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Now, does the above cover absolutely every single kind of distraction that is unwanted? Probably not, but you should by now have a good idea of the general types of things we will be discouraging. The above examples are meant to give you a good feel for / idea of what we're looking for. If something new or different than the above happens to come along and results in the same problem (that being, any other attitude or behavior that ultimately distracts from actually just discussing the topic at hand, or that is otherwise disrespectful to other posters), we can and we will take action to curb this as well, so please don't take this to mean that if you managed to technically avoid saying something exactly like one of the above examples that you are then somehow off the hook.

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BI: Millenials are killing chains like Buffalo Wild Wings and Applebee's

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  • #1

    BI: Millenials are killing chains like Buffalo Wild Wings and Applebee's

    Casual dining is in danger — and millennials are to blame.


    Brands such as TGI Fridays, Ruby Tuesday, and Applebee's have faced sales slumps and dozens of restaurant closures, as casual dining chains have struggled to attract customers and grow sales.


    "Casual-dining restaurants face a uniquely challenging market today," Buffalo Wild Wings CEO Sally Smith recently wrote in a letter to shareholders.


    According to Smith, these sit-down restaurants' struggles can blamed on the most-frequently besmirched generation: millennials.


    "Millennial consumers are more attracted than their elders to cooking at home, ordering delivery from restaurants and eating quickly, in fast-casual or quick-serve restaurants," Smith wrote.


    While blaming millennials has become a trend to the point of cliche in retail, Smith isn't wrong to zero in on younger customers' changing tastes as a major factor in casual dining's downfall.


    "Now, there's many, many options that people are replacing chains with," Victor Fernandez, restaurant industry tracker TDn2K's executive director of insights, recently told Business Insider.

    Many of these options involve cooking at home. Grocery chains are increasingly competing with restaurants, thanks to lower prices and perks such as pick-up and delivery, new technology, and trendy features like wine bars and to-go meals. Plus, meal delivery kits such as Blue Apron are focused on getting millennials on a subscription plan that will convince them to stay in and cook a certain number of days a week.


    Convenience is also a factor, both when it comes to delivery and speed of service. And casual dining chains are still playing catch-up with regards to delivery.


    "The only part of casual dining that’s growing right now is the off premise side," said Bonnie Riggs, foodservice industry analyst for NPD, recently told Nation's Restaurant News.


    Cheesecake Factory announced earlier this year it is expanding delivery to half of its 194 US locations through DoorDash, a third party delivery service. T.G.I. Fridays, Chili's, and Maggiano's are all now on Grubhub, and Buffalo Wild Wings and Red Robin are testing the service. Outback Steakhouse is using both third-party services and building its own delivery service.


    While delivery is clearly a compelling option to offer, it isn't a simple service for restaurants to add. Customers often spend less when ordering delivery, especially at casual dining chains that rely on alcohol orders to drive sales. In-house delivery means added complexities, paying drivers, and additional insurance costs. Using a third-party means losing control over the food's quality.

    Then, there are the more convenient chains that have drawn millennial customers away from casual dining options.


    The growth of fast-casual chains such as Chipotle and Panera have been especially harmful. These chains manage to bring both convenience and lower prices to millennial customers, who are less enthused about spending more money just for the "experience" of sitting in a booth at a casual dining joint.


    The fast-casual industry grew by 550% from 1999 to 2014, The Washington Post reported. By 2020, the fast-casual market in the US is expected to reach $66.9 billion, according to the market-research company Technavio.


    "They have more of a healthy perception, there's quicker service times," Wedbush analyst Colin Radke told Business Insider in March. "The healthiness and the speed of service — that's been taking market share from casual dining."


    Specific trends aside, when Smith says that millennials tastes differ from what casual dining chains can offer, she's avoiding a more blunt statement: that casual dining brands just aren't cool any more.


    "When you look at the alternatives out there in the marketplace today and who's creating buzz and creating excitement, it's gone away from chain casual dining," John Antioco, TGI Fridays CEO who is attempting to rebrand the chain as a gastropub, told Business Insider.
    http://www.businessinsider.com/mille...aurants-2017-5
    Tags: None
  • #2
    Re: BI: Millenials are killing chains like Buffalo Wild Wings and Applebee's

    TGI Friday's, Ruby Tuesday and Applebees are the holy trinity of ****** restaurant food. Maybe stop blaming your customers for not wanting to eat it?

