Operations
Perfect Pitch winner TAP joins 9 brands in 2026 'Fast Casual Frontrunners'
There are plenty of restaurant brands trying to be the next big thing, but discovering those that could actually shape where fast casual goes next is a different challenge. That is the idea behind the 2026 Fast Casual Frontrunners, an initiative launched through Fast Casual Nation in partnership with Savor.fm.
September 24, 2026 by Cherryh Cansler — Publisher, FastCasual.com
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ClaudeThere are plenty of restaurant brands trying to be the next big thing, but discovering those that could actually shape where fast casual goes next is a different challenge.
That is the idea behind the 2026 Fast Casual Frontrunners, an initiative launched through Fast Casual Nation, the podcast Paul Barron and I cohost in partnership with Savor.fm.
The program has narrowed more than 2,300 qualified emerging fast-casual brands to 10 finalists, and now those brands have 60 days to make their case.
The Perfect Pitch-to-Frontrunners Pipeline
Each year, the winner of the Fast Casual Executive Summit Perfect Pitch earns a spot in the Frontrunners program, giving one emerging brand a chance to move from pitching its concept in front of restaurant executives to being featured on Fast Casual Nation and evaluated alongside other emerging brands.
The 2025 Perfect Pitch winner was TAP, a Brazilian café and wellness concept led by brothers Pedro and Cleo Uchoa. TAP is now one of the 10 Frontrunners finalists and will be featured during the 60-day evaluation, including in the Fast Casual Nation Frontrunner Series.
The other nine finalists were selected through SavorAI from a field of more than 2,300 qualified emerging fast-casual concepts.
The 2026 field reflects several trends gaining traction across the industry, including globally inspired food, culturally driven concepts, wellness, highly focused menus, and brands building loyal followings before they reach national scale.
Now, all 10 enter a 60-day evaluation window. The finalists will be analyzed through consumer data and founder interviews before the 2026 Fast Casual Frontrunner is announced Dec. 15.
And that pipeline continues this year.
The 2026 Fast Casual Executive Summit and Perfect Pitch take place Oct. 4-6 in Arlington, Texas. As last year's winners, Pedro and Cleo Uchoa will serve as advisers for this year's Perfect Pitch. Like TAP in 2025, the winner of the 2026 Perfect Pitch will earn a spot in the next season of Fast Casual Frontrunners, giving another emerging restaurant brand a chance to move from the Perfect Pitch stage into a broader conversation about its growth potential.
Read about the six brands competing here.
For Paul and me, it's a natural extension of what we already do on Fast Casual Nation: talk to the founders, operators and innovators building the next generation of restaurant brands.
Here's a look at the other nine brands in the running.
ChòpnBlọk
Founded by Ope Amosu in Houston, ChòpnBlọk is bringing West African cuisine into the fast-casual mainstream.
The menu translates Nigerian and broader West African flavors into bowls featuring proteins, rice, vegetables and sauces.
For operators, the concept is an interesting example of how cultural authenticity can be paired with a format that is familiar to the American fast-casual customer.
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| Cherryh Cansler, VP of Connect Food, Pedro and Cleo Uchoa, co-founders of TAP, and Zack Oates, founder of Ovation post at the 2025 perfect Pitch. Photo: Willie Lawless/ Connect |
RASA
Sahil Rahman and Rahul Vinod created RASA to make Indian food approachable through colorful branding, customizable bowls and a familiar fast-casual format.
The Washington, D.C.-area brand is going after what could be a significant opportunity: Creating a scalable fast-casual platform around the variety and plant-forward nature of Indian cuisine.
For an industry increasingly looking beyond traditional categories, RASA is one example of how a familiar operating model can be applied to a cuisine with plenty of room for expansion.
Bun Mee
Denise Tran left a career in law to create Bun Mee, a concept designed to make Vietnamese food more accessible to American consumers.
The San Francisco-based brand focuses on bánh mì sandwiches, bowls, salads and Vietnamese-inspired sides.
Its neighborhood and airport locations also give the concept an interesting test case for portability. The bigger question is whether bánh mì can move beyond its current niche and become a larger American sandwich category.
HomeState
Briana Valdez founded HomeState around the food, music and hospitality of Texas, but the concept lives in Southern California.
