Thank the Millennials for Reshaping the Way We Eat

Today’s headlines are full of articles blaming millennials for soft restaurant sales. As I read articles and watch videos like “Millennials are Killing Lunch” (Fortune, March 2017) and “Millennials are Killing Chains like Buffalo Wild Wings and Applebee's”(Business Insider, June 2017), I immediately think of the Mike and Mechanics song, “The Living Years” and the opening line, “Every generation blames the one before.” I can’t get that song out of my head as I am bombarded with article after article.

It is true that with more than 80 million millennials in the United States and a buying power of $200 billion, they can demand change. But is killing restaurants the change they really want? Millennials actually spend an average of 10.6 percent more at restaurants than any other generation but when it comes to eating out, they expect convenience and value (lower cost).1  If restaurants don’t provide, will millennials be stuck with the proverbial question, “who…