The right stuff. Everyone knows that American quick-service customers like stuff stuffed. From stuffed-crust pizzas to stuffed jalapeños, stuffed burgers, and stuffed potatoes, guests today are frankly fixated on fillings. And nowhere are filled delicacies done as creatively or in as many different forms as on the streets of Asia. Whether they’re deep fried or steamed on the outside, stuffed, bite-size treats—Filipino lumpia, Indian samosas, or Chinese wontons and dumplings, for example—are ripe for reinterpretation here in the U.S. Even if more authentic versions wouldn’t Asian street foods are everything menu developers crave: distinctive, delicious, quick to prepare, easy to eat, cheap to serve, and different without being too out there.” necessarily cut it at most quick-service outlets, variations on basic themes could work. Envision a hamburger chain offering uniquely spiced ground beef, cheese, and vegetable dumplings as finger foods. Or, on the lighter side, how about steamed all-white meat chicken won tons that can hold their own alongside the venerable deep-fried chicken finger?

Get on the stick. Marinated Thai satay and skewers of spicy Korean barbecue are among the most popular of portable foods on the Asian continent, and the growing popularity of restaurants offering both cuisines here in the United States makes the idea of a quick-serve satay or skewer seem less foreign than it might have just a few years back. With the aid of some clever packaging, KFC, for instance, could offer a variety of differently spiced or coated chicken chunks on a single skewer. The idea might be worth a stab.

Pho to go. Vietnamese pho—a delicious, quick, satisfying, and healthful beef noodle soup—has become a lunchtime mainstay from San Francisco’s financial district to midtown Manhattan, and the center of the country is catching pho fever, too. Could quick-service establishments find a way to successfully bring a soup or stew comprising many of pho’s most basic attractions to their own menus? With a little experimentation, I’m betting yes.

The U.S. Census Bureau estimates the number of U.S. residents who say they are Asian or Asian in combination with one or more other races at 13.5 million, or about 5 percent of the country’s total population. As their numbers grow, Asian-Americans are exerting extraordinary influence not just on our taste buds, but also in the way virtually all Americans view and experience food. Getting creative with Asian-inspired street foods, therefore, might help quick-service establishments woo both Asian-American consumers and the millions of other Americans who today regard Asian cuisines as part of their own culinary culture.