Yesterday's luxury is today's expectation. Today's business traveler is all about the mobile office, and fast-casual restaurants are offering modern amenities to attract the mobile customer.
One such luxury is wireless Internet access (Wi-Fi), which is now widespread across the fast-casual segment. In 2002, MobileStar installed Wi-Fi in 4,000 Starbucks stores. Most coffee shops have Wi-Fi, including It's A Grind, Caribou Coffee and Seattle Coffee. In fact, Wi-Fi is available at Panera Bread, Buffalo Wild Wings and even at some Schlotzsky's Delis.
Jay Stewart, vice president for Leapfrog Interactive (a Wi-Fi provider), has observed the Wi-Fi growth over the last two to three years as businesspeople use more laptops and PDAs.
"Within the last year or so, all the laptops now have a built-in wireless search that will look for a provider," Stewart said.
Overall, the number of Wi-Fi users is expected to grow from 12 million globally in 2003 to 707 million by 2008. This year, Intel, the world's largest producer of microchips, said it expects 90 percent of all laptops shipped will include its Centrino mobile wireless technology.
In an interview with NPR News, Rick Ehrlinspiel, founder of Surf and Sip, explained how easy it is for users to get online while staying unplugged.
"When you walk into one of our shops, you open your laptop, fire up a browser and you're greeted with a login screen. Type in your name and password, and you're online," he said.
Other attractions
Providing Wi-Fi is only one part of the equation. Business travelers have come to expect environments that provide zones for "de-stressing."
A Sales & Marketing Management Business Travel Survey found 54 percent of sales and marketing managers believe travel has a negative effect on personal life. Time away from home is compounded by less sleep and headaches at the airport or in traffic. Poor diet also contributes to this, and more business travelers are clamoring for more healthful choices, another siren call to fast casual.
A prime fast-casual mover and shaker in this trend is Starwich, based in New York City, with locations in Boston and Philadelphia and in Dulles International Airport in Washington D.C. and in Newark, N.J.'s Newark Liberty International airport.
"Starwich was really created to fill the void of when people didn't want to go to a white-tablecloth, five-star restaurant to have a salad or a sandwich, or just a meal," said Spiro Baltas, Starwich's chief executive officer. "We're not just serving out salad and sandwiches; we're also a full experience. Starwich has more than 130 ingredients, all fresh and organic. All the ingredients are comparable to a five-star restaurant."
The Starwich menu includes hand-carved meats and on-premise preparation of dressings, sauces and baked goods. Baltas sought to remove the long wait-times associated with full-service venues by providing a concept that allows patrons a quick-and-easy experience with top-quality food.
"To add to that, we wanted to create a really nice atmosphere, something that wasn't—and isn't—being done by anyone," Baltas said. "Not just cafeteria-style seating where you're not sitting there because you enjoy it, you're sitting there because of necessity. We made it a lot more inviting. So we invested in leather Chesterfield couches from the United Kingdom, ottomans, coffee tables, almost like you're in someone's living room."
In fact, the lounge area is called "The Living Room."
"Then we asked, 'What's the business traveler looking for?' We added complimentary Wi-Fi, and really anything that a business traveler would need."
The Starwich concept team knew that, for starters, the typical business traveler wanted a top-notch meal, but eaten in a restaurant that did not demand big bucks or big chunks of time. From there, complimentary Wi-Fi was added, as was a cell phone-charging booth at each restaurant. Laptop extensions for plugging in are available. Staff will even send faxes and make photocopies for free.
"These things are for the business traveler, but also for people working out of their homes, or whoever needs to set up shop," Baltas said. "There are those who come in and they flew in for a meeting, or they're in for a day, and they need to check e-mail or run off a couple of copies and get something to eat. All these complimentary services make you feel good about where you're sitting, it's comfortable, it's definitely more upscale, not cafeteria-style where someone is sitting right next to you where you don't have your own privacy."
Another home "creature comfort" is the newspaper. Reference the continued demand for print newspapers and news magazines—think USA Today—which are still a staple in hotel lobbies and the corner café. This wasn't missed by Starwich, which serves up international papers and magazines with its soup and sandwiches.
"The portability of print news sources still is very important to business people," said David Carlson, president of the Society of Professional Journalists. "I can't use my e-news everywhere I go, but I can read my newspaper or magazine in a lot of places where it's inconvenient to use my PDA or laptop."
