Like many big-square-footage, sit-down dining chains before it, Cheesecake Factory (CAKE) has hatched a couple of quick-serve restaurant ideas. Cheesecake’s both involve pasta. Because obviously, quick-serve pasta has caught on so well nationwide. There’s so many successful, big chains in that niche — like, well, nobody.
Some might once have pointed to Sbarro (SBA), but that pizza-dominated Italian quick-serve chain has been struggling of late as mall traffic shrank. About the closest thing to fast-pasta success you find in the top 20 fast-casual chains is privately held Noodles & Co., but its noodles are primarily not Italian-style.
Nonetheless, Cheesecake opens the first of four planned Hello Pasta restaurants in New York City this week. The premise: high-grade, imported, organic Italian pasta offered with a range of “Italian-American” sauces for under $10.
Cheesecake’s other new restaurant idea is even more of a long shot. Opening in the Los Angeles suburb of Irvine, Itriya Cafe combines Italian pasta with Korean ssam — savory dishes delivered wrapped in lettuce, tortillas, pitas or bao, which are Asian buns. Quick, name a really successful Italian-Korean combo chain! Yeah.
There’s something about Italian pasta and sitting down, and relaxing. Customers just don’t seem to go for the idea of grabbing a bowl of linguini and running out the door. Pasta’s not very portable; you can’t really eat it on the go, as we Americans eat so many of our meals today. To sum up, pasta seems to be a tough sell in fast food.
Living here in Seattle, I’ve watched a couple of great concepts in fast pasta struggle. Yummy Pallino Pasta has only grown to six units since its founding in 1999, despite an investment in special machines that cook pasta in under two minutes. There’s also local fave Pasta & Co., still at three stores despite several attempts through the years at going bigger.
Both of Cheesecake Factory’s new ideas are a big diceroll, based on the general track record of fast-pasta restaurants. But on the plus side, the fast-casual restaurants give Cheesecake other expansion vehicles that demand less space than the cavernous flagship stores, which currently aren’t a good bet for growth. If the pasta restaurants don’t catch on, Cheesecake’s still got its signature stores, and those great big cheesecakes, to fall back on.
Photo via Flickr user marvin L
<a href="http://blogs.bnet.com/business-news/?p=3194tag:news.google.com,2005:cluster=http://blogs.bnet.com/business-news/?p=3194Fri, 09 Jul 2010 10:24:22 GMT 00:00″>Cheesecake Factory Takes a Flyer on the Tough Fast-Pasta Niche — but the Odds Aren’t Good