Slow Fast Food? It Could Happen!
Late yesterday morning a friend and I went to a weekly farmer's market in one of our city parks downtown. A couple of booths, including Whole Foods, sold amazing sandwiches and side dishes. The ingredients were high quality—artisan bread, organic peanut butter, natural cheeses, fresh sliced meats and veggies—and the prices were just $2 to $4.
It was fast food, on a tiny scale, and it was fresh, healthy, convenient, and cheap. Nirvana, right?
The challenge is taking that concept to the grand scale. Chain restaurant companies need to make money and be able to copy their concept over and over again. But chains like Chipotle are proving it can be done.
The other day I read about The Oinkster, a new restaurant that's being hyped as "the next Chipotle" because it's packaging high-quality ingredients and on-site preparation with speed, convenience, and affordability. Like Chipotle, The Oinkster was founded by a chef with fine-dining experience—in this case, Andre Guerrero, pictured—who says he hopes to establish a new quick-service category: slow fast food. The restaurant "aims to be Los Angeles’ antidote to both, expensive gourmet meals and their cheap fast food counterparts," according to its official site.
Mmmmm, the menu: premium sandwiches made with house-cured pastrami or slow-roasted pork, burgers made from freshly-ground steer beef, rotisserie-roasted chicken, and Belgian-style fries, real Gruyere and feta cheeses, home-made sauces, dressings, and spice rubs, and house-made condiments and crunchy veggies.
Here's a man-on-the-street review on the Colorado Chow blog.
The challenge for The Oinkster lies in taking a concept to the large scale. It's worth noting that Chipotle had the help of a huge infusion of cash from McDonald's, and access to McDonald's distribution network, behind its quick and successful national rollout. Who knows, maybe Guerrero plans to keep The Oinkster local to LA. But it sounds like his goals are larger.
Definitely something to watch.
