Fast Food Now A Dirty Term: The New Dinosaur Of The Food Industry

Restaurants and food chains can't move fast and far away enough from the term fast food. As establishments, both big and small, try to distance their image and reputation from the unsavory association with the categorization, new terms are cropping up.  Fast-casual, fast crafted, quick service restaurant (QSR) and fan food are just a few of the evolved terms. The question remains: with these label changes, what else will change?

Yum! Brands with chains as Taco Bell, KFC and Pizza Hut acknowledges the challenge to shift their image from industrial, cheap and greasy to become more wellness-friendly. In the meantime, companies like Panera Bread Co. and Chipotle Mexican Grill Inc. are successfully transforming their associations as 'fast casual' stores that offer casual versions of sit-down restaurant menus. 

Randy Garutti's  'anti-chain' New York-based Shake Shack uses the term 'fine casual'. "Fine casual couples the ease, value and convenience of fast casual concepts with the high standards of excellence in thoughtful ingredient sourcing, preparation, hospitality and quality grounded in fine dining," Shake Shack's Securities and Exchange Commission filing states.

Recently, McDonald's Next opened in Hong Kong. This possible future of McDonald's chains globally comes with a quinoa-serving salad bar and table service. With plastic trays replaced by wooden serving boards and glass-cased salad bar counters, it is entirely in keeping with McDonald's stated aim of becoming a "modern, progressive, burger company."

If that is not enough, it is moving toward designing its interiors with more greens to imply environment-friendliness. Rather than the quick customer/table turn-around of its fast food days, McDonald's is also trying to go for a more Starbucks-like atmosphere to invite people to stay for longer periods of time.

Dairy Queen has completely embraced the trend with 'Fan Food Not Fast Food'. 'Brand Camp' meetings throughout the US yielded for Arby's its 'fast crafted' branding. Del Taco, on the other hand, claims the QSR-plus or quick service restaurant image.  

BrandSimple Consulting founder Allen Adamson highlights the fact that speed on its own makes for cheap and unattractive service. "Everything can be fast today. What you want to communicate is something more desirable," says Adamson.