Fast-casual restaurant sales grew 11 percent last year, led by Chipotle, Panera Bread and Panda Express with growth of 17 percent, 12 percent and 11 percent respectively, according to Technomic’s Top 500 Chain Restaurants report. The growing trend toward fast-casual dining has spurred quickservice chains, including Taco Bell and KFC and casual restaurants such as Applebee’s and Red Lobster to test fast-casual concepts. Read the FastCasual.com story here


