Fast food vs. fast casual: D.C. tries to sort out the difference

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Joanne S. Lawton

Burton Heiss of Nando's Peri-Peri.

Rebecca Cooper

Staff Reporter- Washington Business Journal

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Nando's Peri-Peri USA CEO Burton Heiss doesn't think of his chain of Portuguese-style rotisserie chicken restaurants as "fast food," and he doesn't want the District to think that either.

"The challenge for us is we don't consider ourselves fast food. We do consider ourselves fast casual, even still at the higher end, or more polished, fast casual," he said.

Nando's is one of several business owners looking to get the D.C. definition of fast food changed, and they seem to be making some headway.

Like many of his compatriots in this rapidly growing segment of D.C. restaurants, Nando's designation as fast food — according to zoning laws, anyway — comes down to one little detail: when the money changes hands.

Currently, a D.C. restaurant is categorized as fast food if any one of three things happen:

• Customers pay for their food before they eat it.
• The restaurant has a drive-thru.
• Food is served on paper plates or other paper products.

That designation is more than just semantics. Several D.C. neighborhoods, ones that would be extremely attractive to restaurateurs, have restrictions on fast-food restaurants. In Woodley Park, for example, where Nando's is looking to open, fast food is only allowed through a special exception, a more burdensome approval process that involves the Board of Zoning Appeals. H Street NE, Eighth Street SE and Georgia Avenue all have neighborhood zoning restrictions that affect fast food.

"It doesn't surprise me that neighborhoods want to have that kind of control," Heiss said. "And for us, it doesn't mean we're not going to pursue it, but the challenge is it's going to take longer, and cost a little more. So as we're weighing different opportunities, that can go against a possible location in the District versus Maryland or Virginia."

Rebecca Cooper covers retail, restaurants, tourism and the arts.