Call it the Double-F Bomb — Fast food has truly become a dirty word. “Everything can be fast today,” Allen Adamson, founder of BrandSimple Consulting told the AP, equating the term “fast food” to the Death Star. “What you want to communicate is something more desirable.”
Which means that restaurants like McDonald’s, Burger King, and Wendy’s are all trying to find that perfect term. “Fast casual,” they’re calling it. Or “fine casual.” Or “fast crafted.” Or even “fan food.” (Which begs the question: fans of what, exactly? Of greasy burgers and fries scarfed down in your car with the evidence destroyed before you get home?)
“We’re not fast food!” they’re screaming. “We’re…I mean yeah, okay. But we’re different!”
Take the case of Arby’s, much maligned on The Daily Show by former host Jon Stewart. After holding Brand Camp meetings with employees around the company in 2014, and discovering that the employees consistently rated Arby’s as being smack-dab in the middle of fast food and fast casual, the company decided to rebrand themselves as “fast crafted.” Arby’s spokesman Chris Fuller told the AP that “the chain realized it offered the convenience of fast food but also offers ‘that made-for-you care’ with its sandwiches.”
And McDonald’s isn’t far behind, what with the promise they made last May to become a “modern progressive burger company.” (They seem to at least be starting to deliver on the promise: check out McDonald’s Next. We’re jealous. We’re actually jealous.)
The thing is, fast food is fast food. Even Adamson acknowledged that the companies have a reputation—for speed, something that was novel 60 years ago, but isn’t such a huge deal anymore. Companies can gild the lily all they want, but for now consumers are still going to think of places like Burger King as pit stops only, not as fine dining. Maybe that’s okay. Or maybe they need to develop separate prestige brands, like Taco Bell tried with the U.S. Taco Company. Of course, U.S. Taco Company failed so…
Are you willing to take fast food seriously? Are there fast food items that really deliver the flavor in a way that can compete with more cheffed-up food?
