It’s not particularly complicated: $5 is a nice round, approachable, affordable-sounding number. At a time when popular fast-casual chains are pushing the average diner bill upward, the $5 price point is especially likely to get the attention of deal hunters. And that’s why fast food customers are seeing more and more of the fiver.
Fast Casual
Hot Pizza: So Popular Restaurants Will Try Almost Anything
Pizza is popping up in more (and sometimes unusual) places, and it’s being prepared and marketed in new (and sometimes unusual) ways. Why is pizza so hot all of a sudden?
Fast Food: Spreading like the Blob
Fast-food chains are seeping into places — and times of the day — that until recently were mostly fast-food-free zones
Dollar Menu Double Down: McDonald’s Pumps Up $1 Selections
Amid poor sales, McDonald’s is tweaking its Dollar Menu for the second time this year—and this time, $1 items are being added, not taken away.
Craft Beer Gets the ‘Fast-Casual’ Treatment
Beer snobs, rejoice! Now you can have your cheap eats and fancy brew, too. A growing number of restaurants in the not-quite-fast-food category like Chipotle Mexican Grill and Smashburger are getting into the business of pouring …
Hot Buns! In Fast Food, a New Focus Is on What’s Outside the Sandwich
Specialty buns and breading will be hot at restaurants in 2013 — which is being dubbed the Year of the Bun.
Is Grilled Cheese the Next Big Thing in Fast Casual Restaurants?
Say cheese! The formula of speedy service, customization, and high quality practiced by fast-casual restaurant leaders Chipotle and Panera Bread is already being widely applied to better burger chains and
Burger King Officially Has the Slowest Drive-Through in Fast Food
If it seems like the King takes a long time to flip your burgers when you’re sitting in the drive-through, you’re right.
Can the Chipotle ‘Fast Casual’ Approach Work for Pizza?
The “fast-casual” restaurant concept has been enormously successful for Chipotle, Panera Bread, and “better burger” chains like Five Guys. The idea, which the value-conscious, pressed-for-time American consumer has embraced with …
Chipotle’s Fuzzy Math: Why They Stopped Rounding Customers Out of Change
The next time you’re in Chipotle, check your receipt. That’s what one guy in New Jersey did, and he discovered that the fast-casual restaurant was rounding up to the nearest nickel — and it was costing him money.
Nothing to Hide: Why Restaurants Embrace the Open Kitchen
In the past, restaurant customers may have preferred food to magically appear out from behind closed doors, with no indication whatsoever about how the sausage is made—figuratively or literally. After years of hearing Big Food …
Fast Food’s New Mantra: Remodel and They Will Come (and Spend)
Year in, year out, most fast food restaurants see a steady increase in drive-thru visits by customers. While the rise in business is welcomed, fast food chains get even more excited when diners eat in the restaurant — because …
