Talk:Fast casual restaurant

Chipotle

I know this is everybody's favorite, and they may use better ingredients, but by current definitions, it's not really a fast-casual restaurant. It doesn't have limited table service — it has no table service. The meats are no less pre-prepared than a McDonald's patty, and a limited number of items are assembled quickly in assembly line fashion. Also, it will most certainly be included in NY's formal definition for its phased $15 minimum wage for fast food restaurants, and Chipotle even references themselves as a fast-food restaurant on their own website: We know that no fast food is perfect, including our own. Just thought I'd throw that out there before changing anything — I've been looking at these pages in light of the NY decision.

I came here to see what peiple were saying about this specifically. I say remove. IcehouseCover (talk) 03:09, 6 May 2018 (UTC) IcehouseCover (talk) 03:09, 6 May 2018 (UTC)

Steak N Shake

Is this place really fast casual? I know they do have drive-thrus, but the inside is a full-service restaurant and the food is not even comparable to a place like Five Guys.

Old discussions

This term is new to me. Can you give some examples? -- Zoe

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Did a Google search on it, and came up with Chipotle Mexican Grill and Baja Fresh as the two most cited examples of the genre. Seems like the idea is that they're fast-service restaurants that emphasize healthier and ostensibly better-tasting (the term "fresh" shows up a lot) cuisine than places like McDonald's. Subway Sandwich also advertises itself this way as of late.

-lee 26 July 2003 20:13 (UTC)

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I don't think Taco Time fits in this category. Their eateries are fast-food, not fast casual. Several here in Utah are in older, small stores with limited dining space or in mall food courts. - Ben

I don't think that Panda Express fits in this category. The food isn't very fresh and it's pretty fast foody - User:Jagidrok —Preceding undated comment was added at 08:00, 25 July 2008 (UTC)

I was just at Hardee's the other day, and they changed their system to a fast casual system. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 70.226.189.210 (talk • contribs) 19:53, 24 September 2006 (UTC-8)

Taco John's? Jimmy John's?

Just because a restaurant offers 'fresh salsa' doesn't make them a fast casual restaurant by default. Both of these chains, and several others offer none of the other features that restaurants on this list have. Modor (talk) 19:51, 10 September 2008 (UTC)Modor

Jamburrito

A Jamburrito is a tortilla wrapped around "Jambalaya." "A gift with rice all wrapped up." This new sandwich is featured a fast casual restaurant of the same name, Jamburritos, "Cajun Grille." Based out of the Phoenix Metropolitan area this restaurant features many New Orleans delicacies, including BBQ Shrimp, Cajun Chicken & Beef, Andouille Sausage, Gumbo, Blackened Fish, in bowls, and salads as well as sandwiches. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Compchef (talk • contribs) 04:12, 19 November 2008 (UTC)

UK?

I just took out a couple of sentences about these types of places in the UK. No evidence was given to support it and the type of place it described in Britain is not the same type of place as the article is talking about in the US. --86.172.2.202 (talk) 01:02, 30 September 2009 (UTC)

Proposed merge

The following discussion is closed. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made in a new section.

discussion

This article is poorly sourced and USA-specific. The term is not used outside the USA; it appears to be merely a variant of Cafeteria or Self-Service Restaurant. It should be merged as a subsection of Cafeteria, which would allow for better sourcing and a better globalised view. Andrew Oakley (talk) 15:19, 30 September 2009 (UTC)

• Oppose - they are not the same, a fast casual restaurant is a variation on the fast food concept that offers a higher quality product in a more upscale environment. A cafeteria is not the same thing as it is often a facility within a facility such as a school, hospital or business. The nominator shows a lack of knowledge of the commercial food industry that colors his proposal, examples of the three different business concepts can be found in the articles York Steak House (cafeteria style restaurant), Burger King (traditional fast food), Panera Bread (fast casual) and Friendly's (traditional casual restaurant). Cafeterias are a self service affair where the food sits at various stations, fully prepared, and the patron comes along and picks it up from each station; in fast food and fast casual restaurants food is ordered en toto and picked up from the server. Fast casual restaurants are hybrids of the fast food restaurant and traditional casual restaurants; fast casual utilizes the fast food concept of ordering food at an ordering station but differs in the preparation of the food. Fast food restaurant's products are traditionally made from pre-made ingredients (burgers are precooked and assembled upon ordering), while fast casual borrows from the standard sit down concept and makes the food fresh upon ordering. Wait times are usually a little longer in fast casual restaurants versus traditional fast food restaurants and, as the article states, often offer higher quality products with more complex ingredients than the traditional fast food restaurant.
  
