Diner Demographics: Middle Earthiness

Dedicated to jobs and families, Gen X often gets overlooked.

By Scott Hume, Executive Managing Editor -- Restaurants & Institutions, 5/15/2007

Middle age usually is defined as that graying, post-age-50, neither-young-nor-old time of life. But today’s real "middle agers" may be younger: the demographic spanning ages 27 to 41, commonly labeled Gen X.

Neither carefree Gen Y singles nor baby-boomer empty nesters, Gen Xers are likely to be building careers and raising toddlers. With about 50 million members, Gen X is flanked by generations that each number more than 75 million. As a result, Gen X often feels undervalued by the media and by marketers.

But if Gen X sounds—let’s say it—boring, it’s a description the group often earns. R&I’s New American Diner Study finds that Gen Y and baby boomers have distinctive dining patterns. Gen X simply doesn’t. It’s a little bit Y, a little bit boomer, but not demonstrably much of its own (see sidebar, "Betwixt and Between").

For example, asked what they most likely would order as an entrée if they were dining out tonight, Gen Y members choose chicken first, followed by steak and seafood. Boomers say they’d opt for seafood, followed by steak and chicken. Gen X takes the middle ground: steak.

Exceptions most often involve work. Because Gen Xers start early and work hard, they are more likely than Gen Y or boomers to buy breakfast at work and more likely to have lunch or dinner in a restaurant for business purposes. They are less apt to dine out in the evening with friends; if it’s not about work or the kids, it’s less likely to happen.

Where are foodservice’s best opportunities with this age group? Evening snacks, for starters. Gen X is more likely than Gen Y to grab a snack meal from a restaurant after dinner. And Gen X is more apt to plan snack occasions than make spur-of-the-moment decisions.

Gen X also is most amenable to chain marketing. Larger percentages of Gen Y and boomers say they don’t care if a restaurant is a chain or independent. Gen X cares; it likes chains.

In fact, it likes foodservice in general: Gen X is the generation most likely to say that restaurant food is more healthful than food at home. Asked if they make an effort to eat healthfully when dining out, Gen Xers revert to the middle: more health-conscious than Gen Y, less so than boomers. No sense being too assertive.