Despite the media barrage to believe that young adults almost live at fast food places, the research reality is quite the opposite. Traditionally the restaurant industry’s heaviest users, young adults are cutting back significantly on dining out, especially amid high unemployment, according to new research from The NPD Group.
Here are the numbers: research over a period between May 2008 and May 2010, annual per-capita meal and snack occasions dropped from 242 to 216 for those ages 18 to 24. Those between the ages of 25 to 34 decreased their dining out occasions from 257 to 238 during the same period, according to NPD’s CREST research.
Suffering with an unemployment rate of 19.5 percent for adults under 30 in the second quarter, compared with 9.5 percent for the total workforce, the Gen Y folks are more highly impacted.
Besides watching their budget, young adults are also looking for healthier and lighter menu items, convenient locations, and good customer service.
Moving out of the restaurant scene, Gen Y consumers, also known as Millennials, are increasingly seeking convenient, low-cost dining options, such as portable food and frozen entrées.
Restaurants, including California Pizza Kitchen and P.F. Chang’s, may be taking that to heart as they reach out to consumers more in grocery stores with branded frozen meals. Even Subway and Sizzler have taken to opening mobile truck kitchens to compete for the receding business still available.