About us

Founded in 1997, the foodservice media division of NetWorld Alliance is the leading vertical restaurant publisher in the restaurant industry. Together with Fast Casual magazine, fastcasual.com, Pizzamarketplace.com and QSRWeb.com, we continue to provide the industry with thought-provoking news and updates on the latest trends. Our mission is to represent, educate and promote a rapidly growing vertical that includes 100,000 outlets in the fast-growing $70 billion fast casual market.

We have been tracking the market since 2000 and our registered online readership has grown to nearly 20,000, with an additional magazine circulation of close to 22,000 key decision makers.

Our readers represent fast casual and casual dining restaurant operators, chains, franchisees and independents.

FastCasual.com Site Features

Company showcases are suppliers, distributors and consultants.
Research centers represent the latest in focused areas by interest.
Industry resources provide our readers with tangible and actionable information to guide their decision-making processes
The request for information (RFI) forms allow our readers to engage many companies for information

NetWorld Alliance history

WaterMark Group, the original owner of ATMmagazine.com, was founded in 1995 by Alan Fryrear as a business forms and graphic design distributor. Fryrear and his son-in-law, Tom Harper, began planning a company in 1999 focused on providing industry news and information through targeted Web sites. The result was NetWorld Alliance, a group of portals originally focused on ATMs and self-service that has expanded to cover digital signage, retail customer experience, church consulting and the foodservice industry.

The Management Team

Founded on Feb. 1, 2000, NetWorld Alliance immediately assumed ownership and operations of ATMmagazine.com. On Sept. 15, 2000, the company introduced ATMmarketplace.com as the industry's newest information and e-commerce resource. NetWorld purchased kiosks.org in October 2000, and launched KioskMarketplace.com in January 2001. It organized the kiosks.org Association, now the Self-Service & Kiosk Association, in 2001. In November 2001, NetWorld launched PizzaMarketplace.com. In March 2002, NetWorld formed Church Central LLC with the Rainer Group, a church consulting organization, and launched ChurchCentral.com in 2002.

The company went on to launch DigitalSignageToday.com, FastCasual.com, QSRWeb.com and RetailCustomerExperience.com in the ensuing years. NetWorld Alliance also is the organizer of the Digital Signage Association and Digital Technology Alliance, both formed in 2007.

NetWorld's officers include Alan Fryrear, chairman; Dick Good, chief executive, chief executive officer; Tom Harper, president and publisher; Bob Fincher, executive vice president for sales and marketing; and Paul Barron, executive vice president and publisher of Fast Casual magazine and FastCasual.com.