About QSR

QSR

QSR is the business-to-business magazine for the limited-service restaurant industry, published in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, by Food News Media. Founded in 1997, the magazine is the leading source of news and information about the $300 billion limited-service restaurant industry — the B2B voice of quick-service, fast-casual, snack, and pizza operators nationwide — covering breaking news, food trends, franchising, technology, and finances for the industry's decision-makers — covering quick-service (fast food), fast-casual dining, snack shops, pizza restaurants, and the full-service takeaway, concessions, and convenience-store segments. Its website is QSRmagazine.com — the digital arm of the integrated media brand, with daily quick-serve industry news, the A.M. Jolt morning newsletter, research products, and event coverage.

The 1997 Founding

Back in 1997, QSR's founders had an idea: what if there was a resource that quick-service restaurant professionals could turn to for news and insights that helped them in their day-to-day business? What if a magazine took a vertical approach to the restaurant industry, homing in specifically on the counter-service niche that was in the midst of an evolutionary transition? It was a big idea — and it needed a big launch. The counter-service niche was in the midst of an evolutionary transition — fast-casual emerging, coffee and snack concepts proliferating — and no publication owned the vertical. QSR would.

The Dave Thomas Cover

The team knew the best way to ingrain QSR into the minds of quick-service professionals was by featuring an industry icon — someone with the cachet to show readers they were serious about the endeavor. Enter Dave Thomas. The Wendy's founder and all-around industry titan agreed to participate in a cover-story interview for the magazine's first issue, sharing his leadership principles and thoughts on a segment just beginning to hit its stride. That opportunity arguably paved the way for other industry heavyweights — including Chick-fil-A founder Truett Cathy, the second cover subject, and Subway founder Fred DeLuca, the third — to make time for a fledgling QSR.

The Industry It Covers

QSR magazine and QSRmagazine.com are the leading sources of news and information about the limited-service restaurant industry — a $300 billion market (described as a $268 billion industry in earlier accounts, and a $180-plus billion slice in 2007 materials). The market includes traditional quick-service (fast food), fast-casual dining, coffee and snacks, pizza, and related segments like full-service takeaway, concessions, and convenience stores. For more than 15 years — now more than 25 — QSR has defined this market, serving the decision-makers who work in it: chief executives, operations leaders, chefs, and market influencers. The industry's scale justifies the coverage: a $300 billion limited-service market in the U.S. alone, part of a global fast-food market expected to reach $813.9 billion by 2028 at a 4.6 percent compound annual growth rate.

The 20th Anniversary

Twenty years after the Dave Thomas cover, the magazine hadn't forgotten the role Thomas played in establishing QSR as the leading voice for quick-service content. To celebrate its 20th anniversary in 2017, the company committed $20,000 to the Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption — the nonprofit Thomas launched in 1992. "Dave Thomas certainly had a knack for business, but he never lost sight of the importance of helping," said Webb Howell, publisher of QSR. "We are recognizing Dave's contribution in helping get QSR off the ground by supporting the charity that was so near and dear to his heart. For our 20th anniversary, it is our pleasure to donate $1,000 for each year of our success — a total of $20,000 — to the Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption."

25 Years of Thought Leadership

As QSR celebrated 25 years, it looked back at its first 10 covers — beginning with Thomas's leadership principles — as a record of the industry's evolution. The global fast-food market, a recent report noted, is expected to reach $813.9 billion by 2028, registering a 4.6 percent compound annual growth rate. Wendy's itself posted total revenues of $470 million in a single quarter and opened its 1,000th international restaurant — the kind of industry scale the magazine has chronicled since 1997.

The FSR Sister Publication

Food News Media also publishes FSR magazine — QSR's sister publication for the full-service segment of the restaurant industry. FSR launched in print with an initial circulation of 24,000 owners, C-level executives, chefs, and other decision-makers in the full-service segment, including both independent and chain operations, published bi-monthly beginning with the November 2012 issue. Together, QSR and FSR give Food News Media complete coverage of the restaurant industry's two great segments. FSR's bi-monthly cadence and 24,000-strong circulation of owners, C-level executives, and chefs complement QSR's limited-service focus — the full-service and limited-service halves of the industry under one publisher's roof.

The Integrated Media Brand

QSR's print, online, event, and research products serve the information needs of the largest swath of the restaurant industry — more than half of it — reaching chief executives, operations, chefs, and market influencers. The integrated media approach — print, online, events, research — makes QSR the media partner for the quick-service industry, covering breaking news, food trends, franchising, technology, finances, and social media. That integration — 'the smartest media partner you can have for today's savvy quick-service industry,' in the company's phrase — reaches the segment's chief executives, operations leaders, chefs, and market influencers across every channel they use.

Chapel Hill

The magazine is headquartered in Chapel Hill, North Carolina — the Research Triangle town that has become an unlikely center of restaurant-trade publishing. The privately held company employs 11 to 50 people at its Chapel Hill headquarters. Its specialties, as listed on LinkedIn, span the industry it covers: restaurants, business, publishing, fast casual, quick service, reporting, news, finances, magazines, social media, breaking news, food trends, franchising, and technology.

How America Eats

"How does America eat? For 10 years QSR magazine has defined it" — the magazine's own account of its market-making role. The segments it defined read like a map of modern American dining: traditional quick-service, fast-casual, coffee and snacks, and related segments like full-service takeaway, concessions, and convenience stores. By naming and covering the limited-service segment as a distinct industry — "the only foodservice publication that delivers this $180-plus billion slice of the restaurant industry," as its early media kit put it — QSR didn't just cover the market; it helped create the category.

The Digital and Events Arm

Beyond print, QSR's integrated media products include QSRmagazine.com, the A.M. Jolt daily newsletter ("daily updates on quick-serve industry news, tips, and events"), events, and research products. The brand's LinkedIn presence — more than 100,000 followers — reflects the industry's engagement. Together, the print magazine, website, newsletter, events, and research make QSR what its media kit calls "the smartest media partner you can have for today's savvy quick-service industry."

Official Website

QSR's official website is https://www.qsrmagazine.com, offering quick-serve industry news, trends, and events coverage. The magazine is published by Food News Media of Chapel Hill, North Carolina — the Research Triangle publisher that has defined quick-service trade journalism since 1997 — the leading voice for quick-service content for more than a quarter-century — serving the decision-makers of the $300 billion limited-service restaurant industry.