The Fast Casual Nation Podcast offers exclusive interviews with experts ranging from top chefs and brand makers to executives and restaurants who work in one of the fastest-growing segments of the restaurant industry. In this episode, I chat with Abe Ng, founder and chief executive officer of Sushi Maki about brand development, innovation and growth over two decades. Ng, a lifelong restaurateur, has been in the industry for many years, he says since birth. His parents had Chinese restaurants and...
Mar 09, 2022•32 min
The Fast Casual Nation Podcast offers exclusive interviews with experts ranging from top chefs and brand makers to executives and restaurants who work in one of the fastest-growing segments of the restaurant industry. In this episode, I talk with Massimo Noja De Marco, chief executive officer and co-founder of Piestro about his extensive background as an entrepreneur in the restaurant industry and an emerging leader in kitchen automation. Noja De Marco was born and raised in the hospitality indu...
Mar 02, 2022•39 min
The Fast Casual Nation Podcast offers exclusive interviews with experts ranging from top chefs and brand makers to executives and restaurants who work in one of the fastest-growing segments of the restaurant industry. In this episode, I chat with Nicole Marquis, chief executive officer of HipCityVeg about her inspiration for building a vegan fast food brand and bringing plant-based food to everyone. Marquis shares her background saying, “I was in school for a while for communications and theater...
Feb 04, 2022•37 min
In this special keynote session from Fast Casual Global, host and pioneer of the fast casual segment, Paul Barron, explores how Consumer insights and brand connections will create the next phase of growth in food service. Three Key Points: Fast casual continues to expand and is now busting over 150 billion dollars in revenue in the U.S. alone, and Globally fast casual revenue is estimated at approximately half a trillion dollars. Food away from restaurants is going to be the big factor, and will...
Feb 02, 2022•23 min
The Fast Casual Nation Podcast offers exclusive interviews with experts ranging from top chefs and brand makers to executives and restaurants who work in one of the fastest-growing segments of the restaurant industry. In this episode, I chat with Amanda Powell, vice president at Coolgreens about their training program, fresh food vending machines, and expansion plans. Powell brings twenty-five years restaurant experience to Coolgreens. She has been a regional training manager, general manager, a...
Jan 06, 2022•22 min
In this session from Fast Casual Global, host Paul Barron chats with Josh Chanin, Energy Efficiency Consultant of California Energy Wise and Jonah Goldman, Co-founder, Director of Strategic Marketing of PLNT Burger, to explore the reasons why emerging and startup brands are the new pioneers on how restaurants will be created. Three Key Points: It's no secret that consumers drive the trends. In fact, keeping up with modern consumer trends has become a necessity. For brands to continue to see grow...
Dec 23, 2021•27 min
The Fast Casual Nation Podcast offers exclusive interviews with experts ranging from top chefs and brand makers to executives and restaurants who work in one of the fastest-growing segments of the restaurant industry. In this episode, I chat with Devin Handler, vice president of brand marketing at Naf Naf Grill about restaurant trends, marketing tactics, and chicken schnitzel. Handler shares how he got started in the industry and restaurant marketing, he says that his background was nontradition...
Dec 09, 2021•36 min
The Fast Casual Nation Podcast offers exclusive interviews with experts ranging from top chefs and brand makers to executives and restaurants who work in one of the fastest-growing segments of the restaurant industry. In this episode, I chat with Austin Samuelson, co-founder and chief executive officer at Tacos 4 Life about the challenges of getting into the restaurant business and their mission to fight world hunger. Samuelson talks about how he and his wife, Ashton heard a statistic in 2009 in...
Nov 25, 2021•24 min
The Fast Casual Nation Podcast offers exclusive interviews with experts ranging from top chefs and brand makers to executives and restaurants who work in one of the fastest-growing segments of the restaurant industry. In this episode, host Paul Barron chats with Chris Dull, chief executive officer at Freddy’s Frozen Custard and Steakburgers to discuss the brands growth and insight on franchising. Dull says, “today Freddy’s operates four hundred and fifteen restaurants. We operate in thirty four ...
