Some bankrupt restaurant operators have blamed their woes on a trend toward fast-casual dining, and new research from the U.S. Agriculture Department backs them up, WSJ Pro Bankruptcy reported. The number of quick-service restaurants, where food is ordered and paid for at a counter, has grown nearly 20 percent nationwide from 2000 to 2015, according to the USDA’s Economic Research Service. By comparison, the number of full-service restaurants, where waiters take orders at tables and customers pay after eating, remained essentially unchanged for that time period, it said. Fast-casual eateries were the fastest-growing segment of quick-service restaurants for that 15-year span, the USDA found. Those restaurants, which include such brands as Chipotle Mexican Grill Inc. and Panera Bread Co., are sort of a hybrid of fast food and full service, it said. Fast-casual restaurants accounted for 2.9 percent of quick-service restaurants in 2000 and expanded to 10.8 percent by 2015, the department said.
