---
title: "New Comfort Food Trend"
url: https://burnaze.com/article/94e5b060-5344-4f51-a4b6-aae706d65489
source: "1851 Franchise"
original_url: https://1851franchise.com/qsr-magazine-a-new-kind-of-comfort-food-5691
category: "Restaurants"
industry: "Restaurants"
published: 2016-09-01T16:11:35.000Z
modified: 2026-11-01T04:14:59.206Z
image: https://newimage.1851franchise.com/cdn-cgi/image/quality=85,format=webp,width=1280,height=720/story/featureImage/5c4ddedac2be7c039f46574a8dd82c218786160901115030.jpg
---

# New Comfort Food Trend

**TL;DR:** The fast-casual industry has seen a 33 percent rise in menu mentions of mac 'n' cheese in the past five years. American Grilled Cheese Kitchen is a grilled cheese restaurant in San Francisco.

*originally published in 1851 Franchise on 2016-09-01. [Read the original](https://1851franchise.com/qsr-magazine-a-new-kind-of-comfort-food-5691).*

## Story

More cheese please! America’s comfort foods—grilled cheese and mac ‘n’ cheese—are getting gourmet makeovers. The fast-casual industry has embraced the two dishes and has seen a 33 percent rise in menu mentions of mac ‘n’ cheese in the past five years according to a recent article in QSR Magazine.

“People often told me I was crazy for opening a grilled cheese restaurant because they can make the sandwich at home. We’re not trying to compete with what you do at home, because what we do at American Grilled Cheese Kitchen is something you can’t or don’t want to do at home,” explains Nate Pollak, co-owner of American Grilled Cheese Kitchen in San Francisco.

## Entities

- 1851 Franchise (publication)
- Restaurants (sector)
- QSR Magazine (publication)
- fast casual (topic)
- menu trends (topic)
- comfort food (topic)

---
Originally reported by 1851 Franchise (https://1851franchise.com/qsr-magazine-a-new-kind-of-comfort-food-5691). Summarized by Burnaze (https://burnaze.com/article/94e5b060-5344-4f51-a4b6-aae706d65489).