Millennial Fast Food Trends: Effect on the Fast Food Industry

Millennial Fast Food Trends: Effect on the Fast Food Industry

Fast Casual Dining establishments, Millennials and the Evolution with the Fast Food Industry in America

When we think of fast food restaurants, we think of greasy fries, burgers, fried rooster, sugary pastries and calorie-laden soft drinks. This phenomenon is the case in America for a period of time with fast food franchises like McDonald’s, Wendy’s, Burger King and White Castle prominent the market. However , over the past 19 years, fast food in America has slowly changed from greasy fried potatoes and burgers at McDonald’s to deli sandwiches in addition to milkshakes at Panera Loaf of bread or Chipotle. This happening is known as the rise of the ‘fast casual’ restaurants which offer the casual dining connection with healthy, organic meals constructed with produce that is sourced locally but served at the rate and convenience that one would likely experience at a fast food cafe. This trend points to the fast-food industry that is changing and becoming healthier while nonetheless maintaining the convenience and the fairly low price point that created fast food restaurants so prosperous in the first place. This essay can have evidence on how the fast-food in America is changing by means of becoming healthier, exotic, easy to customize, ethical and ambient as well as the role that fast unconventional restaurants and Millennials tend to be playing in driving that change.

The main driver of this shift inside fast food industry is the elevated health consciousness of Americans.websites to type papers As per Miller (182), the natural and organic food movement which was established in the 1960s has been extremely successful in educating Americans about the dangers of highly processed food, Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs) and the poisonous pesticides that happen to be used in modern agriculture. Rather, the movement implored People in the usa to eat locally grown meals natural and healthy foods. The success of this movement has had a detrimental impact on classic fast-food restaurants who have typically come under attack intended for selling high-calorie meals that happen to be unhealthy and cause being overweight, diabetes and high blood pressure. Conventional fast food restaurants have also been offender of advertising unhealthy meals to children and using not naturally made and highly refined ingredients to make their meals. This kind of increased health consciousness has resulted in reduced sales in junk food restaurants and constant dangers of class action lawsuits through those who think their health conditions have been caused by eating fastfood (Dixon et al. 104). In order to deal with this phenomenon, fast food restaurants have improved the number of healthy meals on the menus, but their customer base has not been very high.

The rise of fast casual restaurants may be attributed to the fact that they serve healthy food with the same convenience as fast food restaurants. Eagan (178) reports that it is on account of this health consciousness how the “number of diners traveling to fast-casual restaurants grew from ten times the rate associated with traffic to fast-food restaurants through 1999 through 2014. ” Fast-casual restaurants have grown within popularity due to their healthy, fresh made offerings at a low price and also high convenience. Food organizations such as Panera Bread and also Chipotle are fast laid-back restaurants that have succeeded in providing healthy meals easily. These restaurants have self-service kiosks and drive by means of windows to compete correctly with fast food restaurants by offering healthy meals in a quick and convenient manner (Treflis Team 1). It appears that the future of fast food in America will include much more fast-casual restaurants.

The tastes of american citizens have also changed, with Millennials being more adventurous using their food tastes. Due to the surge of social media, Americans have become more aware of exotic foods such as Mexican, Greek, Judaism, Italian and Chinese and they are more willing to try these (Williams 1). Moreover, having exotic meals and leaving your 2 cents them on social media increases the social capital of Millennial leading to a sharp rise in their own demand. Since traditional take out restaurants still offer regular meals such as burgers, fries, and chicken they are being edged out by fast-casual restaurants which offer a wide range of unique meals which customers can certainly customize in a dozen different methods. The ability to customize meals is specially important to Millennials who are currently the dominant working era in America as they see foods as an extension of their character (Eagan 177). These developments point to a future where fastfood will consist of exotic and international cuisines which will be really customizable.

One more shift in food perspective that has been experienced in America is the increased need to eat in an environmentally friendly and socially cognizant manner. There is an increase in the necessity to eat food that has been sourced close to you to support local farmers and local economies and also to eat food which includes is grown in an ecological manner (Miller 182). Often , the food served at regular fast food restaurants violates these ideals as the breeding of such animals is done in galetass, the food is grown utilizing pesticides, and they do not help support local farmers. On the other hand, rapidly casual restaurants often espouse these ideas and more People in america, especially Millennials are choosing fast casual restaurants over regular fast food restaurants to express their very own beliefs on ethics associated with food sourcing. In the future, ready made meals is likely to be ethically sourced via local farmers using organic and pasture raised materials.

The grow of social media and the need to share one’s activity intended for social capital has also transformed what Millenials require associated with fast food joints by raising the patronage of areas and food that is picture perfect, and that can be posted on social media sites such as Instagram (Williams 1). Social media requires that restaurants have great environment and artistically presented food that is ‘Instagram ready’ regardless if they are not fine dining eating places, and they are willing to pay a little more for that experience. Fast-casual restaurants like Chipotle have capitalized for this by having a brick and steel theme with high ambient lighting that has attracted Millennials in droves (Dixon et al. 104). These changes imply that traditional fast food restaurants are now being edged out by fast-casual restaurants which provide a fantastic ambiance that can provide web 2 . 0 likes for Millennials. Because of this trend, it looks like fast food dining establishments will have to become posh in order to compete effectively.

These changes in the fast food business can be attributed to the coming old of millennials who are today working and have disposable salary to spend eating out, their attitudes about healthy food and the life values of food sourcing and production have played the role in making fast food much healthier and fueling the surge of fast-casual restaurants. According to Williams (1), Millennials will also be more likely to cook their foods than to eat out which might lead to a decline throughout eating out generally as many them get into the job sector and are earning salaries. Social media has also fueled these improvements as it has made exotic repas more popular and also required that dining establishments become more chic and enveloping so that they can take photos along with post them online inside social media sites. The internet has also helped in spread the message of healthy food, environmental intelligence, ethical food sourcing along with the dangers of refined food to be able to more people than before. This particular generation will continue to effect not only the fast food market but food trends normally.

From the preceding discussions, it is clear the fast food industry in America is definitely poised for significant adjustments as a result of increased health awareness, fast casual restaurants, and also the Millennial generation. The future of junk food is likely to include healthier foodstuff, exotic food, ethically noted ingredients, and more choices. In addition, fast food restaurants are likely to be far more chick and ambiently decorated even as they focus on portion food as fast as possible through self-service kiosks, online ordering, and also drive-through windows. It appears that fast-casual restaurants, the internet, and Millennials are going to be the drivers of such changes in the fast food industry.