About 39% of Millennials feel they have no choice but to eat meals on the run, followed by 31% of Generation Z, 26% of Generation X and 19% of Baby Boomers, according to Technomic’s 2018 Generational Consumer Trend Report.
Lifestyle shifts among the different age demographics are impacting foodservice. While older members of the Gen Z cohort are beginning college and Millennials are starting families, the Gen X group is increasingly becoming empty nesters and more Baby Boomers are retiring.
“In terms of differences, Millennials are choosier parents than other generations have been and want all natural, organic foods for themselves as well as their kids,” said Anne Mills, senior manager of consumer insights at Technomic. “In older generations such as Baby Boomers, on the other hand, we are seeing a very slight decline in foodservice visits, but interest in prepared foods, opening up opportunities for grocery and convenience stores.”
Millennials were most likely to look up restaurant menus online, at 65%, followed by 61% of the Gen Z group, then 48% of the Gen X cohort and 32% of Baby Boomers.
What the foodservice category is seeing as well is that on-the-go is growing in appeal for younger cohorts. The report noted 43% of Gen Z’s lunches were bought from foodservice, while 41% of Millennial lunches, 34% of Gen X lunches and 27% of Baby Boomer lunches were purchased from foodservice.
Meanwhile, 20% of consumers overall reported eating meals from foodservice on-the-go more often than two years ago, again led by Gen Z, at 38%, and Millennials, at 30%, while 12% of Gen X and 6% of Baby Boomers noted their on-the-go foodservice visits were growing.
For the full story, go to this week’s Food Institute Report.