Fast Casual Top 100 Movers and Shakers
Balance Grille Named to Fast Casual Top 100 “Movers and Shakers” List
Fast Casual recently announced the winners of its annual Top Movers and Shakers Award, recognizing 75 brands and 25 leaders who are propelling the fast casual restaurant industry forward. Not only was Balance Grill recognized as a part of the 75 brands overall, co-founders Prakash Karamchandani and HoChan Jang were also recognized as two of the top 25 fast casual executives. The Top 100 Movers and Shakers Awards are presented by Networld Media, owner and operator of FastCasual.com, a leading restaurant industry online news publication. The honorees were announced and awarded on Sunday, May 22 during an awards banquet held at the London House Chicago.
“It’s an incredible honor to be included in the Top 100 Movers & Shakers list,” said Prakash Karamchandani, CEO & Co-Founder of Balance Grille. “I am humbled and beyond blessed to be on this journey with my business partner and best friend CJ and the amazing team we’ve put together over the last 12 years. Yet this acknowledgement proves that we are just getting started.”
Since its creation 17 years ago, the Fast Casual Top 100 Movers & Shakers list has recognized the industry’s most successful brands. The Top 100 is similar in that it’s not always looking for the most profitable or fastest-growing brands, but also recognizing the companies that make this list for their dedication to innovation, leadership, and resilience. These companies and their hard work does not go unnoticed, especially during the last few years.
Balance ended 2021 on a high note, reporting a 11% increase in same store sales over the previous year. This is in addition to the brand’s 28.8% YOY sales increase in 2020. The tech-forward concept also continued to evolve its curbside service and offerings launched first in 2020 with refinements to directly integrate curbside check-in within its mobile app at the click of button. These refinements have led to an outstanding 90% of all orders coming from the app along with an increase in users of 56%.
Looking ahead to 2022, Prakash and HoChan have set their sights on a targeted, phased growth and development plan, teaming with the industry-experienced leadership team at Pivotal Growth Partners in order to position the concept as the preeminent Asian fast casual concept nationwide, while continuing to deliver on a commitment to their mission each and every day by constantly innovating, challenging the status-quo, and providing customers an experience which cannot be duplicated elsewhere.