Breakfast tacos, queso and flour tortillas anchor the menu, but the brand's identity goes well beyond the food.
HomeState has built a strong connection around place, music, collaboration and Valdez's personal story.
That kind of emotional connection is increasingly important for emerging restaurant brands trying to build a following before they have hundreds of locations.
Gyro Republic
Houston-based Gyro Republic, founded by CEO Rehan Ranpuri, is building around halal Mediterranean street food and customization.
The company is expanding across Texas while developing the systems needed for broader franchise growth.
That makes Gyro Republic another interesting test case for the Frontrunners program: Can strong execution and repeatability, combined with an expanding halal consumer market, create a larger Mediterranean platform?
NADC Burger
NADC — short for "Not a Damn Chance" — was created by professional skateboarder Neen Williams and chef Phillip Frankland Lee.
The menu is intentionally tight, with a double Wagyu smash burger and beef-tallow fries serving as the centerpiece.
But NADC isn't trying to compete on food alone.
The brand combines premium product execution with skateboarding and street culture, giving it a built-in identity and social component.
With locations in several major markets, NADC will be another interesting brand to watch as the Frontrunners evaluation turns toward scalability.
Milkbread
Joe and Katy Kindred took the milk bread from their acclaimed Kindred restaurant and turned it into an all-day fast-casual café.
Milkbread combines doughnuts, crispy chicken, vegetable-forward bowls, coffee and other comfort-food staples.
The result is a concept that brings significant culinary credibility into a more accessible restaurant format, while giving the brand multiple dayparts and opportunities across food and beverage.
Coyo Taco
Founded in Miami's Wynwood neighborhood by Alan Drummond, Sven Vogtland and chef Scott Linquist, Coyo Taco blends Mexican street food with the energy of South Florida.
The brand focuses on fresh preparation and house-made tortillas, while its experiential identity has helped it move beyond the traditional taqueria model.
Coyo Taco also has expanded into select international markets, giving the brand another layer to watch as the Frontrunners program examines growth potential.
Curry Boys BBQ
Sean Wen, Andrew Ho and Andrew Samia founded Curry Boys BBQ around an unlikely but compelling combination: Texas barbecue and Southeast Asian curry.
The San Antonio-born concept has expanded to Nashville and earned national culinary recognition, while building a following around a combination that isn't easily replicated.
The challenge now is one familiar to virtually every emerging restaurant brand: How do you take something distinctive and turn it into a scalable operating model without losing what made it distinctive in the first place?
What happens next?
The current 10 finalists now enter the final 60-day evaluation period; the 2026 winner will not be determined by a popularity contest. Instead, SavorAI, Savor.fm's proprietary restaurant-intelligence model, using the industry's largest dedicated dataset focused on fast-casual consumer behavior and brand sentiment, will examine each finalist across the SavorAI major areas of analysis:
● Consumer sentiment and brand affinity.
● Food quality and menu differentiation.
● Service and guest experience.
● Value perception.
● Customer loyalty and visit intent.
● Digital engagement and social momentum.
● Founder and leadership strength.
"The objective is not simply to identify today's most popular finalist," Paul said. "It is to determine which brand has the strongest potential to become a category-defining restaurant company."
Paul and I will also bring several of the finalists onto Fast Casual Nation for conversations that go beyond menu descriptions and expansion announcements. We'll talk about the decisions behind the brands from unit economics and consumer loyalty to technology, AI, payments, franchising, capital strategy and the challenge of protecting a brand's culture while it scales.
For the Perfect Pitch winner, the path is particularly interesting. TAP went from winning the pitch at the Fast Casual Summit to becoming one of the 10 brands now being examined as a potential next-generation fast-casual leader. That's exactly the kind of connection we wanted to create between the summit, Fast Casual Nation and the broader fast-casual community.
The 2026 winner will be announced Dec. 15 and will receive a strategic advisory engagement valued at $250,000 or more from Paul Barron and Savor Capital. The engagement spans brand strategy, consumer intelligence, technology, loyalty, operations, expansion planning, capital readiness and founder positioning, along with potential strategic investment subject to due diligence.
Register here for the Fast Casual Executive Summit.
About Cherryh Cansler
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