The chain, founded by a former private equity associate at Wexford Capital, is winning fans with its “farm-to-counter” restaurants.
Dark Igloo
Dig Inn wants to be the Chipotle of farm-to-table dining.
The chain, with seven locations in New York and an eighth set to open in the next month, aims to get customers in the door, order from a glass-cased, assembly line–style counter, and out in 10 minutes with a $10 plate of organic food, for lunch or dinner.
Instead of burritos and quesadillas, the meals consist of an entrée, like lemon herb chicken or wild salmon, along with seasonal sides, such as roasted beets with toasted pumpkin seeds, kale and apple salad, or Sicilian-roasted cauliflower with chickpeas. The chain brings to mind the prepared foods section of Whole Foods, except someone else is doling out the portions, and there's no long grocery line at the end.
"We're really excited about this phrase we developed, 'farm to counter,'" said Adam Eskin, the 33-year-old founder and chief executive officer of Dig Inn. "The farm-to-table thing is ubiquitous now. I think people get it, but it doesn't provide the access from a price point perspective that we're trying to deliver."
Dig Inn is expanding at a time when healthy fast-casual restaurants are booming in popularity with both customers and investors. Sweetgreen, a popular locally sourced salad chain with 26 locations, just got a $22 million investment from Steve Case's Revolution Fund in December. The AOL co-founder, in a blog post explaining the investment, cited "a shift in America's taste for fast-casual dining" to quick "healthy dining options," particularly among young people. Increasingly, investors are seeing food startups as akin to investing in a lifestyle brand — indeed, Sweetgreen even has its own annual music festival with a lineup that has included Foster the People and Lana del Rey.
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