Fast Casual recently announced the winners of its annual Top 100 Movers & Shakers — recognizing 100 brands and 25 executives propelling the fast casual industry forward in 2026.
We are proud to be partnering with more than 40 of these outstanding brands across our portfolio of restaurant technology solutions.
The brands selected for the Top 100 earned recognition across a range of attributes: profitability, innovation, menu creation, technology use, sustainability, streamlined operations, and the ability to future-proof their businesses. What stands out across this year’s list is how consistently the brands doing it right are the ones treating technology not as a bolt-on, but as a core part of how they serve guests and grow.
At PAR, we see this every day. Whether it’s loyalty, ordering, point of sale, or payments, the brands we work with are using technology to deepen relationships, remove friction, and build the kind of guest experiences that keep people coming back. We’re proud to highlight a few of the brands recognized this year who are doing exactly that.
Condado Tacos earned a spot at #15 on this year’s list, and the numbers behind the recognition tell the story. The brand’s reward members are 3.6 times more valuable than the average diner — a figure that reflects what a well-built loyalty program can do when it’s treated as a long-term guest relationship strategy rather than a discount mechanism. Condado has also diversified its menu with high-protein bowls and burritos now driving 10% of sales, and a refreshed margarita lineup that boosted bar revenue by 20%. The guest engagement infrastructure running underneath all of it is what’s making the growth sustainable.
Original ChopShop claimed the #9 spot — its ninth consecutive year of profitability — with digital transactions now exceeding 55% of total sales. The “feel-good” brand has built a model where technology and culture reinforce each other: 81% of leadership roles filled through internal promotions, a 5.4% traffic surge, and new market expansions into Phoenix and College Station. When over half your transactions are digital, your loyalty and ordering infrastructure isn’t a feature, it’s the foundation.
Slim Chickens came in at #11, with more than 110 franchise agreements signed in the past year and a pipeline of 1,000 future restaurants. The brand debuted its first drive-thru-only locations in 2025, a format that puts enormous pressure on operational technology to deliver speed, accuracy, and a consistent guest experience without a traditional service model. Fast Casual called out industry-leading technology as a key driver of the brand’s momentum — and with that kind of unit growth on the horizon, scalable tech infrastructure isn’t optional.
Freddy’s Frozen Custard & Steakburgers landed at #6 after a record-breaking year anchored as much by digital wins as menu ones. The inaugural National Steakburger Day drove 104,000 app downloads in a single campaign — the kind of result that only happens when your loyalty and digital ecosystem are already primed and your guests are already engaged. With 118 restaurant commitments locked in across the U.S. and Canada, Freddy’s is proving that nostalgia and modern hospitality tech aren’t mutually exclusive.
Capriotti’s earned the #12 spot on the strength of a social-first creative evolution and a loyalty program built for the kind of guest relationships that go beyond a punch card. The CAP Addicts program delivered personalized SMS outreach and early-access rewards — the type of one-to-one engagement that turns occasional visitors into genuine brand advocates. The brand also made its international debut in India while continuing domestic market expansion, with digital engagement cited as a central growth driver throughout.
