Who’s winning with the kids this fall?
Chick-fil-A, McDonald’s, Chipotle, Raising Cane’s and Texas Roadhouse are still the top restaurant brands preferred by teenagers, according to the semi-annual Taking Stock With Teens survey of 13,500 Gen Zers by investment firm Piper Sandler, which has been studying teen opinions for 24 years.
The survey is conducted twice in a year, perhaps because teenagers can be fickle.Those five restaurant brands were also the top picks for teens in the spring survey, which came out in April.
But their love for the top two brands—Chick-fil-A and McDonald’s—appears to be dimming somewhat.
This fall, 17% of teens ranked Chick-fil-A at No. 1, compared with 21% in the spring, for example. McDonald’s, meanwhile, dropped slightly to win 11% of the vote for second place, compared with 12% in the spring.
McDonald’s in the fall survey tied with Chipotle, which held steady at 11% as third most preferred brand by teens. Raising Cane’s, meanwhile, ticked up to 6% this fall, up from 5% in the spring. Texas Roadhouse maintained its 5% vote for fifth place.
And, in the case of coffee, tea or beverage chains, teens appear to be falling somewhat out of love with Starbucks.
For the first time this year, the survey included questions about favorite beverage chains, and Starbucks, which has historically been among the top restaurant brands, shifted to lead this new category as the No. 1 pick.
Starbucks was still the top beverage choice in the fall survey, but it was ranked No. 1 by 51% of teens, down from 57% in the spring.
Dunkin’, likewise, lost some fans with 9% of teens ranking the doughnut-turned-beverage chain at No. 2 in the fall, compared with 11% in the spring.
And, in the fall survey, Dutch Bros, in third place with 6% of the teen vote, knocked McDonald’s (5%) down the beverage ranking to fourth place.
Other things to know about today's teenage consumers:
They say they’re spending more. Teen (self-reported) spending was up 6% year over year to an average of $2,361 (which would amount to about $65 billion per year, given there are about 27.7 people in the U.S. between the ages of 13 and 19). Their spending was also up 4% from the spring survey.
Oh, and here’s something that’s no surprise to any parents: Their parents contributed about 65% of that spending. Still, about 34% of teens have a part-time job. That’s fewer than in fall 2023 (37%).
Male teens spend the largest share of their wallet on food (23%), followed by clothing (18%) and video games/systems (11%). But the amount they’re spending on food declined both year over year (down 200 basis points) and since the spring (down 260 basis points).
Female teens, on the other hand, spend the most on clothes (27%) but food wasn’t far behind (20%) with personal care in third place (14%). The amount females spend on food, however, increased year over year by 80 basis points, though it dropped from their spring spending (down 130 basis points).
In terms of snacks, teens still love Goldfish, followed by Lays and then Cheez-It. Their willingness to try plant-based meat had been declining since 2021, but in the recent survey that trend stabilized, indicating teens might be a bit more open to plant-based products.
Teens prefer energy drinks (39%) over coffee (31%) or soda (30%). Their top brands are Monster Beverage, Red Bull, Celsius and Alani Nu.
They love their Nikes, e.l.f. Beauty products and buying fragrances.
They are playing more on Roblox, get rides mostly from Uber and food delivery from DoorDash.
The majority—87%—of teens have iPhones and nearly 30% said they plan to upgrade their Apple hardware in the next six months because of Apple Intelligence. Needless to say, they’re all on TikTok, and the streaming platform of choice is Netflix.
Teen women are still loving their Stanley Cups, which moved up to the No. 2 slot as a most popular trend. But, at the same time, Stanley Cups also moved up to No. 3 (from No. 8 in the spring) as the “fashion trend on its way out.”
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