Fast casual restaurant

A fast casual restaurant is a type of restaurant invented in the United States. It aims to fill the gap between fast food joints and more formal restaurants.
This type of restaurant does not offer full table service. It gives a higher quality of food than fast food places. The fast casual restaurants use fewer frozen or processed ingredients than a fast food restaurant. 
The promoters of this idea see it as fitting between fast food and what they call "casual dining". By 'casual dining' they mean chains like TGI Friday's and Applebee's in the U.S. and Harvester in the U.K. 
The typical cost per meal in a fast casual is in the $8–$15 range. Typical examples of fast casual restaurants in the U.S. are Chipotle Mexican Grill, Culvers, and Panera.