Only have a minute to spare? Here’s our brief on WSJ’s A Focus on Food, Not Formality:
- Fast-Casual restaurants are cropping up in Flatiron, Chelsea, & NoMad
- i.e. a 35-seat restaurant in Flatiron, with all items at $12.50 or less
- no white tablecloths or wait staff = low overhead
- low overhead = lower startup costs (compare a Manhattan space build-out of $500,000 to the formal dining’s $2,000,000)
- setting up shop where the millennials are living and working
- millennials care about good food, not formality
- “Everyone is using Chipotle as a base and going off in every possible direction,” said Mulberry & Vine founder Michelle Gauthier, a retail veteran who previously worked in furniture and women’s clothing.
- Fast-Casual sales rose 11.5% in 2015, compared to Fast-Food’s 4.1%
Interested in seeing them for yourself? Here’s a few in the area: