experiences Dining out is… back? So, what’s the solution?
With a critically shrunken talent pool, restaurants are racing to fill positions in every part of the business — front of house, back of house, and corporate teams. For fast-casual or QSR brands, digital tableside ordering is equally beneficial. At full-service restaurants, servers are responsible for crucial tasks.
. | Courtesy of Sabine Caf Rich Fox of Sabine in Seattle says leaning more casual has helped his bottom line A version of this post originally appeared on May 28, 2025, in Eater and Punchs newsletter Pre Shift , a biweekly newsletter for the industry pro that sources first-person accounts from the bar and restaurant world.
He poured over cookbooks and learned what he could, testing recipe after recipe with his young son helping out. We’d sell out. Another bagel baker wanted out and offered his assets. By Lisa Jennings on Jun. 27, 2025 Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Jeff's Bagel Run has 15 units open, expecting to reach 30 by the end of the year.
And no, increasing restaurant sales doesn’t mean turning your restaurant staff into pushy upsellers trying to squeeze a few extra dollars out of every order. Think seasonal menu items, weekend-only bundles, or one-day-only discounts; the urgency motivates guests to take action soon.
Lille Allen, Jesse Sparks The stand-up comedian became a social media standout for his whip-smart crowd work and casual cooking videos. Now, he’s taking over your dinner table. When Matteo Lane isn’t performing his distinct brand of scathing yet sincere stand-up, he’s busy eating pasta — and being opinionated about pasta.
So what can restaurants do to differentiate themselves and get customers excited about going out to eat? When consumers can get great food delivered in less than an hour, restaurants must deliver a differentiated experience that makes going out worth the effort. Consumers look for a sparkling clean front of house.
From full service to fast-casual to legacy fast-food brands, the one constant was disruption. This approach required fewer front-of-the-house staff to maintain a dining room, complied with government orders, and kept many brands from closing. Just as one issue seemed fixed, another presents itself. Diversify vs. Simplify.
“We are seeing sign-on bonuses at fast food and fast casual locations, something never seen before in the industry. Restaurants are switching out dinnerware for full paper and plastic to eliminate the need for a dishwasher (it’s one position but it’s one of the toughest to fill).
Guests are dining out more often than last year and and rewarding great service, with the highest tips at bars and fine dining restaurants, according to hospitality industry data from Lightspeed Commerce Inc. percent) than they do in casual restaurants (16.5 percent at fast casual restaurants. percent, from 16.93 percent to 17.32
At the same time, QSRs and fast casual establishments are turning to technology to improve operations and customer interactions as they continue to increase output. Take fast casual and drive-thru for example. For fast casual and QSRs, is your menu up to date? Technology is one way to make this happen.
"It's a challenging time for restaurants — large and small — and we believe that there are some practical steps restaurants can take to address the social distancing concerns you and many are voicing today," said Susie Fogelson, Founder/ CEO, F&Co. "First Utmost care and attention is required today."
You love seeing them come in, and you say hello, but is that enough to keep them coming back for years down the line? You love seeing them come in, and you say hello, but is that enough to keep them coming back for years down the line? Time Management: 80% of tasks completed often come from 20% of the effort. Thats huge!
New concepts, ghost kitchens, and delivery-only brands are popping up constantly, making it harder for any single restaurant to stand out. If your restaurant isnt showing up in search results, maintaining strong reviews , or engaging on platforms like Instagram and TikTok, youre missing out on a huge segment of potential diners.
Joey Coiffi, top photo, CEO of The Salad House , a growing New Jersey-based fast casual franchise, discusses how their restaurants were able to quickly ramp up to help out, the impact of social media sharing as well as restaurant technology's role in giving back. This was really quick. It's been a challenge.
Guests will expect to know every aspect of sourcing and meal preparation, which will disrupt traditional back-of-house systems with technology that connects the farm to the food. We’re seeing massive disruption to front-of-house systems, too, delivering personalized guest experiences from order to payment to final delivery.
While there are clear benefits to an all-digital menu system, to get the most out them, you must first take a step back to re-examine what your menu means to you. If your operations are spread out geographically, or you’re trying to eke out a bit of efficiency, the answer may be Yes. Cuisine and Concept.
You need ideas that will wow new customers and get the regulars excited to come back in. We searched high and low for every restaurant event idea out there, then boiled them down to what we believe are the most exciting and effective restaurant events to keep regulars ecstatic and new customers talking.
New restaurant and food businesses are opening at pre-pandemic levels, with the number of new openings increasingly more in line with 2018 and 2019 volumes, according to third quarter data for the Yelp Economic Average (YEA) report. business openings and reopenings, as well as consumer interest trends via search data, page views, reviews and photos.
