For two decades fast-casual restaurants have grown steadily by siphoning customers from fast-food and casual-dining concepts with high-quality, affordable food. Now a growing number of fast-casual companies are changing their service styles and upgrading ambience to get ahead in the sales race — efforts that move them closer to their full-service brethren and could eventually redefine the niche.
Boston Market grabbed headlines last fall when it replaced plastic plateware and utensils with china and silverware, upgraded staff uniforms to chef’s whites for cooks and uniform shirts and bib aprons for service crews, and hired 3,000 additional staff chainwide to bring customers’ orders to tables. In February the 490-unit Golden, Colo.-based chain reported double-digit sales and guest-count increases as a result of the improved service.
“The goal was to create a higher service component overall,” said Michael Goldberg, executive vice president for Zimmerman Advertising, which helped Boston Market create the service-image initiative dubbed America’s Kitchen Table. “Upgrading to real plates and silverware and doing better merchandising made guests say to themselves, ‘I didn’t expect that.’”
Other operators are rethinking their service styles and environments as well. Bruegger’s, a 295-unit fast-casual chain, last spring opened five new prototypes intended to bring its dining experience to the next level, according to officials. Along with a new decor, the Burlington, Vt.-based chain introduced a more intimate seating arrangement, self-serve coffee stations and plateware for guests who eat in.
Fifty Bruegger’s restaurants now boast the changes, called “the next gen design” internally, and plans are set to roll the changes out to 45 more stores this year, said James J. Greco, Bruegger’s chief executive.
As Dallas-based Corner Bakery Cafe expanded beyond cities to suburbs, the 118-unit fast-casual chain incorporated table service into its operations as a way to let customers relax a little more. And while Panera Bread has offered table service at select units for years, the nearly-1,500-unit St. Louis-based chain has recently expanded its test and now offers tableservice in about 100 units.
The evolution is occurring as consumers’ expectations rise and the dining experience plays a greater role in value perceptions — especially for those operators chasing dinner sales.
Randy Murphy recognized the potential of a service upgrade when he became a Mama Fu’s Asian House franchisee several years ago. Like most fast-casual concepts, the Austin, Texas-based chain drew more sales from lunch than dinner.
“They were living on their lunches, and that didn’t sit well with me,” said Murphy, now chief executive of the 13-unit chain. To attract a dinner crowd, Murphy believed service levels had to rise to meet a different set of customer expectations for that daypart.
“When I go out at night, I’m looking to be served at a table, not wait in a line with my wife and kids,” he said.
What followed was a full-service application used only for dinner, a model he calls “flex casual.” As is common with most fast-casual concepts, lunch guests order at the counter and food is delivered to their tables. But at night, Mama Fu’s guests are greeted, seated and turned over to a server who manages their meal.
During both dayparts, food is served on china alongside silverware or chopsticks and heavyweight paper napery. At night, though, beer, wine and sake sell better, as do appetizers and desserts.
Mama Fu’s labor cost structure also changes with the daypart: Lunchtime counter service requires four cashiers, while evening table service requires six dining room personnel and one cashier to manage carryout. Since the dining room crew works for tips and a lower hourly rate, Murphy said the labor cost difference of additional staff “is a wash.”
As a result of the evening service emphasis, dinner transactions now make up 55 percent of total sales, compared with 45 percent at lunch, and the check average at dinner is $18, compared with $14 at lunch. Overall, comparable-store sales rose 6 percent in 2010 and 8 percent in 2009, numbers that confirm to Murphy that he’s on to something.
“No question this isn’t a fine-dining experience, but at night customers don’t feel as though they’re sitting down at a fast-casual place,” he said. “We’ve achieved our goal of making it a little more sophisticated.”
Fresh to Order, a six-unit Atlanta-based chain, calls its upscaled service model “fast fine.” When customers arrive, food runners greet them at the door with menus and offer to answer questions. Once guests are seated, food is brought to the table on 16-inch-long rectangular plates, refills are offered, and empty plates are removed. Such service allows guests to linger in comfort, said Pierre Panos, founder and chief executive.
“The long plates allow our food to be presented beautifully and spread out nicely,” said Panos, who co-founded Stoney River Steaks in 1995 before selling the chain to O’Charley’s. The long plates also contain items not commonly found in fast casual, such as Bourbon Filet Steak, Brown Sugar Roasted Pork Loin and Grilled Salmon. The check average is about $10.
At $16, the average check is significantly higher than the segment standard at Tender Greens, a five-store, salad-centered concept based in Los Angeles. Co-founder Erik Oberholtzer said food is presented on stainless steel plates with stainless flatware, and beverages arrive in pint glasses and stemless wine glasses.
Wing Zone, an Atlanta-based fast-food delivery concept, has two fast-casual prototypes that make it simple for guests to get more food or drink after their order is at the table. Chief operating officer Casey McEwen said the company created the layout to have a dedicated counter spot where guests can quickly retrieve additional items.
“If you’re in a fast-casual environment that serves bottled or draft beer and that transaction is closed, it’s difficult to get that add-on drink because people don’t want to get back in line,” he said. Wing Zone’s fast-casual prototypes have staffers roaming the dining room offering refills and clearing tables, but “now a customer can walk right up to that fast-lane area, and the beer is right there.”
San Diego-based Luna Grill is so insistent its patrons not bus their own tables, they don’t put trash cans in the dining room.
“We bring the food to you on china and with silverware, and we’ll check on your table periodically,” said Sean Pourteymour, president of the three-unit Mediterranean-themed company, whose average check is $11. “Fast casual should be a place where somebody can come and eat for 12 bucks, have a really nice meal and not feel guilty about spending that.”
Tutta Bella Neapolitan Pizzeria was a fast-casual spot when Joe Fugere opened it in 2003. But after a disastrous first few weeks in business, Fugere realized that despite his price point, the concept was more service intensive than first imagined. The original counter was designed to allow customers to order and watch their food being prepared as they moved toward the cashier. But as some items cooked much faster than others, resulting log jams forced Fugere to have food brought to the table, an idea that also failed.
“We tried seating them and giving them menus, but then they had to go to the counter and order,” said Fugere, whose Seattle-based company has four units. “People started asking us, ‘What are you? Counter service or table service?’ We really confused them.”
It didn’t take long for Fugere to switch to full service for better control of the flow of food to the dining room.
“Our culture of never saying no to the guest made things even worse at first,” Fugere said, adding that those problems vanished with the switch to full service. “Plus we realized the potential for add-on sales when we switched. Sales of desserts, wine and beer went through the roof. So there’s no way I’d ever go back to counter service. No way.”
