The girlies break down the establishments that plague our neighborhoods and corporatize our lunch hours: fast casual restaurants. From Cava to Chipotle, have we really elevated fast food or just made it more expensive? Digressions include a petty gripes section, the Olympics of transvestigation, and tens of thousands of rewards points. This episode was produced by Julia Hava and Eliza Mclamb and edited by Allison Hagan. Research assistance from Penelope Spurr. SOURCES: 10 storylines that defined the decade in fast food 90 Minutes With The Chipotle Boys Calories Often Absent on Third-Party Food Delivery Platforms, Analysis Finds Chipotle enhances partnership with top influencers Chipotle is constantly searching for the intersection of its brand and culture Chipotle is selling 'Chipotle Boy' bowls aimed at vest-wearing finance bros Consumer control and customization in online environments Fast-casual consumers: Who are they? Food of the ‘90s: Fast, Fun, and Environment Friendly How Sweetgreen turned itself into a restaurant that’s known for food quality instead of a technology startup that happens to sell food Impacts of the 2008 Great Recession on dietary intake: a systematic review and meta-analysis In a Burger World, Can Sweetgreen Scale Up? Kendrick Lamar kicked Sweetlife Fest founder off stage Personalization Psychology: Why We Crave Customization. Rise of the Restaurant Robots: Chipotle, Sweetgreen and Others Bet on Automation Salad Days Are Gone: I Went to Sweetgreen’s Music Festival Server-less Restaurants Might Be the Future of Dining Sweetgreen 2022 Impact Report Sweetgreen beats ‘sad desk salad’ vibes to soar above fast-food competitors. It can thank fancy foods, high prices—and robots Sweetgreen just pulled the plug on the Sweetlife Festival. Here’s what’s likely to replace it. Sweetgreen makes boom at LA launch with performances by BANKS and Alvvays Sweetgreen Marketing Strategy: Uncovering Key Ingredients Behind Growth Sweetgreen stock soars after its IPO, valued at $5.5 billion The Controversial Rise Of Fast Casual Bowl Restaurants The Origin of the 9-5 Work Schedule and Its Crazy Incompatibility with the Modern World The Role of Technology in Fast Casual Restaurants: Ordering Apps and Self-Service Kiosks Two Years After Buying Spyce, Sweetgreen Launches Infinite Kitchen Robotic Restaurant Unintentional food zoning: A case study of East Harlem, New York When McDonald’s was America and America was McDonald’s Why a Salad Company Has a Tech Team Why fast-casual restaurants became the decade’s most important food trend Why is fast casual winning?