Everything (Well, Mostly) You Need To Know About Millennials' Eating Habits

Nevin Barich

LOS ANGELES , January 23, 2018 (Off The Menu) – Millennials are now the largest living generation in the United States. So needless to say, they are an extremely important age group for the food and beverage industry! So that begs the question: What are their habits when it comes to eating, drinking, buying food, etc.? A recent analysis by the U.S. Department of Agriculture shed some light:

• Millennial shoppers generally purchase a larger share of prepared foods, pasta, and sugar and candies than other generations. On average, Millennials devoted 13.6% of their at-home food expenditures to these three categories, compared with 12.4% by Generation X’ers, 11.5% by Baby BMoomers, and 11.2% by Traditionalists. Millennial households also devote the smallest share of their at-home food expenditures to grains, poultry, and red meat.

• On average, Millennial shoppers spend less of their food budgets on grocery store purchases ($80 per month) than Gen X'ers ($85) or Baby Boomers ($135), and make fewer trips to the supermarket.

• Millennial shoppers expect healthier and fresher food when making "food-at-home" purchases. They also place a greater importance on convenience than do older shoppers.

• Poorer Millennials assign lower shares of at-home food spending to vegetables than poorer Traditionalists and Baby Boomers, but they increasingly apportion more of their food budgets to vegetables as income rises, surpassing Traditionalists when per capita household income reaches about $30,000.

• Millennial households devote more of their at-home food spending to prepared foods, such as frozen entrees and instant breakfasts, than the other three generational groups.

• Millennial households generally allot the lowest shares of their at-home food budgets to red meats and poultry. On average, expenditure shares for red meats and poultry decrease with each younger generation. For each of the generations, higher income homes generally devote a larger share of at-home food expenditures to red meats and a smaller share to poultry.

Nevin Barich is the Food and Beverage Analyst for Industry Intelligence Inc. and is also Menuism’s fast food expert. Email him at Nevin.Barich@industryintel.com or follow him on Twitter.

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