George Green

Over the last four years, I have heard dozens of presentations on social media.

Most of had a common theme of: Social media is the hot new thing, its growing rapidly, and your company must be there. For lack of a better term, I have generally held the position of being an early adopting...

Every year, many of us anxiously await the release of Technomic’s Fast Casual Top 100 report. Technomic’s Darren Tristano, one of the most knowledgeable people in the industry, gave me an interview and a sneak peek at the report. Here are his thoughts, followed by a few of my own....

As someone who has always been proud of the opportunities our industry has provided to women and minorities, I have been disappointed by the small number of women I have seen at industry conferences, especially those with a high number of attendees from the fast-casual and quick-service segments...

I am often asked what I think are the hottest or best fast-casual concepts. I think it’s important to tackle that question from the consumer perspective first. Like many others in the industry, I love checking out the competition. Over the last several years, many colleagues and I have...

Seven years ago, at the height of the Atkins craze, our sales were down especially at breakfast. Our amazing artisan breakfast pastries and breads stayed on the shelves. And our customers stayed at home instead of just coming in to get the specialty coffee drink that had accompanied their...

During the height of the recession a year and a half ago, I was really concerned about the future of fast casual. Before the downturn, the rise in home prices, easy credit, a growing economy, and consumers’ growing desire for luxury goods of all types had combined...

The battle to hire and keep the best people starts with the first time you have contact with prospective employees. Customers of the best fast-casual operators expect more in terms of food and service than what they get from competitors in other segments. 

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With hundreds of great concepts and thousands of great operators, the fast-casual segment certainly holds its own in terms of both innovation and leadership. The last 10 years can arguably be called “the decade of fast casual” due to the growth and flourishing of the segment.

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