The Asian Quick-Casuals (1/4)

The Asian and Noodle Quick-Casual Restaurant Popping up in Middle America are Changing the Landscape of Asian Cuisine By Rita Negrete, Senior Editor, Thenomic, Inc. Chinese cuisine, once considered exotic, has long been part of the mainstream in the United States, playing a role similar to that of the Italian and Mexican eateries found in almost every city and town. Even as the public continues to patronize these well-liked ethnic restaurants, selected Chinese, Italian and Mexican items have found their way onto the menus of varied-menu chain restaurants as well. But in recent years, new immigrants have supplied new tastes, which have been supplemented by those with a broader Mediterranean focus, and Mexican food is now seen as part of a cluster of “ Latin ” cuisines, Chinese cuisine is now understood as an aspect of a more general “ Asian” cuisine, which may incorporate Thai, Vietnamese, Japanese, Korean and Filipino culinary traditions as well. Technomic, Inc., the leading foodservice research and consulting firm, has tracked the restaurant industry both quantitatively and qualitatively for more than three decades. They are closely following the development and expansion of “ Asian” cuisine at every level of the industry, from fine-dining restaurants to fast-food eateries to onsite installations such as food courts in colleges, hospitals or corporate offices. While all these areas are showing notable growth in Asian concepts and cuisines, some of the most striking expansion has been on the part of quick-casual chains. Asian Quick-causal: A look at Ten Chains Asian and noodle concepts have a quintessentially quick-causual atmosphere. Food is fresh, high quality and healthy, made for each customer, with fast service and moderate check averages. These businesses have a strong takeout component- as much as 50% of sales. The cluster has strong consumer appeal and the major emerging chains demonstrate healthy AUVs. Menus may be exclusively Asian but also may include noodle dishes from other parts of the world. AUV- Average Unit Volume Some of the chains Technomic has identified in this general Asian quick-casual cluster adapt the traditional Asian noodle house to American tastes. In this category are Asia Fresh, an offshoot of the Leeann Chin chain, as well as Doc Chey’s Asian Kitchen, Mama Fu’s Asian Houseand the upstart Café Chin Chin. One, Pho Hoa, is an quthentic descendant of shops purveying traditional Vietnamese beef-noodle soup and is still found primarily in Asian ethnic neighborhoods, but the others consciously seek a mainstream audience reassured by chain labels, Americanized taste profiles and restaurants located in areas such as shopping malls rather than in big-city ethnic enclaves. Another group of growing quick-casual chains place less emphasis on noodles and more emphasis on rice dishes and stir-fry specialties served over rice. Pei Wei Asian Diner ( an offshoot of the wildly successful casual dining concept P.F. Chang’s Chian Bistro) offers five noodle cishes, but they are overshadowed by the signature rice bowls and dishes served over rice. Another chain in this category, Pick Up Stix, offers only a few noodle dishes on a menu that includes 24 entrees served over rice as well as half a dozen versions of fried rice.