FEBRUARY U.S. DINING TRENDS: Burger King discovers girls! Boomers & fries!

From Advertising Age:

“The superfan is merely a term coined by Burger King to describe the fast-food hamburger-restaurant industry’s most frequent user,” Burger King CEO John Chidsey told investors during an earnings conference call last week. “To clarify, it’s not just 18- to 34-year-old males, it’s all ages and all household demographics, with over half of them having children. And interestingly, over 29% are 50 years of age or older.” This is, of course, coming from the brand that brought you poultry in garters and a variety of international outdoor work that managed to stir controversy back home, such as the “Super Seven Incher.” Now the chain is courting the very same ladies it’s happily risked alienating, with lower-calorie “Positive Steps” combos slated for promotion in women’s magazines.I t seems a bit of a shift for a company whose franchisees have in recent years fretted that the brand’s advertising would alienate women, seniors and minorities.

- And in the “If you thought we were difficult and cranky in the late 1960s, just wait until we take over the lunch shift at Wendy’s”  department, FastCasual.com reports:

By 2018, people aged 55 and older will comprise nearly 25 percent of the nation’s labor force, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. That number is up from 14 percent in 1978 and 18 percent in 2008. 

“By and large, the average age of the national workforce on the longer-term perspective does get older, and it’s fundamentally the aging baby boomer,” said Hudson Riehle, the National Restaurant Association’s senior vice president of the Research and Knowledge Group.

-From foodtrends.com:

“For purveyors of culinary experience, the cupcake phenomenon also reflects the connection between the senses and emotions: the tastes, textures, sights, sounds, and aromas of food and beverage can. Sit back for a moment, close your eyes, and consider the foods and beverages that have the power to transport you without warning to a specific time, place, event, or person in your past. Does a whiff of hot cocoa take you back to distant occasions? Or perhaps the sight, sound, and aroma of popcorn popping triggers pleasant memories of times spent with friends.”

 

JohnLehndorff.com

The Kombucha Report: http://www.teareport.com/

 Boulder food history: http://www.ediblecommunities.com/frontrange/pages/issues/spring09/whatALongTaste.pdf

 

U.S. Food, Dining and Beverage Trends 2010 – 8

THE NEWS: According to Nielsen Business Media, woe to the company that ignores the Baby Boomers or thinks they will be like their parents:
“(This is) the first generation to grow up in a full-blown consumer marketplace. Baby boomers won’t spend on the same categories as their parents did. For example, consumption of alcoholic beverages is much higher for baby boomers than for the current cohort of 65-plus people.”
WHAT IT MEANS: We Baby Boomers will be as cranky and demanding as seniors that we were as children and adults. Look for Baby Boomer-keyed eateries that are not loud, and have good lighting and wide comfortable chairs. The food better be good, too, and recognize our dietary restricions. I can’t blog about this any more. I have to go take a nap.