Yum opens new Banh Shop concept

Yum Brands, the company that owns Taco Bell, Pizza Hut and KFC, knows that it can't keep growing indefinitely with tacos, pizza and buckets of fried chicken. So now, it wants to see if it can sell Americans on Saigon street food.

If that concept sounds strikingly familiar — say, something Chipotle already has done with its Vietnamese-inspired ShopHouse chain — well, you can't blame Yum for wanting in on Millennial action. And on Chipotle's success.

On Friday, Yum opened in Dallas its first Banh Shop — a Vietnamese-style, fast-casual restaurant where folks stand in line and point to the freshly cooked things that they want for their sandwiches, salads or rice bowls. The best-selling menu item on opening day, says Christophe Poirier, vice president of new concepts at Yum, was the Grilled Steak Banh Mi Sandwich: marinated sirloin steak, sliced and char-grilled with honey-caramel glaze served on an open baguette with cucumber-cilantro aioli.

"We're right at the cross section of Millennials' expectations for fresh ingredients and the big trend of Southeast Asian cuisine," says Poirier, in a phone interview from the restaurant, just three blocks from the campus of Southern Methodist University. Asked how many customers on opening day are Millennials, Poirier momentarily sets down the phone, looks around the restaurant and estimates about 70% are between the ages of 18 and 33 — the market every savvy restaurant chain covets.

At the same time, Yum is just beginning to experiment with a couple of other so-called "fast-casual" concepts it hopes will attract trendy, young customers: U.S. Taco Company (a sort of hip, Mexican format in Huntington Beach, Calif.) and Super Chix (a sort of Chick-fil-A-like concept in the Dallas area).

Can Yum cash in on what Chipotle's set in motion with ShopHouse? "I'm not surprised that others would want to latch onto the idea," says Robin Lee Allen, who has followed the industry for two decades as a restaurant journalist. "The data all show this is what young customers want — customizable ethnic cuisine."

Officials at Chipotle say they're unconcerned. After all, this sort of thing has happened before. Even though Taco Bell's "Cantina Bell" platform clearly was borrowed from Chipotle, it "hasn't had any impact on us," says Chris Arnold, spokesman for Chipotle and ShopHouse. There are currently eight ShopHouse locations, with two more planned by the end of the year, he says.

But Yum's Poirier refuses to even comment on ShopHouse or Chipotle. Banh was "adopted from a white piece of paper," he insists. A second Banh Shop location is scheduled to open next month at Dallas/Fort Worth Airport.

The menu is pricier than most fast food, but less expensive than most casual restaurants. A Banh Mi sandwich — of which there are eight — goes for about $6.95. Rice or noodle bowls fetch about $8. And salads go for about $7.50. The restaurant also serves beer and frozen cocktails. And it plans to experiment with breakfast items on Fridays through Sundays — like the Grilled Steak and Egg Banh Mi Sandwich.

The food is locally sourced, says Poirier. And there's free Wi-Fi, a must for Millennials.

Will there be more Banh Shops soon?

"I can't predict the future," says Poirier. "We focused on this store — and taking care of the customer."