How to Appeal to Millennial Diners

It’s a question many restaurants are currently asking themselves: how can we appeal to millennial diners? 59% of U.S. millennials are active on Instagram*, a social media platform that users often utilize to influence others to purchase products or services, or visit certain restaurants or hotels. So how can restaurants get millennials to tell their friends about their restaurant or post about it to their followers? Of course, millennials love food that looks too pretty to eat, but there is also a sustainability and farm-to-table movement that is showing promise among the younger age group.

Millennials have adopted green thinking. They are embracing sustainability, from transportation to the food they’re consuming. Not only are they looking to reduce use of one-use items, like plastic cutlery and straws that end up in landfills for thousands of years, they want to eliminate food waste and honor food through sustainable farm-to-table practices.

One of the main principles behind farm-to-table cuisine is understanding where your food comes from. Food should be locally grown or produced, and it should be appreciated while it is consumed. This makes eating less about eating just to eat, and more about the overall experience of nourishing your body with fresh foods that will make your body feel good. When this appreciation is placed on food, importance is placed on eliminating or lowering food waste.

An easy way to eliminate food waste is by properly labeling foods in the kitchen. Labels should clearly state what food was prepped, when the food was opened, when it was prepped or cut, its temperature when it was put in the cooler (if it is a hot food), and when it should be used by. Kitchens need to utilize a robust, accurate system (like NCCO’s DateIt™ labels) to not only prevent confusion in labeling, but to eliminate food waste as well. Take advantage of eco-friendly dissolving labels, rather than relying on the ineffective and disorderly masking tape and Sharpie method.

By practicing more sustainable methods, like using dissolving labels and lowering food waste, you’ll attract an audience that encourages those same values.

*https://www.investopedia.com/news/instagram-59-us-millennials-are-active-users/