    McDonald's is hemorrhaging money too.Crappy fast food is hurting just as much. This is a really stupid article.

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    • #3
      Re: BI: Millenials are killing chains like Buffalo Wild Wings and Applebee's

      I think a couple things are missed in that article.

      Millennials are perhaps a bit more careful with their dollars than the previous couple of generations were. At least that is part of what I have seen.

      Pricing also has to do with it. Not so much the meals, but if a couple wants some wine to go with their meals, the pricing at many places is flat outrageous. From all my years in the business (been retired now for about three years, after close to fifty years in hotel-restaurant-bar) I never could fathom charging as much as some of our competitors did for wine. Just goofy.

      Now, to another part of the equation. The number of available choices of where to dine. Just considering the number of chains who represent that middle ground between fast-food and fine dining, there has been an absolute population explosion. TGI Friday's, Chili's, Applebee's, Outback, BWW's, an on an on.

      I would recommend that the business has either over-built, or maybe more appropriately, under-demolished. These chains have grossly over-estimated the demand for their services in terms of the total number of outlets.

      I will also say that, at least in the Nashville, Bloomington, Columbus areas, the stand alones who have a solid history and reputation for quality, service and value of the customer are doing better than the chains. Long built and hard worked for reputations, and traditions are much better than "planned reputations and traditions" conjured up by someone in a PR department. There is just no uniqueness to most of them. The cookie-cutter broke long ago. Some are just now realizing it.
      Last edited by Tom White; 06-04-2017, 04:38 PM.

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      • #4
        Re: BI: Millenials are killing chains like Buffalo Wild Wings and Applebee's

        Sound legitimate to me, I never go to any of those restaurants.

        My wife and I rarely eat out - we like cooking together and talking about our days while doing so. We both work hard all day, frankly the last thing we want to do after work is go to a mediocre restaurant when we ca make something better at home with Blue Apron or one of my grandma's recipes. If we do spend money and time eating out it will be something unique and local, not a chain. Chain restaurants are only handy when I take picky relatives out to eat.

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        • #5
          Re: BI: Millenials are killing chains like Buffalo Wild Wings and Applebee's

          Even a moderately sized big city like Indianapolis has a wonderful array of unique local restaurants. Indy has fabulous ethnic food selection (Ethiopian, Thai, Greek, etc) that can stack up against almost any city in the country. It's tough to want to go to Applebee's after eating there.

          Then you have stuff like Blue Apron and Home Chef which have exploded out of nowhere. They aren't cheap, but they're relatively healthy and it's fun to cook the stuff. Plus they give you ideas that you would have never come up with on your own.

          I got my first grill recently. I'm not dying to go to a Ruby Tuesday when it's pretty easy to make stuff on the grill that tastes way better.

          I did notice that a Ruby Tuesday's near me recently closed.....

          I think Buffalo Wild Wings is great, but it is really expensive. If a couple goes there and gets food and drinks, they're walking away with a mammoth sized bill. It's a bad sign when a place doesn't list their drink prices.

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          • #6
            Re: BI: Millenials are killing chains like Buffalo Wild Wings and Applebee's

            I do go to BW's for lunch sometimes. Otherwise I avoid all 3 like the plague. Generally those restaurants are over-priced and not much better than the higher end fast food places like Arby's...but you are paying double.

            As for millenials killing chains like that, the fact is that business isn't handing out pensions and fat benefit packages anymore. I don't blame millenials for not having a fat wallet to waste on that over-priced food. They are still paying their college tuition, often working at Applebees.

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            • #7
              Re: BI: Millenials are killing chains like Buffalo Wild Wings and Applebee's

              I remember when B-Dubs was first blowing up nationally when i was in high school 02-06 and if you compare their quality then to their quality now it is like day and night.

              10 years ago they had good chicken and the wings were always hot and actually tasted fresh. Now if you go you're likely going to get 3-4 wings that are basically inedible or just flat out gross. Especially their boneless wings will just have a ton of cartilage in them and often have a funky not fresh taste. I still occasionally crave their sauces, but that's about it whereas in high school I'd eat their once a week for lunch and not really feel like I was slumming it.

