10 Minutes News for Hoteliers 10 Minutes News for Hoteliers
  • Top News
  • Posts
    • CSR and Sustainability
    • Events
    • Hotel Openings
    • Hotel Operations
    • Human Resources
    • Innovation
    • Market Trends
    • Marketing
    • Mergers & Acquisitions
    • Regulatory and Legal Affairs
    • Revenue Management
  • 🎙️ Podcast
  • 👉 Sign-up
  • 🌎 Languages
    • 🇫🇷 French
    • 🇩🇪 German
    • 🇮🇹 Italian
    • 🇪🇸 Spain
  • 📰 Columns
  • About us
10 Minutes News for Hoteliers 10 Minutes News for Hoteliers 10 Minutes News for Hoteliers
  • Top News
  • Posts
    • CSR and Sustainability
    • Events
    • Hotel Openings
    • Hotel Operations
    • Human Resources
    • Innovation
    • Market Trends
    • Marketing
    • Mergers & Acquisitions
    • Regulatory and Legal Affairs
    • Revenue Management
  • 🎙️ Podcast
  • 👉 Sign-up
  • 🌎 Languages
    • 🇫🇷 French
    • 🇩🇪 German
    • 🇮🇹 Italian
    • 🇪🇸 Spain
  • 📰 Columns
  • About us

Gen Z’s lack of brand loyalty presents a challenge for restaurants

  • Alicia Kelso
  • 28 October 2024
  • 3 minute read
Total
0
Shares
0
0
0

This article was written by Restaurant Hospitality. Click here to read the original article

image

Gen Z – which includes consumers 12- to 27-years-old – is expected to wield $12 trillion in spending power by 2030, according to Nielsen, likely making it the wealthiest generation ever.

Good news for discretionary businesses, right?

Well, it’s complicated.

Gen Z is simply not as loyal to brands as its predecessors. The latest signal of this unfaithfulness comes from Piper Sandler’s semi-annual “Taking Stock With Teens” survey, which shows that Chick-fil-A, McDonald’s, Chipotle, Raising Cane’s, and Texas Roadhouse are teens’ favorite restaurant brands. That affinity didn’t change from the previous survey conducted about six months ago, but scores for the top two – Chick-fil-A and McDonald’s – fell by 4% and 1%, respectively. Chipotle and Texas Roadhouse remained the same, while Raising Cane’s ticked up by a mere 1%.

Meanwhile, teens’ preference for Starbucks fell by 6%, while Dunkin’ fell by 2% since the spring survey.

These percentage declines come as teens are spending more money. Spending from this cohort increased 6% versus last year and 2% from the spring.

Trending
Montage Laguna Beach appoints new managing director

Technomic data corroborates lower affinity from Gen Z, which expressed the lowest degree of loyalty across the board and with statistically significant gaps across each restaurant segment, as outlined below.

Related:Quick-service menu prices remained elevated in April

Quick-service

  • Gen Z: Intent to return, 33%; Intent to recommend, 29%

  • Millennials: Intent to return, 34%; Intent to recommend, 30%

  • Gen X: Intent to return, 37%; Intent to recommend, 32%

  • Baby Boomers: Intent to return, 37%; Intent to recommend, 31%

Fast casual

  • Gen Z: Intent to return, 32%; Intent to recommend, 30%

  • Millennials: Intent to return, 37%; Intent to recommend, 34%

  • Gen X: Intent to return, 37%; Intent to recommend, 34%

  • Baby Boomers: Intent to return, 38%; Intent to recommend, 34%

Midscale

  • Gen Z: Intent to return, 30%; Intent to recommend, 28%

  • Millennials: Intent to return, 35%; Intent to recommend, 33%

  • Gen X: Intent to return, 30%; Intent to recommend, 34%

  • Baby Boomers: Intent to return, 37%; Intent to recommend, 33%

Casual dining

  • Gen Z: Intent to return, 30%; Intent to recommend, 29%

  • Millennials: Intent to return, 34%; Intent to recommend, 33%

  • Gen x: Intent to return, 38%; Intent to recommend, 36%

  • Baby Boomers: Intent to return, 37%; Intent to recommend, 34%

According to Technomic’s senior director of consumer insights Robert Byrne, the sustained growth of third-party delivery may be one of the culprits behind teens’ lack of allegiance.

“Gen Z consumers are more likely than others to prefer third-party aggregators, which in my mind serves to commoditize the products in a way that dilutes ‘brand’ from the occasion. Consumers don’t even say ‘I ordered McDonald’s,’ they say, ‘we ordered DoorDash’ or whatever it might be,” Byrne said.