Find the full guide to restaurant tip outs here. Tip Out Methods and Systems. Possibility of an uneven tip out and wage gaps. Cafes, breweries, some full service restaurants, casual restaurants. Takes away a considerable portion of server's share requiring higher hourly wages. Percentage-based tips outs.
Krispy Kreme is out of the cookie business , selling its remaining stake in Insomnia Cookies for $75 million. Private-equity firm Savory Fund made a major investment in casual-dining chain Hawkers Asian Street Food. By Heather Lalley on Jun. Upscale soup dumpling chain Din Tai Fung has the industry’s highest average unit volumes.
Anyone who has worked the back of the house at a popular restaurant knows how chaotic the kitchen can feel during a restaurant “rush” hour—knives, spoons, and spatulas being swung around, glassware flying, line cooks and sous chefs furiously plating food and sending it out. A Little History.
Proper staff training keeps your team knowledgeable, confident, and able to provide the kind of customer service that keeps guests coming back. Front-of-house (FOH) staff, like servers and hosts, will need customer service training, upselling techniques, and communication skills. Focused training also speeds up the onboarding process.
Without a well-defined target market, restaurants risk wasting resources on strategies that dont connect and menu offerings that dont selltrying to appeal to everyone, but standing out to no one. Understanding who you serve can help you make strategic decisions that attract the right customers and keep them coming back.
The modern restaurant ecosystem demands that businesses of all shapes and styles, from full-service fine dining to quick-serve fast-casual, incorporate third-party delivery systems into their business models, strategic planning, Front and Back of House training and physical design.
Brooklyn Dumpling House just opened and they're already franchising the idea. We also foresee a lot of companies will redesign locations even further to maximize efficiency. Fortunately, we have exceeded in our efforts to reduce our footprint and maximize profitability to effectively operate our drive-thrus and maintain team productivity.
This trend reflects the growing popularity of drive-thru and fast-casual dining, coupled with the demand for digital technologies such as QSR digital signage and QR codes. Consider, for instance, a scenario in which your Point of Sale (POS) system can forecast the popularity of a new dish based on historical customer behaviour.
The key is to highlight what makes the dish stand out: the flavors, textures, or locally sourced ingredients that guests will be interested in. Be specific about standout elements For example, Arroyo Chop House shares with customers that they serve only the highest grade of domestic wagyu beef. Is your pasta handmade daily?
hadynyah/Getty Images A local food expert provides the ideal culinary tour of Sri Lanka, from the islands palm tree-lined beaches to its rolling highland tea plantations Floating just below the southern tip of India, Sri Lanka is a stunningly verdant island cloaked in jungles. Travel around and youll be rewarded.
Of these, one of the biggest challenges facing independent, franchised and fast-casual restaurants is staffing. Taking time out for one-on-one check-ins, daily team huddles and taking the pulse of the organization’s workforce likely feels like just one more thing to try to accomplish in an already hectic restaurant environment.
As Modern Restaurant Management Restaurant (MRM) magazine celebrates its fifth anniversary this month, we reached out to industry insiders to garner their insights on what issues have impacted the industry over the last five years and what issues they feel will impact restaurants in the years to come. “Will this look good on Instagram?
“But the desire is in the air to get back to social life and reconvene the life that has been paused for over two months. . “But the desire is in the air to get back to social life and reconvene the life that has been paused for over two months. Those measures will continue in the future.”
Fast-casual spots usually dont have that luxury, so pricing needs to be tighter and more dialled in. This allows you to avoid paying the 25-30% third-party commission fees and keep more revenue in-house. Most operators aim for food costs to be around 28-35% of the menu price, though this can change from restaurant to restaurant.
This could take the form of creative blended financing structures, open innovation platforms, infrastructure partnerships, and commercial collaborations as the industry enters its next phase of maturity. We've reached a point where we're recognizing the value and limits of these technologies.
According to Black Box Intelligence and Snagajob , full-service restaurants are feeling the pinch and report approximately six fewer employees in the back of house and three fewer in the front of house. Rely on Technology to Increase Operational Efficiency. Enhance CX with Accelerated Contactless Adoption.
The survey found that 59 percent of US and 47 percent of UK consumers plan to dine-out as soon as they are able. But while limited dining options are available, people have shown an increased desire to help out independent restaurants. Mixed take-out bag. COVID-19 Consumer Dining Trends.
This edition of Modern Restaurant Management (MRM) magazine's Research Roundup features delivery data, tariff troubles, summer dining trends, and Beer Serves America. The report analyzed data from more than 30,000 QSR restaurants that generated a total of 4.5 billion transactions and $67 billion in sales in 2024. labor costs at 3 percent.
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