Growth in the fast-casual sector remains white-hot, and the end is nowhere in sight. Seven years ago, Fast Casual magazine predicted that fast casuals were in their infancy. As then-editor Valerie Killiser wrote, fast casual "is a business component similar to drive-thru when it originated. After drive-thru was invented, it proved effective in a variety of disparate businesses like banks, drug stores and dry cleaners. Today, it's hard to imagine life without drive-thru." Fast casuals may have started out as acorns, but they're destined to become mighty -- and game-changing -- oaks.
A peek at Forbes's leading fast-casuals might give Ryu extra incentive. Among the top ten are Panera Bread (#1) and Saladworks (#9), with Italian, sandwiches, burgers, Chinese, fried chicken and our hometown favorite Chipotle Mexican Grill (#2) also on the list. In other words, no one cuisine seems to have a lock on the sector.
Ready America? Here comes kimchi.
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