The food service industry in the U.S. is enormous. It was valued at approximately $824 billion in 2022 and continues to grow. Within this sizable sector, there are various types of restaurants — from fast-food chains to fine-dining bistros. There are so many to discover that it’s almost impossible to keep track.
The quick-service restaurant industry is a subsection of the larger food-service space, and many budding restaurateurs and keen foodies want to learn more about it. But what exactly is a quick-service restaurant (QSR), and how does it differ from a fast-casual restaurant? And how are QSRs impacting the restaurant industry on the whole?
We’ll answer all these questions and more in this comprehensive guide to quick-service restaurants.
A quick-service restaurant is a casual-dining restaurant emphasizing quick food service. Quick-service restaurants are different from full-service restaurants because they usually don’t have table service or extended menus.
Put simply, it’s the industry term for a fast-food restaurant; the two phrases can be used interchangeably.
When defining what a quick-service restaurant is, it’s helpful to look at the key features of this type of restaurant. Here are five main characteristics that customers expect from a QSR:
Fast service: Restaurants focus on speed of service over the quality of food or ingredients.
No table service: Self-service and counter service are usually used in place of being seated, ordering with a server, and having the food brought to your table.
Food to go: Takeout and drive-thru options are typical in fast-food restaurant chains.
Low price points: Menu items are usually more affordable than full-service restaurants.
A limited menu: Most QSRs work with fewer menu items than restaurants offering full service.
If a restaurant has all five of these features, it’s usually safe to assume it’s considered a QSR.
Several popular fast-food chains fall under the umbrella of quick-service restaurants. Here are a few examples of QSRs across America and Canada:
McDonald’s
Subway
Burger King
Pizza Hut and other pizza chains
Wendy’s
Taco Bell
Domino’s Pizza
Jack in the Box
Chick-fil-A
KFC
Popeyes
Some people consider cafe chains that serve food — like Starbucks, Tim Hortons, and Dunkin’ — to be QSRs too.
As you can see, most quick-service restaurant brands serve food that’s easy to prepare and cook ahead of time. Food like subs, hamburgers, burritos, and fried chicken are typical, as are finger foods and snacks such as French fries.
QSRs and fast-food restaurants are often compared with fast-casual restaurants like Chipotle and Panera Bread, and the two types of restaurants indeed share several similarities. However, some critical differences between the restaurant formats can help you differentiate between the two.
Both QSRs and fast-casual restaurants focus on fast service, but fast-casual restaurants usually make food fresh to order. On the other hand, quick-service restaurants cook their menu items ahead of time to ensure almost instant food delivery. This means the service in QSRs is usually faster, but food quality can be slightly lower.
QSRs and fast-casual restaurants usually offer both dine-in and takeout options for food. However, diners in fast-casual restaurants are more likely to spend time over their meal, eating in the restaurant itself. With that in mind, fast-casual restaurants are more likely to spend money on interior design to create a particular atmosphere.
Conversely, QSRs are usually designed for fast table turnover. The restaurant managers might even want to deter customers from spending too long in the restaurant. This means they can serve more customers during a service period and increase profit margins.
It’s highly unusual for fast-casual restaurants to have a drive-through option, but these are common in QSRs. Fast-food restaurants benefit from drive-throughs because they keep tables free for customers inside and reduce wait times.
Fast-casual restaurants tend to make food fresh to order, which means food service is usually a little slower than in QSRs. Drive-through formats don’t work in fast-casual restaurants because the food isn’t ready immediately.
By now, you should clearly understand what a quick-service restaurant is, but you might be wondering why you should consider opening one. Well, there are many benefits to working within the fast-food industry.
QSRs benefit from high customer turnover rates because so many customers take their food to go or use the drive-through.
Even if diners choose to eat in the restaurant, the fast service means that they’re unlikely to sit down for long periods, so tables in QSRs tend to free up quickly. This means it’s easy to serve large numbers of customers in a single service period — and more customers served means more income for your business.
Many fast-food chains operate under a franchising system, so you could choose to set up a fast-food eatery under a larger umbrella company. You’ll be in charge of day-to-day operations but use existing branding and serve food that customers already know and love.
Opening a franchise means it’s easier to build a customer base because the general public is already familiar with the more prominent brand. You can keep your marketing costs low and hit the ground running as soon as you open your doors.
Most QSRs have lower operating costs than full-service restaurants.
Since many diners will take their food to go, renting or buying a smaller retail space and hiring a smaller staff is possible. The cost of ingredients can also be lower than in fine-dining restaurants, as you’re likely to have a standardized menu with no changes month to month. This means you can order food items in bulk, which will help you keep costs down.
The fast-food industry has a significant share of the restaurant market. An estimated 36.6% of adults in the U.S. eat fast food every day. But restaurant trends are always shifting, and today’s market is different in many ways from the pre-pandemic restaurant space.
Since the onset of the coronavirus pandemic, restaurant managers have been struggling to keep their businesses afloat, predominantly due to labor shortages and rising costs. The rates of people quitting their jobs are slowly reducing, but quit rates in December 2023 remained high in the leisure and hospitality industry, at 4.3% — the industry was affected more than any other.
Given the labor shortage within the restaurant space, QSRs and fast-casual restaurants alike have been embracing new technology to fill the labor gap. Online ordering has become an integral part of the takeout experience for many. In fact, between 2014 and 2023, online ordering grew 300% faster than dine-in. Instead of relying on a staffer to answer calls for takeout orders, restaurants can automate the process with simple software or website integrations.
Some large QSR chains with big budgets have been able to embrace high-tech solutions to their labor shortages by bringing in robots. For example, Chick-fil-A has begun trialing a robotic food-delivery system — it delivers food to customers at tables, meaning fewer servers are required each shift.
It’s also common to see self-service kiosks in restaurants prioritizing fast service. Apps like KioskBuddy let customers place and pay for their orders on a tablet quickly, without the need for staff assistance. The order goes through to a kitchen display system, and the app can even alert customers when their food is ready to collect. This ordering system can reduce wait times, making it an ideal choice for QSRs facing labor shortages or reduced budgets.
For all intents and purposes, a quick-service restaurant is a fast-food restaurant. It’s a type of casual-dining restaurant, usually with limited food items on the menu and high customer turnover. Since it prioritizes a fast dining experience, QSRs typically operate with counter service or self-service, and takeout and drive-throughs are standard.
Now that you understand what a quick-service restaurant is, why not open one of your own? KioskBuddy is an essential app for running your own QSR, as it lets customers place and pay for orders themselves. It integrates with Square POS to provide an easy-to-use kiosk system that customers and staff love.
Sign up for KioskBuddy today and receive a 30-day free trial.