With consumers still holding tight to their dining dollars, it might seem strange to follow fine dining’s lead, but fast casuals should consider it.

 

Today’s reality is simple. The economy still sucks and business conditions continue to be challenging for industries like ours that depend on consumer spending, which accounts for 70 percent of the economy. Millions of people have lost their jobs since the begining of the recession in December 2007. Another million or so discouraged job seekers have left the workforce in the last year alone, and are not even counted when determining the unemployment rate.

According to Gallup, up to one fifth of employed workers are underemployed. In addition, hundreds of thousands of home-owners are receiving foreclosure notices each month. To put it simply, unemployed, broke, or discouraged people aren’t likely to increase their spending. Throw in the fact that the amount of credit available to consumers has greatly decreased, and the outlook for spending is even bleaker.

The good news is that the majority of Americans are still employed. The better news is that the employed (especially those in upper-middle and upper income groups) are still spending money and dining out even if they have cut back on their expenditures. Furthermore, this group loves fast-casual restaurants.

 

Darren Tristano, executive vice president of Technomic, says the fast-casual segment is faring better than quick service and much better than casual dining. He estimates our segment may see nominal growth of 4–5 percent (in terms of new units and sales growth combined) this year.

Although it might seem counterintuitive, the best thing for our segment to do is to tear a page out of fine dining’s playbook.

The best and most successful fast-casual operators emphasize a quality-first attitude and focus on providing a great experience and excellent value to their customers through superior food, a great atmosphere, and excellent service. I know that any success I have had is a result of this mindset and philosophy. And that’s where the fine-dining strategy comes in.

Let me explain. I’m a product of my first experience in the restaurant industry. I was fortunate enough to work for Ralph Brennan of Commander’s Palace in New Orleans, one of the great leaders in our industry and a member of what I consider foodservice’s preeminent family. By the time I worked for the Brennans, they had consistently run great restaurants for decades and had won every major award in the industry. They acted, however, like none of that had ever happened and valued each and every customer like he was their only one. Their goal was always perfection in food, service, and atmosphere each and every day.

Lots of little food businesses need a licensed commercial kitchen to do their prepping out of. I'm thinking about offering mine as an additional source of income. Has anyone done this before? Are there places available in your town to do this? What did you/they charge? Just trying to look at all the angles here.