Nov 17, 2021•35 min
The Fast Casual Nation Podcast offers exclusive interviews with experts ranging from top chefs and brand makers to executives and restaurants who work in one of the fastest-growing segments of the restaurant industry. In this episode, host Paul Barron chats with Cosmo Magliozzi, founder of Pasta 78 to discuss preparing to create a fast casual brand and developing it for expansion. Magliozzi talks about his introduction to what would become the birth of fast casual concepts back in the nineties, ...
Oct 29, 2021•46 min
The Fast Casual Nation podcast offers exclusive interviews with experts ranging from top chefs and brand makers to executives and restaurateurs who work in one of the fastest-growing segments of the restaurant industry. In this episode, host Paul Barron gives a deep dive into the latest hiring stats, fast casual trends, and vaccination requirements for restaurant and hospitality workers. Following in the footsteps of Walmart, Google, Tyson Foods, and other large corporations, McDonald’s has put ...
Aug 13, 2021•20 min
Guest: Mike LaVitola, Co-Founder & CEO of Foxtrot
May 20, 2021•30 min
Guest: Jeff Dickerson, Head of Clover
May 14, 2021•29 min
Guest: David Selman, Culinary Director - The Stand
May 05, 2021•19 min
The Fast Casual Nation podcast offers exclusive interviews with experts ranging from top chefs and brand makers to executives and restaurateurs who work in one of the fastest-growing segments of the restaurant industry. In this episode, host Paul Barron chats with Joe Fontana, the owner and founder of Fry the Coop, to explore drive-thrus and the accelerated growth of chicken concepts in the fast casual space. Fry the Coop is a Nashville hot chicken concept based in Chicago. Established in 2017, ...
Apr 30, 2021•28 min
The Fast Casual Nation podcast offers exclusive interviews with experts ranging from top chefs and brand makers to executives and restaurateurs who work in one of the fastest-growing segments of the restaurant industry. In this episode, host Paul Barron chats with Jon Fish, the vice president of marketing for Worthington, to provide a hands-on look at some of the latest innovative plant-based products on the market today. Worthington is a plant-based or “plant powered” brand that specializes in ...
Apr 16, 2021•16 min
The Fast Casual Nation podcast offers exclusive interviews with experts ranging from top chefs and brand makers to executives and restaurateurs who work in one of the fastest-growing segments of the restaurant industry. In this episode, host Paul Barron sits down with Chris Birkinshaw, the chief executive officer of Aloha Poke, to explore franchising a poke bowl concept during a pandemic.
Apr 06, 2021•28 min
Fast casual must diversify in order to stay afloat after the delivery bubble bursts, according to Sam Nazarian, CEO of C3, the company behind Umami Burger, Krispy Rice and Sam’s Crispy Chicken. During Covid, Sam’s virtual restaurant company – a subsidiary of sbe – jumped from $20 billion to $40 billion in online sales. Now faced with the reality of a reopening economy, C3 is aggressively diversifying through the rapid development and expansion of virtual restaurant brands, the opening of over 30...
Mar 10, 2021•25 min
Steele was the entrepreneur, founder, & CEO of STEELE Fitness, which was successfully sold to Lift Brands Global in 2017. CRISP & GREEN is a fast-casual restaurant that combines delicious and sustainable chef-crafted menu featuring salads, grain bowls, and smoothies. They are committed to providing wellness resources and events to create healthier, happier and stronger communities. CRISP & GREEN’s second largest expansion with 10 stores set to open in the Florida market with zero ven...
Mar 08, 2021•25 min
Del Taco, the iconic Mexican-American concept, debuted its highly-anticipated new restaurant design prototype. The new "Fresh Flex" design focuses on: restaurant accessibility, speed of service and brand transparency. The latest design features third-party delivery pick-up stations, double drive-thru lanes dedicated to mobile orders or delivery driver pickups and dedicated parking lot areas for those who want to park, eat and go.
