Millennial Fast Food Trends: Effect on the Fast Food Industry

Fast Casual Eateries, Millennials and the Evolution from the Fast Food Industry in America

When we think of fast food restaurants, we think of oily 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 such as McDonald’s, Wendy’s, Burger Cal . king and White Castle owning the market. However , over the past 20 years, fast food in America has gradually changed from greasy french-fried potatoes and burgers at McDonald’s to deli sandwiches along with milkshakes at Panera Bakery or Chipotle. This occurrence is known as the rise in the ‘fast casual’ restaurants that offer the casual dining connection with healthy, organic meals made with produce that is sourced locally but served at the velocity and convenience that one would likely experience at a fast food restaurant. This trend points to the fast-food industry that is adjusting and becoming healthier while nevertheless maintaining the convenience and the comparatively low price point that manufactured fast food restaurants so effective in the first place. This essay will present evidence on how the fast-food in America is changing by simply becoming healthier, exotic, easy to customize, ethical and ambient along with the role that fast unconventional restaurants and Millennials tend to be playing in driving that change.

The greatest driver of this shift inside the fast food industry is the improved health consciousness of Americans.https://urgentessay.net/ Based on Miller (182), the organic and natural food movement which started in the 1960s has been extremely successful in educating Us citizens about the dangers of highly processed food, Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs) and the poisonous pesticides that are used in modern agriculture. As an alternative, the movement implored People in the usa to eat locally grown food natural and healthy servings. The success of this movements has had a detrimental impact on standard fast-food restaurants who have typically come under attack regarding selling high-calorie meals which are unhealthy and cause morbid obesity, diabetes and high blood pressure. Standard fast food restaurants have also been arrested of advertising unhealthy foods to children and using made with chemicals and highly refined materials to make their meals. This specific increased health consciousness has resulted in reduced sales in fast food restaurants and constant threats of class action lawsuits from those who think their health conditions have been caused by eating junk food (Dixon et al. 104). In order to deal with this trend, fast food restaurants have elevated the number of healthy meals on their menus, but their customer base has not been very high.

The rise involving fast casual restaurants could be attributed to the fact that they assist healthy food with the same ease as fast food restaurants. Eagan (178) reports that it is resulting from this health consciousness the fact that “number of diners visiting fast-casual restaurants grew on ten times the rate of traffic to fast-food restaurants through 1999 through 2014. ” Fast-casual restaurants have grown within popularity due to their healthy, new made offerings at a low price as well as high convenience. Food stores such as Panera Bread in addition to Chipotle are fast everyday restaurants that have succeeded throughout providing healthy meals ideally. These restaurants have self-service kiosks and drive by way of windows to compete properly with fast food restaurants by providing healthy meals in a quickly and convenient manner (Treflis Team 1). It appears that innovations in fast food in America will include much more fast-casual restaurants.

The tastes of american citizens have also changed, with Millennials being more adventurous with the food tastes. Due to the climb of social media, Americans are now more aware of exotic repas such as Mexican, Greek, Jewish, Italian and Chinese and maybe they are more willing to try all of them (Williams 1). Moreover, eating exotic meals and publishing them on social media boosts the social capital of Millennial leading to a sharp rise in their own demand. Since traditional take out restaurants still offer classic meals such as burgers, fried potatoes, and chicken they are being edged out by fast-casual restaurants which offer a wide range of amazing meals which customers could customize in a dozen various ways. The ability to customize meals is specially important to Millennials who are now the dominant working generation in America as they see foodstuff as an extension of their individuality (Eagan 177). These styles point to a future where take out will consist of exotic in addition to international cuisines which will be extremely customizable.

Another shift in food mindset that has been experienced in America is a increased need to eat within an environmentally friendly and socially conscious manner. There is an increase in the necessity to eat food that has been sourced locally to support local farmers and local economies and also to eat food that has is grown in an eco-friendly manner (Miller 182). Frequently , the food served at traditional fast food restaurants violates all these ideals as the breeding of these animals is done in galetass, the food is grown employing pesticides, and they do not support local farmers. On the other hand, rapid casual restaurants often espouse these ideas and more Americans, especially Millennials are choosing rapidly casual restaurants over standard fast food restaurants to express their very own beliefs on ethics connected with food sourcing. In the future, junk food is likely to be ethically sourced through local farmers using organically grown and pasture raised ingredients.

The rise of social media and the wish to share one’s activity to get social capital has also modified what Millenials require connected with fast food joints by increasing the patronage of locations and food that is image perfect, and that can be submitted to social media sites such as Instagram (Williams 1). Social media requires in which restaurants have great feeling 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 the experience. Fast-casual restaurants similar to Chipotle have capitalized for this by having a brick and iron theme with high ambient lighting effects that has attracted Millennials inside droves (Dixon et ing. 104). These changes imply that traditional fast food restaurants are increasingly being edged out by fast-casual restaurants which provide a good ambiance that can provide social media likes for Millennials. Using this trend, it looks like fast food dining establishments will have to become posh for you to compete effectively.

These changes in the fast food market can be attributed to the coming old of millennials who are today working and have disposable revenue to spend eating out, their perceptions about healthy food and the ethics of food sourcing and also production have played the role in making fast food better and fueling the rise of fast-casual restaurants. According to Williams (1), Millennials can also be more likely to cook their meal than to eat out which might lead to a decline within eating out generally as more of them get into the job industry and are earning salaries. Social media has also fueled these changes as it has made exotic cuisines more popular and also required that eateries become more chic and ambient so that they can take photos in addition to post them online within social media sites. The internet has also really helped in spread the information of healthy food, environmental brain, ethical food sourcing as well as the dangers of refined food to help more people than before. This specific generation will continue to have an effect on not only the fast food industry but food trends normally.

From the previous discussions, it is clear how the fast food industry in America will be poised for significant adjustments as a result of increased health consciousness, fast casual restaurants, along with the Millennial generation. The future of ready made meals is likely to include healthier meals, exotic food, ethically noted ingredients, and more choices. Furthermore, fast food restaurants are likely to be considerably more chick and ambiently embellished even as they focus on helping food as fast as possible through self-service kiosks, online ordering, in addition to 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.