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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: