The World Is Temporarily Closed—But Not Fast Casual… Here’s How This Segment Excels During a Pandemic

Obviously, we know that during its time among us, the coronavirus has decimated lives and trashed—or seriously impacted—entire industries. Tourism, sports, supply chains, and restaurants have been nearly kaput for months. However, unsurprisingly there’s some very good news to be found in one segment of the restaurant business—fast casual.

But first, the bad news: due to the pandemic, the restaurant industry’s expected to lose $240billion in sales during 2020, according to QSR magazine. Plus, Debby Soo, the new CEO of OpenTable, in a recent interview with CNBC, suggested that their restaurant partners were forced to permanently close 1-in-4 of their locations permanently.

This is unprecedented, but, the good news (especially if you’re involved in fast casual): the global fast casual restaurant market size is estimated to grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 12%—with revenue in USD of $63.25 BILLION—during Marketwatch’s forecast period of 2020-2024. And that’s during the pandemic! Furthermore, the year-over-year growth rate for fast casual in 2020 is estimated at 10.67% by the end of 2024.

Things aren’t so rosy for full-service restaurants (they’re the ones where you sit down, get served, and pay after your dining experience). Restaurants like Outback Steakhouse, Bonefish Grill, P.F. Chang’s China Bistro, and Red Lobster, were sadly in no position to shift their business models when the pandemic struck, and dining rooms had to close.

It’s true that, during the pandemic, the fast casual sector has been down by 12%, but that’s nothing compared to what’s happened to the full-service sector: down by 37%.

How fast casual has been able to survive—even thrive—during coronavirus

If they’ve been nimble, innovative, and flexible enough to pivot in the face of the new norm, many brands are going gang-busters. Certainly not all fast casual brands have made it through with flying colors—but the agile, adaptable chains absolutely have. And here’s why: if a brand had strong, forward-thinking leadership, then they were able to accommodate:

Contactless digital ordering (online)
Curbside pickup
Relationships with third-party delivery platforms
Grubhub
Uber Eats
DoorDash
Postmates
Social media updates
“We’re open for curbside, delivery, or (currently) dine-in.”
“We’re sanitizing…”
“We’ve got sneeze guards.”
“We’re working to keep you safe.”

One of the great benefits for any fast casual brand is that digital transactions tend to bring in higher-than-average ticket sales. It’s a win for guests and businesses alike; you get your dinner without compromising safety, and the fast casual restaurant earns a bit more for helping you out.

Plus, during these strange days, online orders aren’t just for a couple of burritos, or a large pizza—people in lockdown have been feeding their entire family. That means the fast casual brand gets revenue from the sale of multiple meals on one ticket, while also saving money on packaging.

The Secret Sauce

Finally, there’s one more thing many fast casual brands can offer if they have the proper forward-thinking mindset: take-out alcohol. Growlers in some cases, or take-home margaritas, may just be the new normal in fast casual. These add-ons increase ticket sales and keep the customer very, very satisfied during these troubled times.

BI Form CRS Form Privacy Policy Terms Of Use

RISKS & DISCLOSURES

We’d rather use this space to tell you more about our awesome restaurants and how passionate we are about bringing Wiley Area Development LLC dba Tasty Equity to the world, but our lawyers asked us to do this instead. So, make them happy by reading this while we get back to doing what we do best: opening and helping to run restaurants.

The information on this website was created by Wiley Area Development LLC dba Tasty Equity to assist with marketing our Regulation A share offering. The text on this website is a summary but does not contain all of the terms of our securities offering. In order to review all of the terms of our securities offering, you should review our offering circular that contains all of the terms, conditions, risk factors, and disclosures that you should read and understand before you invest in our company. The offering circular is available to download here for you to read and review before you invest. If the offering circular has been filed with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission, so you can also view it on the SEC’s website here: https://www.sec.gov by searching for “Wiley Area Development” in the search box on the top of the SEC’s website. The offering circular explains that we are offering 1,000,000 units of Class B membership in Wiley Area Development LLC dba Tasty Equity at a price of $5.00 per unit with a minimum purchase of 20 units per investor.

The SEC does not pass upon the merits of, or give its approval to, any of the securities we are offering or the terms of our offering, nor does it pass upon the accuracy or completeness of our offering circular or other selling literature. The securities we are offering are offered pursuant to an exemption from registration with the SEC; however, the SEC has not made an independent determination that the securities offered in our offering circular and in our offering are exempt from registration.

When you review our offering circular, please review all of the risk factors before making an investment in our company. An investment in our company should only be made if you are capable of evaluating the risks and merits of this investment and if you have sufficient resources to bear the entire loss of your investment, should that occur.

Generally, no sale may be made to anyone in our offering if the aggregate purchase price you pay is more than 10% of the greater of your annual income or net worth. Different rules apply to accredited investors and non-natural persons. Before making any representation that your investment does not exceed applicable thresholds, we encourage you to review Rule 251(d)(2)(i)(c) of Regulation A. For general information on investing, we encourage you to refer to www.investor.gov.

Our offering circular does not constitute an offer or solicitation in any jurisdiction in which such an offer or solicitation would be unlawful. No person has been authorized to give any information or to make any representations concerning our company other than those contained in our offering circular, and if given or made, such other information or representation must not be relied upon. Prospective investors are not to construe the contents of our offering circular, or of any prior or subsequent communications from our company or any of its employees, agents or affiliates, as investment, legal, financial or tax advice. Before investing in our offering, please review our offering circular carefully, ask any questions of the company’s management that you would like answered and consult your own counsel, accountant and other professional advisors as to legal, tax and other related matters concerning this investment.