Feb 12, 2021•24 min
The Fast Casual Nation podcast offers exclusive interviews with experts ranging from top chefs and brand makers to executives and restaurateurs who work in one of the fastest-growing segments of the restaurant industry. In this episode, host Paul Barron sits down with Travis Bickham, the vice president of marketing for Birdeye, to explore how restaurant operators can grow their businesses online in 2021. This content brought to you by Birdeye. Birdeye is an all-in-one customer experience platfor...
Feb 10, 2021•26 min
Better-burger chain BurgerFi is plotting a massive expansion strategy. With plans to add 30-35 new locations this year, expanding ghost kitchen operations and the brand’s first drive-thru it has been a tremendous year of growth for BurgerFi as they have just gone public (BFI). The company's new CEO also has nearly three decades of experience in various positions at Burger King. The 125-unit chain credited “significant increases” in delivery and app sales for the small revenue boost in 2020. Give...
Feb 08, 2021•30 min
Birdcall, a contemporary take on a retro chicken restaurant is the third restaurant concept and venture for the group that is lead by chef Jean-Philippe Failyau along with his partner Peter Newlin. Customers witness the birdcall experience by ordering from custom designed kiosks. Built from the ground up, Newlin and his team have developed their very own user-friendly, customer facing, POS system that allows the guest to feel completely immersed in the brand experience from start to finish. Gues...
Feb 04, 2021•25 min
Nobana, Arizona’s newest Asian-inspired ghost kitchen, is now open for business via DoorDash, UBER Eats and Postmates. Created by the owner of Wildflower, Nobana offers flavor-packed bone broth and gluten-free noodle bowls, salads and wraps. The virtual restaurant is operating as a ghost kitchen out of the Sonora Village Wildflower location, with plans to expand to additional Wildflower locations around the Valley later this year. Guest: Louis Basile - President/Founder at Wildflower
Feb 02, 2021•24 min
Sweet Paris Crêperie founded in 2012 by Allison and Ivan Chavez, Sweet Paris is one of the hottest and fastest growing restaurant brands in Houston, Texas with its Instagram-worthy, French-inspired interiors and delicious food and drinks made with high-quality ingredients and bold flavors. Guest: Allison Chavez, Founder of Sweet Paris Crêperie
Feb 01, 2021•22 min
Half of new Velvet Taco restaurants will be outfitted with a drive-thru pickup lane, where customers can retrieve digitally placed orders boosting $1,800 in tacos to $3,200. Velvet Taco realized that it needed a dedicated system for producing and distributing off-premise orders. Velvet Taco’s make line was reconfigured as a double line, with one side producing orders for on-site consumption and the other handling delivery and takeout orders. The technology and addition of a pickup lane have rais...
Jan 26, 2021•26 min
The Fast Casual Nation podcast offers exclusive interviews with experts ranging from top chefs and brand makers to executives and restaurateurs who work in one of the fastest-growing segments of the restaurant industry. In this episode, host Paul Barron sits down with Pete Mora, the founder of Fajita Pete’s, to explore how to build and bolster your business so it can survive future recessions, pandemics, and other disaster scenarios.
Jan 22, 2021•24 min
The Fast Casual Nation podcast offers exclusive interviews with experts ranging from top chefs and brand makers to executives and restaurateurs who work in one of the fastest-growing segments of the restaurant industry. In this episode, host Paul Barron provides a deep dive into the latest consumer data, financial evolution, and leadership developments from MOD Pizza.
Jan 19, 2021•21 min
Analysis of the fast casual salad chain sweetgreen using FoodableLabs brand sentiment data. We're breaking down all the wins and loses of sweetgreen; new menu options, their digital forward brand, drive thru, and more.
Jan 15, 2021•19 min
The Fast Casual Nation podcast offers exclusive interviews with experts ranging from top chefs and brand makers to executives and restaurateurs who work in one of the fastest-growing segments of the restaurant industry. In this episode, host Paul Barron sits down with John Lowe, the chief executive officer of Jeni's Splendid Ice Creams. Barron and Lowe explore how operators can use multiple strategies and service models to help their businesses succeed.
Jan 12, 2021•25 min
