Fast-casual restaurants position themselves as offering freshly prepared items that are a notch above those from traditional fast-food outlets in taste and quality, but presented in a more convenient and affordable format than casual-dining restaurants (CDRs). But what parts of this equation are most important to fast-casual consumers? What’s most likely to bring them back to a fast-casual concept, and what will drive them away? Technomic’s latest Consumer Brand Metrics study sought to answer these and other questions about consumers’ attitudes and behaviors.
Overall, two-thirds of consumers – 70 percent of men and 63 percent of women – say they visit fast-casual restaurants at least monthly. That’s compared with 91 percent of consumers who say the same for fast-food restaurants and 68 percent who report visiting traditional casual-dining restaurants with that frequency. Smaller shares of consumers say they visit coffee cafes or family-style or upscale restaurants monthly. Fast-food outlets retain a clear lead in terms of visitation, but the fast-casual category is neck-and-neck with the CDR segment for regular visits.
So what are consumers looking for from fast-casual concepts? Continue reading . . .