Consumer Trends
Consumer trends, insights and preferences
Consumer Trends
3 surprising tech trends—and 2 restaurants conquering them
New research reveals how consumers perceive restaurant technology, and how two operators are ahead of the pack in addressing them.
Members of Gen-Y or the millennial Generation—18-to 29-year-olds—were hit harder with pay cuts and unemployment during the recession, but their spending habits have not significantly changed. In addition, the diversity of this multicultural generation is increasing. According to Packaged Facts’ recent Gen-Y research, it is expected that these freer-spending millennials will be critical to American economic recovery.
Moms reported that the biggest difficulty in getting their children to eat more fruits and vegetables was the lack of having a wide variety of options in restaurants. Although they noted that in 2010 it was significantly easier for them to find fresh produce when dining out, especially at fast food establishments, it still accounts for only a fraction of the menu items at QSRs, and there is still huge room for improvement.
Currently, 12.4% of all foodservice operations have at least one menu item mentioning "California" in the name of the dish—up from 8% in 2005. The descriptor is most often used in items like chicken, turkey, veggies and burgers. While California is not the first state to have its name attached to a dish (NY Strip Steak is a classic), few evoke the same appeal.
Forget about the frat boys of yesterday and today’s overly analytical craft beer snobs—beer consumers are quite a diversified group. At a breakout session held during Restaurant Business' Restaurant Leadership Conference in late March, Tom Burkemper, senior director of trade marketing for Anheuser-Busch, shared the company’s research, revealing that there are five major beer consumer profiles.