  Additionaly, while the name is primarily a North American invention, examples of the concept can be found in commercial foodservice publications in other English speaking nations. --Jeremy (blah blah • I did it!) 15:24, 30 September 2009 (UTC)

The mere fact that they do not exist in Asia, Europe, etc. does not mean that they do not merit their own article as a specific US phenomenon. E.g. see cha chaan teng which may not exist outside Hong Kong (or Chinatowns) but is clearly a legitimate, distinct category of restaurant. The restaurant industry in the United States is highly segmented, both culturally and economically. Cafeterias are a distinct type of establishment very different from fast casual restaurants. In the United States at least, the main difference is the cafeterias are self-service while fast casual are counter-service. --68.175.44.30 (talk) 19:07, 5 October 2009 (UTC)

• Merge - The above does nothing whatsoever to persuade me that this is not simply a cafeteria. They certainly do not exist in Europe. Even is there is a slight difference between this and a cafeteria (which I personally strongly doubt), it would be better to make brief note of it in the cafeteria article since the distinction is so slight as to not deserve a whole other article. --86.156.100.30 (talk) 20:46, 30 September 2009 (UTC)

• Oppose. "Fast casual restaurant" is a marketing term to denote a fast food restaurant with better ambience. Panera Bread, for example.[1] They have very little in common with cafeterias. Kafziel ^{Complaint Department} 00:14, 8 October 2009 (UTC)

• Oppose. Cafeteria? Really? Please look up the definition. --Nricardo (talk) 02:14, 14 October 2009 (UTC)

• Oppose. I live in Berlin, and the fast-casual style of restaurant definitely exists here. I agree that it's similar to a self-service restaurant or a cafeteria, but it's different enough to stand on its own. To me, a cafeteria is a place where you grab a tray and walk down a line picking up prepared food from stations along the way. Apreble (talk) 01:45, 21 November 2009 (UTC)

The discussion above is closed. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page. No further edits should be made to this discussion.

Examples

I can see that the subject has been broached in the past, but would it be possible to put some examples online? From what I understand, these would be places like: Qdoba. 173.89.147.79 (talk) 17:38, 8 January 2012 (UTC)

For an article in a worldwide encyclopedia, this is disappointing

The article is written as if only people in some unspecified country are going to read it. Near the beginning it gives the typical cost per meal in some unspecified dollar or peso, and then lists three example chains each of which is limited in geographic coverage. The reader situated in a region of the world where none of those chains is present is left to wonder what fast casual chains exist in his/her part of the world.

Somebody removed the globalize template with this comment: "when this type spreads we will add info about it". In other words: "At the moment this type of restaurant exists only in one country; until this changes the article can remain written as if only people in that country will read it." Firstly, people might want to read about something regardless of whether it exists in their country. Secondly, the article lacks geographical context the way it is written at the moment.

If fast casual restaurants indeed exist only in the USA at the moment, we need to find a reliable source confirming this claim and add the info to the article with an "as of" date. Not just evade the question of whether they exist anywhere else in the world.

Moreover, other articles, such as fast food restaurant, types of restaurant and gastropub, don't give the typical price of a meal from the types of establishment covered, presumably because it varies a lot between countries, regions and settings. So it's incongruous that this article should be allowed to give this information simply because somebody thinks the concept is local to some part of the world.

Does anybody here feel up to the task of improving the article to make more sense to its worldwide audience? — Smjg (talk) 23:32, 2 September 2014 (UTC)

Somebody added "in the United States" in places, and replaced "$" with "USD". While this partly addresses the problem of it being written as if only people in one country will read it, stating that it's a "relatively new and growing concept in the United States" makes no comment on its status elsewhere in the world. For all a typical reader knows, it could be an already well-established and widespread concept somewhere else in the world which has recently arrived in the US, or it could be a concept that originated in the US and is virtually unknown elsewhere, or anywhere between the two extremes. We need a reliable source to tell us which is the case.

Furthermore, I have noticed that at least two of the chains mentioned have a few branches outside the US, and so we can't claim that the concept is US-specific. (Unless the branches outside the US are of a different format for some reason or another.) — Smjg (talk) 22:53, 29 January 2015 (UTC)

Another update: "It is a concept used in the United States". What does it mean to 'use' a concept, exactly? — Smjg (talk) 19:22, 14 March 2015 (UTC)

Now what's going on? "A fast casual restaurant is a type of restaurant in the United States" ... so geographical location is part of the dictionary definition now, and the branches of Chipotle, Panera and Shake Shack elsewhere in the world aren't fast casual restaurants purely because they aren't in the US? Doesn't sound likely to me.... — Smjg (talk) 01:48, 28 November 2015 (UTC)

The fact that such a ludicrous article exists is the great disappointment. But it's in good company with the likes of Car door and Headlight flashing. Don't take it seriously; it's the encyclopedia that anyone can edit! Let's take two basic vocabulary words and put them together to create an article title! Yay! Eric ^talk 01:51, 12 December 2017 (UTC)

LOL @ Headlight flashing. That is funny. Bod (talk) 02:02, 12 December 2017 (UTC)

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Fast food v. Fast casual

I don’t see the difference between Subway, Pizza Hut (fast casual) and Wendys (fast food). They all make food in a hurry & make it to go. This feels like fastfood marketers trying to pretend to Not be fastfood (even though they are). Theaveng (talk) 19:32, 10 October 2022 (UTC)