LEXINGTON – A&W Restaurants has announced plans to test a fast-casual restaurant here later this year similar to the fast-casual Five Guys and Smashburger chains, Kentucky.com reports.

"We've seen a lot of success within the burger portion of fast-casual with Five Guys just exploding and Smashburger," said Liz Bazner, A&W's social and digital communications strategist. "This is our way of saying these are options." 

The company said it will retain its existing restaurants, including those that are co-branded with Long John Silver’s and KFC.

"We'll still have drive-ins and co-branded restaurants, but here's another option for someone who wants to visit an A&W," Bazner said.

The concept will move the QSR toward fresh, made-to-order burgers while retaining its retro brand image.

"We still want it to be nostalgic, but we also want to pay homage to us moving forward," Bazner said. "In our design elements, we really like the idea of referencing in the artwork that this is a Lexington store." 

Dennis Lombardi, executive vice president of food-service strategies for WD Partners in Columbus, Ohio, applauded A&W’s move but questioned how the final product will stack up against its competition. 

"Where on the better-burger spectrum do they want to place that?" he said. "There's an awful wide spectrum of the caliber of hamburger offerings in that fast-casual segment. You'll go from Five Guys to Bobby Flay's Burger Palace. There's a lot of difference between those."

Don Sniegowski, editor of franchise news site Bluemaumau.com, said he's skeptical of the project.

"Sometimes troubled systems throw a hail Mary pass," he said. "They'll say, 'Let's do something completely different,' in the hopes that this will save their system."