Millennial Fast Food Trends: Effect on the Fast Food Industry

17 07, 2019 by admin 0 0

Fast Casual Restaurants, Millennials and the Evolution in the Fast Food Industry in America

When we think of fastfood restaurants, we think of junk fries, burgers, fried chicken, sugary pastries and calorie-laden soft drinks. This phenomenon has been the case in America for a very long time with fast food franchises for example McDonald’s, Wendy’s, Burger Cal . king and White Castle dominating the market. However , over the past 20 years, fast food in America has slowly and gradually changed from greasy french fries and burgers at McDonald’s to deli sandwiches along with milkshakes at Panera Bread or Chipotle. This occurrence is known as the rise of the ‘fast casual’ restaurants which offer the casual dining experience of healthy, organic meals created with produce that is sourced hereabouts but served at the acceleration and convenience that one will experience at a fast food bistro. This trend points to a fast-food industry that is changing and becoming healthier while still maintaining the convenience and the fairly low price point that produced fast food restaurants so prosperous in the first place. This essay will show evidence on how the fast-food in America is changing by means of becoming healthier, exotic, customizable, ethical and ambient and also the role that fast laid-back restaurants and Millennials are generally playing in driving this kind of change.

The largest driver of this shift in the fast food industry is the improved health consciousness of Americans.professional writers college papers As outlined by Miller (182), the organic food movement which were only available in the 1960s has been really successful in educating Tourists about the dangers of highly processed food, Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs) and the poisonous pesticides that happen to be used in modern agriculture. On the other hand, the movement implored Americans to eat locally grown foodstuff natural and healthy foods. The success of this activity has had a detrimental impact on standard fast-food restaurants who have typically come under attack regarding selling high-calorie meals which can be unhealthy and cause weight problems, diabetes and high blood pressure. Standard fast food restaurants have also been accused of advertising unhealthy dinners to children and using made with chemicals and highly refined components to make their meals. This increased health consciousness contributed to reduced sales in ready made meals restaurants and constant hazards of class action lawsuits coming from those who think their health problems have been caused by eating take out (Dixon et al. 104). In order to deal with this happening, fast food restaurants have elevated the number of healthy meals individual menus, but their subscriber base has not been very high.

The rise connected with fast casual restaurants could be attributed to the fact that they serve healthy food with the same advantage as fast food restaurants. Eagan (178) reports that it is as a result of this health consciousness the fact that “number of diners going to fast-casual restaurants grew at ten times the rate involving traffic to fast-food restaurants through 1999 through 2014. ” Fast-casual restaurants have grown in popularity due to their healthy, refreshing made offerings at a low price and high convenience. Food restaurants such as Panera Bread in addition to Chipotle are fast informal restaurants that have succeeded within providing healthy meals conveniently. These restaurants have self-service kiosks and drive by windows to compete successfully with fast food restaurants by offering healthy meals in a fast and convenient manner (Treflis Team 1). It appears that the future of fast food in America will include far more fast-casual restaurants.

The tastes of usa citizens have also changed, with Millennials being more adventurous with the food tastes. Due to the rise of social media, Americans now are more aware of exotic foods such as Mexican, Greek, Jewish, Italian and Chinese plus they are more willing to try these individuals (Williams 1). Moreover, feeding on exotic meals and placing them on social media increases the social capital of Millennial leading to a sharp rise in all their demand. Since traditional ready made meals restaurants still offer conventional meals such as burgers, fries, and chicken they are getting edged out by fast-casual restaurants which offer a wide range of exotic meals which customers can certainly customize in a dozen various ways. The ability to customize meals is specially important to Millennials who are right now the dominant working generation in America as they see meals as an extension of their individuality (Eagan 177). These tendencies point to a future where ready made meals will consist of exotic in addition to international cuisines which will be extremely customizable.

An additional shift in food mindset that has been experienced in America is a increased need to eat in the environmentally friendly and socially aware manner. There is an increase in the desire to eat food that has been sourced close by to support local farmers and local economies and also to eat food that has is grown in an environmentally friendly manner (Miller 182). Often , the food served at standard fast food restaurants violates these kind of ideals as the breeding of such animals is done in cages, the food is grown employing pesticides, and they do not support local farmers. On the other hand, quick casual restaurants often espouse these ideas and more Americans, especially Millennials are choosing rapid casual restaurants over regular fast food restaurants to express their beliefs on ethics connected with food sourcing. In the future, fastfood is likely to be ethically sourced through local farmers using organic and natural and pasture raised ingredients.

The rise of social media and the prefer to share one’s activity regarding social capital has also modified what Millenials require associated with fast food joints by growing the patronage of sites and food that is photo perfect, and that can be posted on social media sites such as Instagram (Williams 1). Social media requires which restaurants have great mood and artistically presented meal that is ‘Instagram ready’ regardless if they are not fine dining eateries, and they are willing to pay a little more for any experience. Fast-casual restaurants similar to Chipotle have capitalized within this by having a brick and stainlesss steel theme with high ambient illumination that has attracted Millennials within droves (Dixon et geologi. 104). These changes mean that traditional fast food restaurants will be edged out by fast-casual restaurants which provide a excellent ambiance that can provide social media marketing likes for Millennials. From this trend, it looks like fast food restaurants will have to become posh to be able to compete effectively.

These changes in the fast food marketplace can be attributed to the coming old of millennials who are at this point working and have disposable revenue to spend eating out, their thinking about healthy food and the life values of food sourcing as well as production have played an integral role in making fast food healthier and fueling the grow of fast-casual restaurants. As per Williams (1), Millennials are also more likely to cook their foodstuff than to eat out that may lead to a decline within eating out generally as really them get into the job industry and are earning salaries. Web 2 . 0 has also fueled these improvements as it has made exotic cuisines more popular and also required that dining establishments become more chic and enveloping so that they can take photos as well as post them online in social media sites. The internet has also helped in spread the information of healthy food, environmental mind, ethical food sourcing along with the dangers of refined food to help more people than before. That generation will continue to have an effect on not only the fast food market but food trends on the whole.

From the preceding discussions, it is clear how the fast food industry in America is usually poised for significant adjustments as a result of increased health mind, fast casual restaurants, and also the Millennial generation. The future of fastfood is likely to include healthier meal, exotic food, ethically found ingredients, and more choices. Moreover, fast food restaurants are likely to be more chick and ambiently adorned even as they focus on providing food as fast as possible through self-service kiosks, online ordering, along with drive-through windows. It appears that fast-casual restaurants, the internet, and Millennials are going to be the drivers of those changes in the fast food industry.