Fast casual restaurants see sales growth

Fast casual is cooking.

The category -- a step up from fast food and down from full-service restaurants -- has been a bright spot amid recent dismal restaurant industry performance, panelists told attendees Monday at the National Restaurant Show at McCormick Place. The four-day show closes today.

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"Fast casual" dining establishments, like Potbelly's, are flourishing while other eateries are struggling.
(Sun-Times News Group file)

Up to 700 chains will be introduced this year, said Darren Tristano, executive vice president of Chicago-based Technomic Information Services.

Technomic's list of the Top 100 fast-casual restaurant chains saw sales grow 10.8 percent last year over the previous year, totaling $16.7 billion for 2008. The National Restaurant Association expects sales to drop 2.5 percent at restaurants overall this year.

Woman are driving the growth at the limited-service operators, which provide fast service and quality food in upscale settings, including Chipotle Mexican Grill, Panera Bread and Deerfield-based Cosi Inc.

About 25 percent of the segment's customers are career women, and 15 percent are female homemakers.

Career men account for about 18 percent of the business.