Fast casual restaurant

[1] During the economic recession that began in 2007, the category of fast casual dining saw increased sales to the 18–34-year-old demographic.

[2] Customers with limited discretionary spending for meals tend to choose fast casual for dining which they perceive as healthier.

[2][3] The founder and publisher of FastCasual.com, Paul Barron, is credited with coining the term "fast-casual" in the late 1990s.

ZuZu, a handmade Mexican food concept co-founded by Lonsdale-Hands and Espartaco Borga in 1989, filed a U.S. Federal trademark registration for the term "fast-casual" in November 1995,[5][6] leading Michael DeLuca to call Lonsdale-Hands a "progressive pioneer in the burgeoning 'fast-casual' market segment" in the July 1996 edition of Restaurant Hospitality.

[7] The company Technomic Information Services defined "fast-casual restaurants" as meeting the following criteria:[8]