Philadelphia-based Honeygrow, founded in 2012, has expanded to eight fast-casual restaurants that feature healthful stir-fries, salads and a signature sweet-treat “honeybar.”

With units already in Delaware, Pennsylvania and New Jersey, Honeygrow plans to expand this summer to Arlington, Va., and to add four more restaurants later this year. Expansion is funded by a $25 million financing deal in with existing investors Miller Investment Management and Brook Lenfest.

The concept is headed by founder and CEO Justin Rosenberg. The company said Honeygrow units average more than $2 million in sales, with an average check between $10 and $11. The ideal footprint covers between 2,000 and 2,200 square feet.

Velvet Taco was founded in Dallas in 2011 and elevated the lowly folded tortilla into the more upscale space. Created by a subsidiary of Addison, Texas-based Front Burner Restaurants L.P., parent to the Twin Peaks chain, Velvet Taco is as edgy as its name.

Flavors from around the globe — from fried paneer and Cuban pig to tikka chicken and ahi poke (in a lettuce wrap) — converge in a menu priced between $3.75 and $6.75. Velvet Taco has units in Dallas, Chicago, Houston and Fort Worth, Texas.

Guests can also order the Back Door Chicken, which must be ordered by knocking on the restaurant’s back door, and includes a whole rotisserie chicken, sides and tortillas. Velvet Taco also has eco-friendly packaging and stays open until 4 a.m. (5 a.m. in Dallas) on Fridays and Saturdays.

Each year, Nation’s Restaurant News honors five emerging restaurant concepts that are changing the face of foodservice.

For 2016, the brands highlight everything from natural and local sourcing — in both full-service and fast-casual versions — as well as juices, Middle Eastern-influenced menus and fusion mash-ups in the hot area of tacos.

The Hot Concepts winners will be celebrated at a MUFSO conference tasting event on Oct. 23 at the Hyatt Regency Reunion in Dallas.

Criteria for the Hot Concepts, selected by the NRN editorial team, include being a standout restaurant with proven success in either three markets or among five units. Expansion beyond the first unit must have been launched in the past seven years or fewer. The concepts also exhibit good financial standing for their growth stage.

Without further ado, meet this year’s winners.

Touting itself as “100 percent Guiltin’ Free,” The Little Beet taps into consumers’ growing interest in "clean" meals with a seasonal, gluten-free menu. The chain also uses meats untreated with antibiotics and tries to use GMO-free ingredients.

New York-based parent Aurify Brands LLC is a Five Guys Burgers and Fries franchisee and operator of other concepts. With four units in New York and one in Washington, D.C., Little Beet also straddles two segments: fast casual for four of the restaurants and polished casual for The Little Beet Table. Another polished-casual version is set to open in Chicago later this summer.

The Little Beet has an average check of about $12, while The Little Beet Table has an average check of $54 at dinner, $30 at lunch and $29 at brunch. The fast-casual restaurant seats 70 people, and about 60 percent of the orders are takeout.
 

Naf Naf Grill, founded in Naperville, Ill., has taken Middle Eastern cuisine — falafel and shawarma in particular — to Middle America. Earlier this year, the concept received an investment from Roark Capital Group, the Atlanta-based private-equity firm and parent to an assortment of restaurant brands, including Arby’s and Wingstop. Sahar Sander and Elan Burger opened the first Naf Naf Grill in an old, run-down Taco Bell unit in 2008.

Customers choose from either steak or chicken shawarma, or falafel, either in a pita, a rice bowl or a salad bowl, plus toppings. The food is sliced and prepared in front of customers. Each location makes as much as 2,000 pitas on site every day.