Millennials are Changing Food Trends

By Bethany, Social Media Strategist | July 29, 2019

Millennials are changing everything. Their culinary habits are shaping the food tourism industry, in particular. Millennials eat out at restaurants more than any other generation. They’re also allocating 7.5% to food budgets rather than the average 6.6 - 6.9%.

Recognizing this evolution, how can your restaurant or destination accommodate their needs?

To start, consider incorporating these new trends into your operations and marketing processes:

Trend: Dining Out Experiences

Beyond just eating out, millennials enjoy having unique dining experiences. They search for places with great views, live music, cultural aspects, and more! In order to appeal to this trend, your restaurant or destination should evaluate the extra value you can give to your customers aside from the food.

Solutions:

Add an element of flair to your restaurant. What could this be? A cool sign, a mural, or eye-catching landscaping. For example, our own Hudson Taco in the Hudson Valley has a neon “Feed Me Tacos And Tell Me I’m Pretty” neon sign on the wall that naturally ends up in a lot of customer photos. If you’re a destination - think larger! Create a campaign of murals or artwork to be featured at multiple locations and advertise that visitors can find them in around your area.

Trend: Craft Beverage

The craft beverage industry has been climbing an upward slope for nearly a decade now. In New York especially, this trend is booming and continuing to grow. Millennials love craft beverages and micro-breweries, because of their uniqueness and the stories behind their creations.

Solutions:

Create a craft beverage trail map (if you don’t already have one.) Also, follow the latest trending craft beverages tastes, and create a Top 10 article on locations in your area that offer these trends. Better yet, research and hire an influencer to visit top craft beverage locations in your destination and expose them to a wider audience. And if you’re a restaurant, make sure to partner with local breweries and offer their products in your establishment.

Trend: Locally Grown

You’re not going to find millennials in many chain restaurants these days. Similarly to how they view craft beverages, millennials are becoming more interested in products that they can source to their local farm or stand. Farm-to-table restaurants are becoming extremely popular with this age group and influencing many others.

Solutions:

If you’re a destination, make sure to highlight your farm-to-table restaurants in a separate category that can be easy to find on your website and in your travel guide. Create an Instagram highlight dedicated to all of your locally-sourced restaurants. Restaurants, promote that you use locally-sourced products on your social media, and highlight those products on your menu.

Trend: Food Trucks

Food trucks have an appeal of simplicity that draws in the millennial audience - food on the go for low prices. Food truck festivals are becoming more of a regular event in many destinations, and attractions such as Smorgasburg in Brooklyn are only growing in size and spectacle.

Solutions:

Have you ever held a food truck festival at your destination? Perhaps now is the time. Reach out to local restaurants and see who has food truck catering, and put together an event in a popular park or waterfront that gets a lot of foot traffic. For restaurateurs interested in exposing your food to this market in another way, maybe investing in a food truck is a route for you.

Trend: Instagrammable Ice Cream

If it’s colorful, big, extravagant, and looks good enough to be in pictures, then it’s “Instagrammable Ice Cream.” Younger generations want their ice cream to be insta-worthy, which is why you’re seeing rolled ice cream, freak shakes, cones shaped like mystical creatures, and more.

Solutions:

Create a guide or Top 10 article on the best “Instagrammable Ice Cream” shops in your destination or area. Get bonus points with your readers if you incorporate user-generated content in the post.

We’ve got plenty of first-hand expertise to help you appeal to the growing millennial market. Set up a call with us for a consultation at SmartStrategies@bbggadv.com.