Nominations now open for Top 30 Movers & Shakers: Catering

by Cherryh Cansler — Publisher, FastCasual.com

Nominations will close July 28, 2026.

Report: Cyberattacks hit 78% of restaurants despite security confidence

by Amy Sorter — Writer and Editor, Connect Media

A 10-unit restaurant chain could lose between $20,000 and $50,000 during a two-hour outage on a busy Friday evening, excluding recovery costs such as forensic investigations, legal expenses and system restoration

Why more women are turning to restaurant franchising

by Carla McLean — Marketing Executive, IFA World Franchise Show

For women looking to build a business with long-term scalability, franchising presents an opportunity to combine independence with the support of an established network.

Why Chipotle is funding these 6 emerging brands

by Cherryh Cansler — Publisher, FastCasual.com

The chain's Cultivate Next will fund Benchmark Labs, IMIO, Clean Crop Technologies, Athian, SIMPLi and PopID.

The 1:1 Personalization Playbook: Using AI to send every guest their own offer

In this session, Hang CEO Matt Smolin, whose platform powers millions of AI-personalized offers a month for restaurant brands, will walk through the playbook to start personalizing your own offers right away.

The World Pizza champion who 'Let go to grow'

13-time world pizza champion Tony Gemignani spent 17 years honing his craft before betting on himself. In this episode of Founderology - Built to Breakthrough, he shares why he embraced franchising, how he's scaling Slice House without sacrificing quality, and the bold decisions that turned an unconventional vision into a fast-growing pizza empire.

Momos Guest AI

Momos Guest AI is the leading AI platform built for multi-location brands. We help restaurants, QSRs, retail, and hospitality teams deliver better guest experiences across every location by unifying customer service, operations, and marketing into a single end-to-end platform - turning one-time customers into repeat guests.

2026 Fast Casual Top 100 Movers & Shakers

Welcome to the 2026 edition of the Fast Casual Top 100 Movers & Shakers. Each year, this report serves as a pulse check for the industry, celebrating the brands and leaders who aren’t just keeping pace with the market—they are redefining it.