Operations

7 ways for fast casuals to beat QSRs via convenience

Meredith Sandland, CEO of Empower Delivery, discusses how fast casuals can leverage its strengths in quality and change the game on convenience

Photo: Adobe

August 12, 2024 by Meredith Sandland — CEO, Empower Delivery

The fast food segment has long dominated the restaurant industry market by offering quick, affordable meals. However, the rise of fast casual restaurants — those that promise higher quality food and a better dining experience — has created a new dynamic in the restaurant industry. fast casual's offering of modern meals using up-to-date ingredients at competitive prices has supercharged their growth.

Recently, as QSR has increased its prices at a faster pace than fast casual, fast casual has only appeared to be a better value. Public company performance has demonstrated that this relative value is getting noticed by consumers and they are acting on the disparity.

But there's a limit — great food and an affordable price are not enough to propel fast casual past fast food on the American restaurant scene. Fast casual also needs to get more convenient. Recognizing this need, many fast casual chains have done what previously would have been unthinkable: they have incorporated drive-thrus into their footprint. Most notably, Shake Shack and Chipotle have moved toward a drive-thru-first expansion strategy.

But do drive-thrus fit with the fast casual vibe? Will drive-thrus signal to the American consumer a loss of core values around quality and experience? And is there a better way to beat fast food at its own convenience game, without resorting to a drive-thru?

First and foremost, fast casuals must remain focused on quality — that goes without saying. In fast casual, this has meant more unusual ingredients pulling from a broader palette, higher-quality ingredients, greater transparency in sourcing and preparation methods, and more scratch-made items. Whatever fast casuals do to become more convenient, these brands cannot let go of their core value around quality.

Maintaining a commitment to high-quality ingredients prepared consistently sets fast casual restaurants apart from fast food as quality ensures that customers know they are getting value for their money.
Many fast casuals have also appealed to more health-conscious consumers by offering a variety of healthy options, including plant-based, dairy-free, and gluten-free choices. One of the reasons fast casual restaurants have succeeded is because they have done well aligning themselves with what I, along with my co-author Carl Orsbourn, call "Food as Identity" in our book "Delivering the Digital Restaurant: Your Roadmap to the Future of Food." Consumers are willing to pay more to eat in keeping with their food beliefs.

But consumers seem unwilling to pay more with their time. Delivery penetration of fast casual tends to be higher than penetration of QSR, in part because fast casual is just less convenient to use.
This is the typical fast casual consumer journey: Drive into the parking lot — typically in a large center, which is more difficult to navigate — and park the car. Walk into the restaurant. Place an order. Wait for the order – typically longer than one would wait for fast food — and walk out. Drive out of the parking lot.

Drive-thrus may not be a good fit with the brand, and food quality can't be diminished, but there are seven ways for an inline fast casual to be more convenient for their guests.

1. Frictionless ordering

Implementing user-friendly mobile apps, online ordering systems, and kiosks can streamline the experience. Customers can place their orders in advance and pick them up at their convenience, bypassing long lines and significantly reducing (or even eliminating) wait times. Most restaurants now have mobile-friendly online ordering through a website or app. To determine whether your restaurants' approach is truly frictionless, look for:

• Does the site pull up customer records without passwords?
• Does the site accept multiple payment types, including ApplePay and GooglePay?
• Can the ordering process be completed with a limited number of "clicks" between the home page and check-out?
• Do the site, app and kiosk have identical user interfaces, making it easy for an omnichannel guest to switch between modes depending on their use case?

2. Customization

Allowing customers to customize their orders to meet dietary needs and preferences is a critical differentiator for fast casual. Making items possible to customize is table stakes. Making items easy to customize is differentiating. To determine if your customization is easy, look for:

• Are customizations possible on the item detail page without additional page views?
• Are multiple customizations possible for any item, including customizations to customizations (known as "nested" customizations)?
• Are customizations clearly labeled (for example "required" or "optional," free" or incremental charge)?
• Does the site store previous orders, including customizations?

3. Personalization

Personalizing menus and offers based on prior ordering history such as items chosen, frequency, and response to offers requires behavioral data for each customer. To determine whether you are collecting the necessary data, look for:

• A database of 100% of guests, 100% of orders, across 100% of channels.
• An interactive business-intelligence layer to pull insights from the database, including e-commerce metrics such as LTV:CAC, cart abandonment and A/B testing of specific offers
• Text and email remarketing functionality that is based on the order history data.

4. Speed of service

Orders must be executed with maximum efficiency. To determine whether your kitchen is set up for success, look for:

• Menu items that utilize similar cooking methods and ingredients.
• A smart KDS that maximizes kitchen throughput by injecting orders into the kitchen based on when they will be picked up (not based on when they were placed).
• Accurate quote times based on resource-aware meal production.

5. Curbside and in-store pickup

Providing pickup options allows customers to receive their orders without having to spend time in the restaurant or rely on a delivery driver; this convenience is especially appealing to those with tight schedules, and may serve the drive-thru occasion on a limited basis. Be forewarned: too much curbside pickup will tie up your parking lot. To ensure a great pick-up experience, look for all of the technology pieces discussed above.

6. Self-delivery

Accepting orders from third-party marketplaces like UberEats, DoorDash, EZ Cater and Grubhub can expand a restaurant's reach, acting as an introduction to guests who are unfamiliar with the brand or a refresher to infrequent customers. After all, what's more convenient than a drive-thru? Not having to get in your car to go to the drive-thru in the first place! For a good third-party marketplace experience, look for:

• Direct integration of orders into your POS or KDS, or use an aggregator to bring all order sources into one central place.
• The ability to self-deliver, including third-party marketplace orders and especially first-party direct orders. In-house delivery will give your brand greater control over the customer experience.
• A Delivery management system using a dedicated, on-demand fleet that ensures orders arrive at the guest fresh, hot, fast, and on-time by timing food production with delivery driver availability.

7. Digital hospitality

Excellent customer service can set a fast casual restaurant apart from its fast food competitors. Friendly, attentive staff who can answer questions and provide recommendations enhance the overall experience. While many fear that technology can be impersonal, in an advanced digital restaurant, this hospitality comes through technology. To determine whether your technology is conveying hospitality, look for:

• Frictionless ordering, customization, and personalization as described above.
• The ability to correct an issue should it arise, even if the guest is consuming the food off-premise after pickup or though delivery

New technologies unlock fast casual restaurants' ability to drive convenience without using a drive-thru format. By leveraging technology, optimizing service, and enhancing delivery options, fast casual eateries can attract and retain consumers who might otherwise choose Fast Food.

About Meredith Sandland

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Meredith Sandland is the CEO of Empower Delivery, a software company that enables restaurants to profitably and sustainably serve off-premise demand. As co-author of "Delivering the Digital Restaurant" and former Chief Development Officer at Taco Bell, Meredith brings extensive industry expertise. She also co-hosts "The Digital Restaurant" podcast, covering the latest in restaurant delivery and technology.

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