Blaze Pizza, Farmer Boys, Mike's Red Tacos, HigherMe experts discuss recruitment, retention

by Mandy Wolf Detwiler — Editor, Connect Media

Industry experts at the Restaurant Franchising & Innovation Summit emphasized that sustainable restaurant profitability and successful scaling depend on prioritizing the "human heart" of the business through rapid recruitment, authentic culture building and collaborative leadership partnerships.

Meet the Top 30 Movers & Shakers: Restaurant Marketing

by Cherryh Cansler — Publisher, FastCasual.com

We’re proud to honor the 2026 Restaurant Marketing Top 30 Movers & Shakers, who will be recognized at the Restaurant Marketing Workshop on June 2–3 in Boston. Registration is open.

7 strategies for creating high-performing culture, building a winning team

by Jim Knight — Founder & CEO, Knight Speaker

Building a high-performing culture isn't an accident — it's an intentional leadership strategy that prioritizes purpose, trust and empowerment to transform a standard team into a growth-driving powerhouse.

Qu introduces edge-based AI platform to combat rising restaurant costs

Qu, a unified commerce platform helping quick-service and fast-casual restaurants boost efficiency and grow revenue, has launched its Intelligent Commerce…

How Tarka Indian Kitchen scaled fast casual Indian cuisine

In this episode of Fast Casual Nation, hosts Paul Barron and Cherryh Cansler sit down with Tinku Saini, CEO and co-founder of Tarka Indian Kitchen, to explore how the Austin-based brand has spent nearly two decades cracking the code on fast casual Indian food.

Franchise Growth Partners

We work closely with new entrepreneurs who want to learn how to franchise a business, as well as existing franchisors in the initial, early or mature stages of franchise system development.

Digital in the Drive-Thru: Designing Outdoor Experiences for QSR Brands

Digital menu boards at the drive-thru are no longer a luxury. In today’s competitive QSR landscape, they’ve become a requirement.

2025 Fast Casual Top 100 Movers & Shakers

This year, the exceptional caliber of leadership across the industry led to a slight adjustment in our numbers—we were compelled to recognize 100 brands and 25 executives instead of our usual 75- 25 split. We also added an extra executive, a testament to the fierce competition and outstanding contributions within the fast-casual arena.