Culinary on Campus
Echo Boomers—-or Generation Y—-is a savvy group with tremendous purchasing power and strong beliefs: An examination of buying patterns and preferences on college campuses is provided.
As the National Association of College & University Food Services (NACUFS) notes, the Echo Boomers (also known as Generation Y) comprise 24% of the U.S. population. This 70 million strong group of individuals between the ages of 10 and 28 represents $625 billion in annual buying power; it is the country’s most diverse generation in terms of preferences, culture and ethnic backgrounds. They are well-informed and avoid the notion of trial: if everyone else is doing it, they go straight to adoption. The group, as a whole, is described as individualistic, distrustful and cynical of overt marketing, because they have been branded since birth.
In terms of food spending, this generation may well be the foodservice industry’s best friend. Generation Y Americans eat out an average of 24 times a month, according to a Technomic survey, spending $1,152 yearly on restaurant food purchases. They select fast food restaurants more than 80% of the time; however, that is not to say that their purchases are necessarily unhealthy: their consumption of salads is on the increase.
More than 10% of the group goes to gourmet coffee shops three times a week or more, according to the Technomic survey. Averaging 4.6 cups per day, Generation Y is the fastest-growing specialty coffee consumer segment, largely helping to propel blended coffees into a $1 billion industry.
As Janet Paul Rice, associate director of dining services at Concordia College, finds, “College students are spending money now, developing habits. They are forming opinions, if they haven’t already, about brands and companies. Their concerns and questions are more prevalent now, and they are much better informed, be it from parents or through media or their learning process. They are better informed about nutrition and food ingredients. Things like allergies are much more known.”
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