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.

The 177% lift: How Condado Tacos used mystery, gamification to redefine the LTO

by Sara Kear — CMO, Condado Tacos

Sara Kear, CMO of Condado Tacos, describes how the team transformed a typical margarita campaign into an interactive experience to drive sales.

Starbucks launches beta ChatGPT integration for personalized beverage discovery

Starbucks is leaning into the "vibe" of its customers with a digital experiment designed to turn abstract moods into tangible caffeine orders.

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.

Ovation

Ovation is a guest experience platform for multi-unit restaurants that starts with a 2-question survey to drive revenue, streamline guest recovery, and easily improve operations. Thousands of restaurants, including leading brands like Dave's Hot Chicken, use Ovation to get more feedback, recover guests in real-time, and improve.

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.