Content about Fast casual restaurants

In the second installment of a case study series, CSA online continued to offer an insider’s look at the conception and initial rollout of the southern Calif.-based fast-casual concept PizzaRev. Likened to “the Chipotle of pizza,” this innovative chain lets customers choose from an artisanal array of toppings to craft their own pizzas. A test kitchen in Northridge, Calif., was launched in April 2012 and three additional locations soon followed.

Dallas -- SRS Real Estate Partners announced that FreeBirds World Burrito has selected seven new locations slated to open in Central California later this year.
 
The seven sites in California are located in Sacramento, Tracy, Fresno, Clovis, Turlock, and two sites in Modesto, and all were acquired from Qdoba franchisee 4G Management. All locations will be converted to company owned and operated units and range from 2,000 sq. ft. to 4,000 sq. ft.
 

Denver -- Chipotle Mexican Grill expects to open 155–165 new Chipotle locations in 2012.

"While this is more restaurants than we've ever opened in a single year, we are confident," said co-CEO Montgomery Moran in the company’s fourth-quarter earnings call. Moran cited the "quality of what's in the real estate pipeline."

New York City -- Chipotle Mexican Grill has opened a new format, called ShopHouse Southeast Asian Kitchen, in Washington, D.C.’s, DuPont Circle neighborhood.

The Asian-themed eatery uses the same set-up as the company’s namesake restaurants, with customers able to customize the food offerings.
 

Westchester, Ill. -- Tri-Land Properties announced Thursday that Marshalls and Qdoba Mexican Grill have joined the company’s projects in Indiana and Minnesota.

At Southern Plaza, a 335,000-sq.-ft. Indianapolis shopping center anchored by Kroger and Office Depot, Marshalls has opened a 24,084-sq.-ft. store.

At Century Plaza, a 300,592-sq.-ft. shopping center located in Merrillville, Ind. anchored by Staples and Old Time Pottery, Qdoba Mexican Grill has opened a 2,700-sq. ft. Mexican fast-casual restaurant.

Au Bon Pain is updating its brand experience with a new customer-centric design that gives the store a more distinct personality. It also makes the space easier to navigate, with the layout redesigned to speed service.

“We’re taking the customer experience to the next level,” said Sue Morelli, CEO for Au Bon Pain, which operates 318 locations in the United States and internationally. “The response we’ve been getting to our new prototype has validated our decision to accelerate our growth, including going to new markets nationally.”

Lakeland, Fla. -- Publix Super Markets said that it has reached a deal to sell the Crispers restaurant chain to Healthy Food Concepts, an affiliate of the Miami-based investment group Boyne Capital Partners. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Crispers is a fast-casual restaurant chain serving soup, salads and sandwiches with 36 locations in Florida.
 

New York City -- Chipotle Mexican Grill founder, chairman and co-CEO Steve Ells is developing an Asian fast-casual concept that he expects to debut in mid-2011, according to Nation’s Restaurant News.

The new concept will be similar in pricing to Chipotle, the report said.

Ells said in a statement, “Since opening the first Chipotle some 17 years ago, I have often thought about how other types of food might fit the Chipotle model.”