Consumer Insights: The Leading Edge

Give Generation X the credit it is due for revolutionizing the American dining experience.

By Scott Hume, Editor-in-Chief -- Restaurants and Institutions, 5/1/2008

Somebody seems to have forgotten Generation X,” Jeff Gordinier complains in his new book, “X Saves the World: How Generation X Got the Shaft But Can Still Keep Everything From Sucking” (Viking Adult, 2008). “The stodgy old species known as the 30-something has been shuttled off like Molly Ringwald … to some sort of Camp Limbo for demographic lepers.”

Gordinier's lament isn't unfounded. Demographers can't even agree on the generation's parameters, but Gen X is roughly agreed to include those Americans born between 1965—after the baby boom—and 1982. Gen Y, the demographic born since 1983, was upgraded to a classier nickname, Millennials, but Gen X has remained saddled with that place-holding, couldn't-think-of-a-cool-description name. And so it has gone for a generation credited seemingly with doing little more than filling the shadowy void between revolutionary-thinking baby boomers and boomers' hip Gen Y kids.

Gen X members were “slackers,” unmotivated and unengaged. They were Sean Penn in 1982's “Fast Times at Ridgemont High” or Molly Ringwald in 1985's “The Breakfast Club.” Gen X was bored and boring.

That's a stereotype that lingers, which is unfortunate, because although Gen X may not exactly be saving the world (see the credit crisis), it can be argued that Gen X is revolutionizing dining more substantially than boomers revolutionized anything.

Boomers, with their 80-million-member bulk, made dining out more a part of daily life than a special-occasion treat. But it's Gen X that has driven the “quality movement” of the past decade: Starbucks and premium coffee, Chipotle's upscale burritos, Panera Bread's rethinking of sandwiches.

Boomers fueled expansion of the quick-service and casual-dining segments; Gen X combined them into fast-casual. Now Gen X is blurring the line between fine and casual dining with “bistro” concepts and a willingness to pay top-shelf prices but a reluctance to do so in an atmosphere that evokes the last Tsar's Winter Palace.

Gen X brought a World Wide Web mindset to the kitchen, leading the exploration of global cuisines. And Gen X is pushing culinary innovations into the beverage realm as well (see “Generation Cocktail”), spurring the growth of wine bars, reviving cocktail creativity and making beverages more integral to a meal. In short, Gen X has come up with some winning ideas while away at Camp Limbo.

Only in Ameritage

When partners Michael Hynansky and Henry Dawson opened Ameritage Bistro recently in Wilmington, Del., they didn't put a “Welcome Gen X!” sign out front, but they did create a restaurant to meet the preferences of that generation, which dines out more often than does the boomer generation. The 140-seat, two-level restaurant includes a market that sells local artisanal foods, an atmosphere conducive to after-work cocktails as well as a meal, and a varied and moderately priced menu.

“Generation X has high expectations for the look and feel of a space regardless of the menu price point,” says Ameritage Bistro designer Barbara Balongue. “The interior design must be sophisticated yet friendly, classic and hip. Today's customers are seeking convenience and are making choices to go out for meals more frequently.

“It's imperative that if they visit the same restaurant/bar numerous times in one week that they have the opportunity to have a unique or different experience each time. We designed Ameritage with several distinct components—a casual market and cafe, a hip bar dining space and a comfortable restaurant.”

Among the attributes that define Gen X, according to R&I's 2008 New American Diner Study, is a preference for menu variety. Gen X likes to be intrigued: More than Gen Y members or boomers, Gen X members say they want menus that combine the familiar with the never-before-tried. Gen Xers like multiple-choice appetizer and entrée combos, and they like to share dishes with their dining companions. Many Ameritage menu items are offered in a variety of sizes—from tapas tastings to full portions—priced from $6.50 to $22.

“I think diners in their late 20s or in their 30s tend to be a little more casual, more social,” Hynansky says. “They tend to meet in large groups of friends, rather than in small groups or pairs, so our menu is well-suited to that trend: All our plates are available in various sizes, and all can be shared.”

Convenience and Pleasure

Dawson, who also is Ameritage's general manager, says the restaurant's bistro atmosphere has the sort of urban/global-chic style and menu that diners want now. “There are no definitive boundaries; restaurants aren't as easily categorized anymore,” he says. “Where once you had 'Italian' for red sauce and 'French' for white tablecloths, now you have a generation of diners that has tasted Thai food, that has tasted sushi and Greek and more, and it's literally changing the dining landscape.”

Asked in the New American Diner Study why they choose to dine away from home for breakfast, lunch or dinner, Gen X members consistently say their motivation is to try new foods and to gain access to a wider array of choices. But Gen X also is the generation most likely to say (45% strongly agree) that dining out is easier than eating at home.

“Two things drive Generation X out to eat: convenience and pleasure,” says Dawson. “And because eating out is often so much more convenient than cooking, they eat out more than generations before them.”

Generation Finance

The good news: Gen X members dine out more often than boomers do. The bad: One researcher labeled Gen X's younger members “Generation Broke” even before the current economic downturn.

In a recent study of Gen X financial mindsets, The Charles Schwab Corp. grouped the generation into six segments. One, “Overwhelmed but Optimistics,” includes those Gen Xers with significant debt and adjustable-rate mortgages; it accounts for 13% of the demographic. The other five subgroups:

Paycheck-to-Paychecks (25% of Gen Xers): A predominantly female group; its members are extremely stressed about their personal and professional lives and are living on a tight budget.
Spend Now, Pay Laters (17%): A predominantly urban and male subset, its members have significant debt but don't worry about the future.
Confident and Risk-Tolerants (15%): A group with high incomes and active lifestyles; members are likely to be married and confident about their future.
No Money, No Worries (15%): At the low end in terms of income but still optimistic, these Gen Xers are more likely to be single.
Cautious Savers (14%): Highly educated and financially secure, these young adults are more focused on their home life than on their social life.

Generation Cocktail

Baby boomers elevated wine selection to the level of entrée selection. Gen X prefers to kick off a meal with a 24 “Carrot” Wasabi (hand-pressed organic mint and horseradish-infused vodka, shaken with clover-honey syrup and fresh lime juice, finished with carrot juice and 24-karat gold flakes).

The man who created that wasabi cocktail says Gen X has made restaurants and lounges rethink their bar menus. Ryan Magarian, the chief mixologist for Los Angeles-based SBE Entertainment—whose venues include Katsuya (above), Abbey and Foxtail restaurants, and Area and S Bar nightclubs—credits Gen X's adventurous spirit with making bartending more interesting.

“Gen Xers are hedonistic flavor-seekers; they want more and more, and new,” he says. “They want to push the envelope. But more importantly, they're drinking for flavor, not effect. They're at the age where people are moving past looking at alcohol as 'Oooo, it's a fun drug that we've been banned from.' They're looking for more of a flavor experience and perhaps a story behind what they're drinking.”

Exotic ingredients are fun, but flavor is what's most important to a cocktail, just as it is with food, Magarian says. “I lean on the savory category quite a bit,” he adds. “My go-to flavors are horseradish, bell pepper and sugar snap pea. Horseradish is my favorite because it's such a shocker. It's such a lovely flavor that works with so many things.”

The Gen X drinker “is willing to take more of a risk,” Magarian says. “I love making drinks that not everyone is going to like. You don't want all Britney Spears. You can have a little John Hiatt and even an Edith Piaf.”