File under: blaming millennials for normal-ass market forces
Welcome to Millennial Watch, an exploration of the most hated generation and the people who love to hate them, by one of the people they love to hate. Today: we finally killed Applebees.
Changing Times, Shifting Markets
So the basic, unfun explanation behind why Millennials are being blamed for the decline of casual restaurants like Applebees or TGI Fridays is that, on average, we like to cook at home more, order delivery and, if we do go out, we prefer speed and affordability over a “proper dining experience” — so we go to places like Chipotle.
Yes, that’s right: our healthier eating habits, busy lifestyle and preference for things we can actually buy is putting Guy Fieri’s food empire at risk, and I guess this is something we should feel poorly about.
Of course, this is only part of the story. In response to our shifting behavior from what our parents and grandparents valued to something more on-the-go, the market itself has shifted in kind. As a result, we see third-party delivery services like Eat 24 and GrubHub and meal and snack subscription services like NatureBox and Blue Apron pop up to serve our gastric needs. Our diabolical gastric needs.
This shouldn’t take anyone in the restaurant industry by surprise. After all, many of the restaurants economists are saying we killed or are killing emerged as low-cost alternatives to actual fancy dining establishments. These are restaurants designed to appeal to the middle classes of middle America, made to combine the sensation of “eating out” with the feeling of getting a lot of tasty food for not a lot of money.
The problem is, “not a lot of money” has turned into “actually a lot of money.” It’s expensive to eat out for a family of four now, and even individuals going to places like Buffalo Wild Wings by themselves can expect to pay upwards of $15 for a meal.
On top of that, healthy eating campaigns have more or less worked (he typed, as he bit into a Little Caesar’s pizza slice). Millennials are, on average, more apt to eat healthier than past generations.
Also, here’s a bombshell: this isn’t a new story. The only thing that has changed is the packaging. Back in 2014 Business Insider published an articleexamining the effects baby boomers had on the ailing restaurant industry. Tell me if this sounds familiar:
Casual dining restaurants like Olive Garden, LongHorn, Red Lobster, and Outback built their businesses around Baby Boomers’ preferences.
These chains enjoyed “robust growth” until the early 2000s because Boomers were in peak spending years, Morgan Stanley’s analysts write.
Today, the 50-to-68-year-olds are aging — and business is beginning to contract for casual dining chains.
For instance, the “early-bird special” mentality of Red Lobster’s customers is keeping the seafood chain from competing with younger, hipper brands, writes Justin Bachman at Bloomberg Businessweek.
Oof, it’s almost like Millennials aren’t responsible for the apocalypse after all?
Of course, we haven’t actually killed Applebee’s. That’s ridiculous. There will always be a market for the kind of casual dining experience Applebee’s provides, probably, and these are massive corporations. Worse comes to worst? They’ll just lobby their way to financial security. After all, who knows if those food subscription boxes are safe? 😉