Related:Study: Consumers’ restaurant budgets fell 10% in two years

Gen Z consumers have also had to navigate historically high prices in a way their predecessors did not at their age, which may be eroding some loyalty. The Washington Post reported, for instance, that Gen Z is paying 31% more for housing and 46% more for health insurance compared to their millennial counterparts. Notably, limited-service prices have outpaced the general inflationary index for nearly two years, driving nearly 80% of consumers to now think of fast food as a “luxury.”

A lack of loyalty could present a major challenge for restaurants that spend a bunch of money on marketing. But it’s also an opportunity. According to a report by Morning Consult, Gen Z consumers spend most of their disposable income on dining out. They’ve also indicated a desire to eat out even more.

So, what are those opportunities exactly? Revenue Management Solutions data shows that Gen Z consumers prefer chicken tenders (no wonder tenders’ competition has picked up, as KFC points out in its latest promotion) as well as breaded and boneless wings. Gen Z also likes the ability to customize meals and choose from mix-and-match menus.

Related:Restaurant industry jobs growth slows in April as unemployment rate rises

As Gen Z is also the first generation to be considered digital natives, seamless experiences via apps and online ordering platforms are critical. Finally, and given their tight economic backdrop, these consumers seek out value meals and BOGO offers, but there must be variety to keep their attention long enough for purchase intent.

Contact Alicia Kelso at [email protected]

Please click here to access the full original article.

Total
0
Shares
Share 0
Tweet 0
Pin it 0
You should like too
View Post
  • Innovation

BWH Hotels Shares Development Updates at Annual Convention

  • LODGING Staff
  • 10 October 2025
View Post
  • Innovation

Expedia Group B2B Supercharges Partner Growth With New AI-Powered Trip Planner and Multiple APIs

  • Automatic
  • 10 October 2025
View Post
  • Innovation

UN Tourism Global Conference on Wine Tourism highlights value of Culture

  • Automatic
  • 10 October 2025
View Post
  • Innovation

Predicting the Present: When AI is the new UI

  • Automatic
  • 10 October 2025
View Post
  • Innovation

Hospitable launches Owner Portals to give managers control and owners confidence

  • 10minhotel
  • 9 October 2025
View Post
  • Innovation

How should travel companies measure AI success?

  • Automatic
  • 9 October 2025
View Post
  • Innovation

Agentic Browsers for Analytics deep dives

  • Automatic
  • 9 October 2025
View Post
  • Innovation

Booking.com Debuts Agentic AI Innovations, Adding to its Robust Suite of GenAI Tools for Customers

  • Automatic
  • 9 October 2025
Sponsored Posts
  • Winning the World Cup of Demand: A Revenue Management Playbook for Major Events – LodgIQ

    View Post
  • The Practical Guide to Hotel Automation

    View Post
  • 2025 SOCIETIES Quaterly 3

    View Post
Latest Posts
  • “A (substitute loyalty program name) Hotel”
    • 11 October 2025
  • #hoteltech #hospitalitytechnology #hoteltechstack #rms #pms #crs #hotelsales | Benjamin Verot
    • 11 October 2025
  • #hospitality #leadership #hotelmarketing #flashsale #grthotels #brandstrategy #promiseofmore | Vikram Cotah
    • 11 October 2025
  • Today, I am proud to share a first-of-its-kind product that is now enabled on Hotels.com, called "Save Your Way"™. It’s a new feature that gives travelers more flexibility in how they use their… | Hari Nair | 35 comments
    • 11 October 2025
  • This week we revealed the Dezeen Awards 2025 shortlists
    • 11 October 2025
Sponsors
  • Winning the World Cup of Demand: A Revenue Management Playbook for Major Events – LodgIQ
  • The Practical Guide to Hotel Automation
  • 2025 SOCIETIES Quaterly 3
Contact informations

contact@10minutes.news

Advertise with us
Contact Marjolaine to learn more: marjolaine@wearepragmatik.com
Press release
pr@10minutes.news
10 Minutes News for Hoteliers 10 Minutes News for Hoteliers
  • Top News
  • Posts
  • 🎙️ Podcast
  • 👉 Sign-up
  • 🌎 Languages
  • 📰 Columns
  • About us
Discover the best of international hotel news. Categorized, and sign-up to the newsletter

Input your search keywords and press Enter.