South Carolina-based Groucho’s Deli, which was founded in 1941 and is still family-owned, is the winner of FastCasual’s inaugural Excellence in Guest Experience award. The award was presented in partnership with Ovation, a restaurant guest feedback platform Zack Oates, founder of Ovation, presented the award Sunday night during the Fast Casual Top 100 Movers & Shakers […]
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Mod Pizza and Five Guys took home honorable mention for their food safety efforts. Chipotle is the 2023 winner of FastCasual’s Excellence in Food Safety Award, which honors restaurants going the extra mile to protect their customers and employees by providing outstanding food safety. Ryan Dittoe, Chipotle’s director of restaurant food safety and quality assurance, accepted […]
2023 is the year of the chicken chain. Dave’s Hot Chicken took top honors Sunday night at the Fast Casual Top 100 Movers & Shakers awards gala, proving the 5-year-old brand may be new to the industry but it’s here to stay. The gala was held in Chicago at the LondonHouse. The brand’s CEO, Bill Phelps, […]
As part of its commitment to spotlighting up-and-coming fast casual brands, FastCasual is hosting its ninth annual Perfect Pitch contest Oct. 8 and is accepting nominations until June 30, said FastCasual Editor Cherryh Cansler. (Nominate your brand here.) “We’ll choose five brands to pitch their concepts to potential investors and franchisees during our annual Fast […]
The Interactive Customer Experience Summit, which is celebrating its seventh year, is a dual event in 2023 featuring the Bank Customer Experience Summit. The Interactive Customer Experience Summit will celebrate its seventh year at this year’s event taking place Sept. 11-13 in Charlotte, North Carolina. The summit brings together B2C brands to learn from industry leaders, network […]
In a keynote address at the Restaurant Franchising and Innovation Summit, three restaurant execs discuss launching Buena Onda, which now has five locations. Seven more locations have been sold. Strategic partnerships between restaurant brands and hospitality groups can result in success. That’s the thought process behind the keynote address at the Restaurant Franchising and Innovation Summit in […]
Seattle-based Dué Cucina, a fast casual Italian brand that competed in the 2019 Perfect Pitch at the Fast Casual Executive Summit, has landed a $2.5 million investment from Mac Haik Restaurant Group, a Houston-based restaurant investment company, according to a company press release. The funding, which allows Dué Cucina to open three locations in Texas within the next […]
Attendees will become mini experts in all-things NFT, digital innovation, fixing the labor shortages and meeting food insecurity needs. Speakers include Blaine Hurst, former Panera CEO, and Bryce Fluellen, executive director of Everytable. What if you could become a mini expert in all-things NFT, digital innovation, fixing the labor shortage and meeting food insecurity needs? […]
Big Chicken’s Sam Stanovich, Dog Haus’ CJ Ramirez and Ovation CEO Zack Oates will help attendees evaluate their customer experiences and provide dozens of strategies to improve them, during the Restaurant Franchising and Innovation Summit, March 20-22 in Coral Gables, Florida. Early bird pricing ends Feb. 10. For hundreds of years the restaurant guest experience […]
Nominations close Feb. 28. Wingstop was the winner of the 2022 Excellence in Food Safety award, and past winners have included Panda Express, Chipotle and Fazoli’s. As part of the 2023 FastCasual Top 100 Movers & Shakers list, FastCasual and Steritech, a provider of food safety assessments, will honor one brand with the fifth annual Excellence in Food […]
