On some level that’s a pretty minor change, but for us it was telling. When we named the magazine QSR, we thought it both apt and clever. Not only were the letters a standard industry abbreviation, but also any time other magazines referred to the QSR segment, there was a little free publicity for our name. We also understood more or less intuitively that the quick-service segment was not limited to the traditional fast-feeders, but that it also included concepts like Schlotzsky’s and Fuddruckers and la Madeleine.

Trouble was, the hotter fast-casual became, the more it became a discrete segment in many people’s minds. We weren’t about to change the name of the magazine six years into it, but the tagline gave us more room to tweak our definition of ourselves. When QSR’s publisher, Webb Howell, hit on “Quality and Speed for Restaurant Success,” it really was a stroke of genius. It not only adhered to the QSR abbreviation, but it also summed up exactly what we saw as the upscaling effect fast-casual was having on the quick-service segment.

Even so, it was still an uphill battle at times to make sure people understood QSR covered fast-casual. It didn’t matter that a cursory glance through any issue would make it obvious that we did so; as fast-casual gained traction, people wanted explicitness, not philosophical arguments that fast-casual was part of quick-service. Sometimes these people were vendors to the industry who, knowing that fast-casual was all the rage, wanted to be part of that action (which was certainly understandable). More discouraging from an editorial standpoint, though, were restaurant brands that didn’t see themselves as part of our fold.

True story. When we were researching an article about the burgeoning pan-Asian fast-casual sector, P.F. Chang’s limited-service Pei Wei Asian Diner concept wouldn’t talk to us because they didn’t consider themselves quick-service. They didn’t even consider themselves fast-casual. They preferred to be known as “casually quick.” Our writer, Steve Weiss, begged and pleaded and even went to visit them, to no avail. They wouldn’t share any information with us for the story.

I have to admit, I was angry with Pei Wei—and on a personal level at that. I knew perfectly well they were in our universe of coverage, but they were playing word games. That’s when I really understood our primary mission during this era: To make sure everyone understood that fast-casual was, in fact, part of quick-service.

And, in fact, the way traditional quick-service was reacting helped our cause. The fast-casual movement was not just about this set of unique restaurants. It was also about how fast-feeders were upscaling their own operations with more sophisticated menu items and snazzier buildings and dining rooms.

Arby’s was a perfect example. The roast beef concept, which had been marketing itself as adult fast food, launched its Market Fresh line of sandwiches, with good-looking, premium breads and meats. It also debuted the Pinnacle store design, which was in my mind the nicest-looking quick-serve building out there.

Did this make Arby’s fast-casual? I didn’t think so. I thought it made for an appealing place to go sit and eat a good sandwich. Labels didn’t, or shouldn’t, matter.