Full-service restaurants can’t stop launching fast-casual spinoffs.
Restaurant Business Online
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Last year alone, at least five full-service chains, including P.F. Chang’s and Perkins, announced or opened a scaled-down version of their core brand.
Their reasons for doing so are all similar: Today’s consumers want speed and convenience. A smaller footprint unlocks new real estate opportunities. And it gives franchises another option for franchisees.
And, importantly, it comes as fast-casual chains like Chipotle, Cava and Sweetgreen continue to grow while the full-service segment slows.
So, they’re looking to get a piece of the action.
This isn’t a new idea. In fact, it’s been happening for about as long as fast casuals have existed. P.F. Chang’s, for example, debuted its Pei Wei spinoff back in the early 2000s.
The curious thing about it, though, is that very few of these spinoffs have done much. Pei Wei is perhaps the biggest, with more than 100 locations. But Chang’s sold it years ago so it could focus more on its full-service business.
For this week’s deep dive from Restaurant Business, I decided to look into why fast-casual concepts from full-service operators haven’t worked, even as the fast-casual sector overall continues to grow. – Joe Guszkowski
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