Types of restaurant

Various types of restaurant fall into several industry classifications based upon menu style, preparation methods and pricing. Additionally, how the food is served to the customer helps to determine the classification.

Historically, restaurant referred only to places that provided tables where one sat down to eat the meal, typically served by a waiter. Following the rise of fast food and take-out restaurants, a retronym for the older "standard" restaurant was created, sit-down restaurant. Most commonly, "sit-down restaurant" refers to a casual dining restaurant with table service, rather than a fast food restaurant or a diner, where one orders food at a counter. Sit-down restaurants are often further categorized, in North America, as "family-style" or "formal".

In British English, the term restaurant almost always means an eating establishment with table service, so the "sit-down" qualification is not usually necessary. Fast food and takeaway (take-out) outlets with counter service are not normally referred to as restaurants. Outside of North-America, the terms fast casual dining restaurants, family style, and casual dining are not used and distinctions among different kinds of restaurants is often not the same. In France, for example, some restaurants are called "bistros" to indicate a level of casualness or trendiness, though some "bistros" are quite formal in the kind of food they serve and clientele they attract. Others are called "brasseries", a term which indicates hours of service. "Brasseries" may serve food round the clock, whereas "restaurants" usually only serve at set intervals during the day. In Sweden, restaurants of many kinds are called "restauranger", but restaurants attached to bars or cafes are sometimes called "kök", literally "kitchens", and sometimes a bar-restaurant combination is called a "krog", in English a "tavern".

Food Network

Food Network (legally known as Television Food Network) is an American basic cable and satellite television channel that is owned by Television Food Network, G.P., a joint venture between Scripps Networks Interactive (which owns 70% of the network) and the Tribune (FN) Cable Ventures Inc. (which owns the remaining 30%). Despite this ownership structure, the channel is managed as a division of Scripps Networks Interactive. The channel airs both specials and regular episodic programs about food and cooking.

In addition to its headquarters in New York City, Food Network has offices in Atlanta, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Chicago, Detroit, Jersey City, Cincinnati, and Knoxville, Tennessee.

As of February 2015, Food Network is available to approximately 96,931,000 pay television households (83.3% of households with television) in the United States.

History

Food Network was founded on April 19, 1993 as TV Food Network and was launched on November 23 of that year; its legal name remains Television Food Network, G.P. Within a few years, the network had shortened its on-air brand name, removing the "TV" from its name. It was developed by Reese Schonfeld (one of the founders of CNN), under the direction of Providence Journal president Trygve Myrhen. Its original partners included the Journal itself, Adelphia, Scripps-Howard, Continental Cablevision, Cablevision, and most importantly, the Tribune Company, which provided the network's technical output. The network was initially launched as a preview in September 1993 with two initial shows featuring David Rosengarten, Donna Hanover, and Robin Leach.

Fast casual restaurant

A fast casual restaurant is a type of restaurant, found primarily in the United States, that does not offer full table service, but promises a higher quality of food with fewer frozen or processed ingredients than a fast food restaurant. It is an intermediate concept between fast food and casual dining, and typically priced accordingly. The category is exemplified by chains such as Chipotle Mexican Grill, Freddy's Frozen Custard & Steakburgers, Boston Market, Culvers, Zaxby's, Noodles & Co., Panera Bread,Pizza Ranch, and Shake Shack.

History

The concept became popular in the United States in the early to mid-1990s, but did not become mainstream until the end of the 2000s and the beginning of the 2010s.

During the economic downturn beginning in 2007, fast casual dining saw increased sales to the 18–34 demographic. Customers with limited discretionary spending on meals tend to use it on dining perceived as healthier.

Logistics

Publisher and founder of FastCasual.com Paul Barron is credited for coining the term "fast-casual" in the late 1990s. Horatio Lonsdale-Hands, former Chairman and CEO of ZuZu Inc., is also credited with coining the term "fast-casual". ZuZu, a handmade Mexican food concept co-founded by Lonsdale-Hands in 1989, filed a U.S. Federal trademark registration for the term "fast-casual" in November 1995. In the July 1996 edition of Restaurant Hospitality, editor/associate publisher Michael DeLuca calls Lonsdale-Hands a "progressive pioneer in the burgeoning 'fast-casual' market segment."

Casual

In the European tradition, casual is the dress code that emphasizes comfort and personal expression over presentation, formality and conformity. More simply, "casual" can be defined as something relaxed, occasional, not planned, or informal. It includes a very wide variety of costume, so it is perhaps better defined by what it is not than what it is. The following are not considered casual wear:

Although it can be considered "informal" in the senses of "not formal" or "suited for everyday use," informal attire actually refers to a dress code much more formal than casual wear, a step below Semi-formal wear.

Jeans and a T-shirt have been described as the "casual uniform". With the popularity of spectator sports in the late 20th century, a good deal of athletic gear has influenced casual wear. Clothing worn for manual labor also falls into casual wear.