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"Millennial consumers are more attracted than their elders to cooking at home, ordering delivery from restaurants, and eating quickly, in fast-casual or quick-serve restaurants," Smith wrote.
The food is overpriced for what it is (frozen, microwaved) and you can make healthier/cheaper versions of it at home. I'd rather save up and splurge on good food once every so often.
Millennials typically opt for locally-owned, unique restaurants over the suburban chains that dominated the restaurant landscape in the 1990s and 2000s. I think that is the root of this problem. If I had a choice between a local or regional wing chain like say Wild Wing Cafe in Charlotte NC or Buffalo Wild Wings, I would choose Wild Wing Cafe every time. Part of the issue with the huge national chains is their quality is well below local restaurants and many times they are even more expensive. It's similar to how Millennials are choosing locally-brewed craft beer over Budweiser.
I think the chains will survive in rural areas and small cities where there isn't a local alternative. For instance, where I live now, if I want hot wings, Buffalo Wild Wings is it.
Maybe its going back to the old days. When I was growing up, we hardly ever went out to dinner. We had our meals at home. That seems to have changed in the last few decades with everyone going out (families included) much more frequently. Home meals were much less common.
I do not blame millennials for for the trouble of these types of restaurants. It is just changing preferences which tend to be cyclical. If not for changing preferences (from my youth), these places would not have existed in the numbers they have in the recent decades.
It's not millennials. Buffalo Wild Wings used to be good 10 years ago when it was a much smaller chain. The wings seems like they actually put care into the food, and the drinks were great and it was an awesome place to watch NFL games at.
Now, BWW has got too big for its own good, and the food and the prices are suffering as a result. The wings taste like crap these days...I went to a Redskins/Cowboys game last fall and got BBQ Wings, and the wings were burnt, had little meat but a ton of fried batter bread, and were just drenched in BBQ sauce. It was gross. The fries were super soggy and the mixed drinks I got were 80% mix/20% booze. Also, for this meal, it was about $45 bucks when all said and done...for 10 wings, fries and a long island. I can go to a local bar for the same and get much better quality, and cheaper prices.
And Applebees? Really? I haven't eaten there in years. Again, the food is overpriced and the food is no better than cafeteria food you get in high school. It's just heated up pre-cooked food. Nothing is really fresh, yet you still pay a decent price for the meal.
It has nothing to do with millennials, it's just the fact that the product these days from these brands absolutely sucks.
I would say that the chain's attempts to serve the equivalent of a $3 frozen dinner from the supermarket and charge $15 for it after heating it up in a microwave are what is killing them. Applebee's is one of the worst chains out there. The food there is absolutely disgusting, it is like eating at a convenience store.
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