---
title: "Fast Casual: Penn Station CEO on the Three Things the Brand Needs to Grow"
url: https://burnaze.com/article/92f7a582-dd3a-405b-b59b-7b9d2428115c
source: "1851 Franchise"
original_url: https://1851franchise.com/fast-casual-penn-station-ceo-on-the-three-things-the-brand-needs-to-grow-2703917
category: "Sandwich & sub"
industry: "Restaurants"
segment: "Sandwich & sub"
topics: ["People"]
published: 2017-08-30T15:10:48.000Z
modified: 2026-11-01T04:11:56.589Z
image: https://newimage.1851franchise.com/cdn-cgi/image/quality=85,format=webp,width=1280,height=720/story/featureImage/c654b0d75c6a0275761a9ec84c91ffd26351.jpg
---

# Fast Casual: Penn Station CEO on the Three Things the Brand Needs to Grow

**TL;DR:** Penn Station CEO Craig Dunaway discusses the three things the brand needs to grow: brand recognition, oversight, and logistics. The grilled sandwich franchise has been growing fast, with locations in 15 states and plans to continue expanding.

*originally published in 1851 Franchise on 2017-08-30. [Read the original](https://1851franchise.com/fast-casual-penn-station-ceo-on-the-three-things-the-brand-needs-to-grow-2703917).*

## Story

Penn Station has been growing fast. The grilled sandwich franchise now has locations in 15 states and aggressive plans to continue expanding out from their existing markets.

At the 2016 Fast Casual Executive Summit, Penn Station’s CEO, Craig Dunaway, sat down for an in-depth discussion about the brand’s growth, including the challenges they have faced and the unique opportunities afforded by their concept.

From the interview:

> *The way that we grow — and we've gone from one state to 15 — is trying to grow in . . . concentric circle(s) . . . When we go into a market there's really three things that we need: we need brand recognition, we need oversight and we need logistics, which is getting the food there.*

Watch the full interview at *Fast Casual*.

## Entities

- 1851 Franchise (publication)
- Restaurants (sector)
- brand growth (topic)
- Penn Station (company)
- Craig Dunaway (person)
- expansion strategy (topic)
- logistics (topic)

---
Originally reported by 1851 Franchise (https://1851franchise.com/fast-casual-penn-station-ceo-on-the-three-things-the-brand-needs-to-grow-2703917). Summarized by Burnaze (https://burnaze.com/article/92f7a582-dd3a-405b-b59b-7b9d2428115c).