Gothamist
A non-profit newsroom, powered by WNYC.
Gothamist
Listen Live
Food
Does "Fast-Casual" Even Exist?
By
Hugh Merwin
Published Jan 16, 2008
Modified Mar 7, 2008
Share
FacebookTwitterRedditEmail
Never miss a story
Email address
By submitting your information, you're agreeing to receive communications from New York Public Radio in accordance with our Terms .
By
Hugh Merwin
Published Jan 16, 2008
Modified Mar 7, 2008
Share
FacebookTwitterRedditEmail
We rely on your support to make local news available to all
Make your contribution now and help Gothamist thrive in 2026. Donate today
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
A Times article on the popularity of “fast-casual” restaurants continues to cause some major head scratching. In straightforward expansionist news, the article reported that the Five Guys burger chain plan on opening 29 new local outlets in the next 8 years, and Hale and Hearty is busy putting the finishing touches on its 20,000 square foot Williamsburg production facility.
But the trend spotting that motivated the article remains dubious. Ostensibly about “fast-casual” restaurants – defined as a hybrid of places like McDonald’s and Applebee’s – the article implies that the latter has made its mark by “generally serving fresh food made on the spot.”
If boil-in-bag riblets qualify as fresh food, then sure, “made on the spot” is dead-on; Subway makes its own bread, too. As pointed out here Monday, the Times article quotes an enthusiastic Chipotle customer: “It’s fast, it’s healthy, and delicious – that’s all you need.” But antibiotic-free shredded pork in a burrito does not necessarily a healthier meal make. Moreover, the article makes no mention of nutrition at any of the restaurants it describes while simultaneously ordaining them bunch of “fresh food” based alternatives.
Using results from the “Top Food” category of (an obviously landmark) Zagat/Today Show survey, the article grouped Chipotle, Panera Bread, and Quizno’s in the “fast casual” category while somewhat inexplicably excluding Wendy’s and Chick-fil-A. (There’s currently only one NYC Chick-fil-A, at NYU’s Weinstein Food Court, a “fast-casual” sleeper cell lying in wait). Here it seems like the Times piece is a Business section article disguised as a food piece, down to a consultant-supplied sound byte: “Fast-casual dining is perfectly suited to the fast-paced environment of New York.”
There's been a strange reciprocity lately between chains and food writers: Serious Eats even issued an open call Monday for ideas on how to revitalize a foundering Starbucks, with Ed Levine suggesting that the chain “localize each branch in some way, with a local food.” While some comments on the story weren’t as constructive, New York remains a very chain restaurant-friendly town, where any neighborhood Pinkberry, Grom, or Yolato opening typically commands a larger word count (and a more critical “soft-serve”) than anything independently-owned. Is this a sign of the restaurant apocalypse?
Maybe, but in the meantime if you’re looking for lunch in midtown that’s less “fast-casual,” less Così, try Matthew Kenney’s Free Foods NYC, where food billed “made from scratch” actually is, and staff never has to resort to strategically written corporate playbooks to answer your food questions.
Top photograph "Fast Food Nation" from ~Raymond’s Flickr photostream; bottom photograph of a Pinkberry dessert from Youngna Park
Tagged
As
chipotle
fast casual
five guys
matthew kenney
starbucks
subway
thomas keller
williamsburg
Hugh Merwin
Read more
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
MORE food
10 dishes that demonstrate the delicious diversity of curry in New York City
The global dish is shapeshifting and ubiquitous.
By
Robert Sietsema
Published Sep 12, 2026
Frozen yogurt is back in New York City. So are the super long lines.
Is it worth the high price and ridiculous wait? Gothamist needed to find out.
By
Sonia Rao
Food
Frozen yogurt is back in New York City. So are the super long lines.
Is it worth the high price and ridiculous wait? Gothamist needed to find out.
By
Sonia Rao
5 NYC banana puddings as good as Magnolia's
By
Hannah Frishberg
Where to eat in Greenpoint, Brooklyn right now, from Polish to Sichuan to Iberian
By
Robert Sietsema
Can a congressional candidate's dumpling diplomacy win over Queens’ immigrant communities?
By
Caroline Shin
Never miss a story
Catch up on the most important headlines with a roundup of essential NYC stories, delivered to your inbox daily.
Sign upEmail address
By submitting your information, you're agreeing to receive communications from New York Public Radio in accordance with our Terms .