Millennials

Independent or chain restaurant – which one do millennials prefer?

While you ponder that question, let’s look at a few of the current trends customers are favoring.

• Maple flavored anything
• Hispanic cheese
• Algae
• Alternative sugars (honey, dates, sorghum)
• Dumplings
• Snacking seafood
• Indulgent snacks
• Earl Grey
• Umami
• Slow growing chicken

So where do those millennials want to get these products and flavors? Chain restaurants! In fact (much to everyone’s surprise), 2/3 of those surveyed had favorable or indifferent feelings toward chain restaurants while only 1/3 favored the independent eatery.

Reasons include value, convenience, consistency and loyalty. This all seems to run counter-intuitive to what we think we know about this massive group of customers. We need to listen closely and deliver what these customers are asking for at the time and place that they want to buy it.