It's not news that fast-food and quick-serve eateries are attracting more customers than full-service restaurants. But a new analysis by Placer.ai that compares weekly visits to restaurants in the first quarter of 2023 to the same period in 2022 indicates that even within their QSR peer group there were winners and also-rans.

"Looking at chain-level visit numbers shows that many leading brands are outperforming their respective sub-categories. But other brands are also seeing success by remaining close to or exceeding 2022 visit numbers, despite the challenging economic headwinds," the report finds.

Winners in the Fast Casual category were Wingstop, a chicken wing chain, and Shake Shack, a burger, fries and milkshake chain. Wingstop saw year-over-year visits up between 18% and 55% and increased its store count by 13%. Shake Shack, which opened 36 new locations during the year and saw a 7.8% annual increase in same-store sales, also enjoyed a higher visit count in the quarter. Both did far better than their peers as a group.