Restaurant Hospitality: Top Chefs Discuss Casual Dining

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Fast-casual concepts sometimes get a bad rap from those in the “haute cuisine” circle. Fast-casual restaurant menus are often criticized for a perceived lack of the high quality and taste associated with an upscale restaurant.

But Rick Bayless, one of the chefs at Zimmern’s round table, couldn’t disagree more strongly.

Bayless explained that people want high-quality food to be convenient and accessible.People who are on the go want amazing food, but they can’t always flock to an upscale restaurant to get it.

That’s why he opened a restaurant in the O’Hare airport.

“Everybody wants good food at an airport. But nobody is willing to do it,” Bayless said.

Bayless asserts that the fans that he meets on the street don’t laud his upscale restaurants; they remember him for the fast-casual option he opened in an airport.

Fast-casual franchises and chains are successful for a reason; they have quality menu items that people like and they provide good customer service. And at the the end of the day, that’s what matters.