Millennials Eat Out More — and Spend More When They Do — Than Non-Millennials

Darren Baker, Photograph Darren Baker
Not only do millennials — that is, people born between 1980 and 2000 — eat out more than non-millennials, but they also spend more money eating out: Millennials spend about $174 per month dining out in restaurants, on average, according to a new infographic from the marketing agency Restaurant Marketing Labs, whereas non-millennials spend only about $153 per month.
Furthermore, 87 percent of millennials say they’re willing to splurge on a nice meal out, even if money is in short supply. How do these millennials, who make up a startling 25 percent of the population ( or more) and have a spending power of $2.45 trillion (whoa), choose where to dine? Restaurant Marketing Labs says they’re looking for a restaurant that is “convenient … yet healthy,” “fun & exciting … yet natural and unprocessed” and “high-quality … yet affordable.”
Those criteria don’t sound too different from the ones the rest of us have. But peep this: Fifty-five percent of millennials say they prefer communal tables at restaurants. The social media generation is social in all sorts of ways, it seems. In fact, 68 percent of millennials ask friends before selecting a restaurant — and 68 percent of them say celebrity endorsements have no effect on their choices. Forty percent of them like to order different things every time they eat in the same restaurant.
Interestingly, while only 30 percent of them make sure to eat food that is “certified organic,” a whopping 80 percent of them want to know more about where their food is grown. Location, location, location …