              Places like Applebee's and Friday's haven't re-branded in like 25 years. They've just grown and shrunk their menus seemingly endless amounts of times while still charging 15 dollars for a steak I would probably only feed my dog. Meanwhile I can go to the local butcher shop in Carmel and for 30 bucks I can get two ribeyes that are top tier steakhouse quality and grill them myself and do a much better job than some line cook making 10 bucks an hour. I ate at Applebee's a lot growing up with family probably cause there were 4 of them on the northside you could get to pretty easily and at that time (early 90's) Carmel, Fishers, Westfield, etc were still pretty much a local food desert so I'm not a food snob really, it's just that these places are basically the same now as they were then and they've been totally out paced by the local food game.

              The explosion of local places over the past decade has absolutely buried these places both in service and food quality/consistency. Plus local places have a lot more freedom to play with their menu and put new things on to keep their spots fresh and different.

              Which brings me to my last point....the internet. Chain restaurants blew up in the 50's, 60's, 70's and 80's for one reason...you could eat at a McD's, Applebee's, Friday's etc in Chicago one night and then be in Phoenix the next night and it'd be the same menu and in theory the same quality food. It took a lot of risk and decision making out of finding a place to eat in a spot you were unfamiliar with. No more rolling the dice hoping the local diner/slop shop was any good because you could just go to a national place. The internet though has taken a lot of the uncertainty out of finding a local place to grub at. You can get on Yelp, Twitter, Google and in less than 10 minutes you can read 100 reviews on just about any place and decide if you want to eat there. Now the chains having the exact same menu everywhere actually hurts them because they don't get any bump in touristy spots anymore because you can easily find 5-6 great local places to eat at before you even land for your trip just by spending 30 minutes on the internet.
              Last edited by Trader Joe; 06-04-2017, 06:30 PM.


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              • #8
                Re: BI: Millenials are killing chains like Buffalo Wild Wings and Applebee's

                I never liked Buffalo Wild Wings wings I always thought they were overrated.
                @WhatTheFFacts: Studies show that sarcasm enhances the ability of the human mind to solve complex problems!

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                • #9
                  Re: BI: Millenials are killing chains like Buffalo Wild Wings and Applebee's

                  I bet shows like Bizarre foods and things like that have also done it, every time I watch that show I want to eat some crazy **** lol
                  @WhatTheFFacts: Studies show that sarcasm enhances the ability of the human mind to solve complex problems!

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                  • #10
                    Re: BI: Millenials are killing chains like Buffalo Wild Wings and Applebee's

                    Originally posted by vnzla81 View Post
                    I bet shows like Bizarre foods and things like that have also done it, every time I watch that show I want to eat some crazy **** lol
                    Yeah again internet. Think about how easy it is now to track what you see on a food show for future reference when you're traveling.


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                    • #11
                      Re: BI: Millenials are killing chains like Buffalo Wild Wings and Applebee's

                      IMO if it was the head of say Applebee's I'd dive back into the whole "Eating good in the neighborhood" thing. I'd trim my number of locations and I'd source locally. I'd do a regional menu for each chain and put a team in charge of each region who's job it is to basically ensure locally sourced a grub and a small diverse menu that speaks to local tastes. It's honestly kind of amazing Applebee's hasn't done this considering they've been sitting on that slogan forever and now is the perfect time to push local and neighborhood grub.

                      It'd be more expensive, but it's a lot better than going out of business.


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                      • #12
                        Re: BI: Millenials are killing chains like Buffalo Wild Wings and Applebee's

                        Originally posted by Trader Joe View Post
                        Yeah again internet. Think about how easy it is now to track what you see on a food show for future reference when you're traveling.
                        Exactly. My best friend (who still lives in Indy) and I do one or two guys trips every year where we meet up in a different city and hang out for a few days. In a world with Yelp we are always able to seek out the best local places. No way we're eating at a chain once we're outside the airport.

                        Even my little Indiana hometown has a couple of restaurants now that are family owned and are doing good business because they tout that they source local products and have seasonal menus. These big chains are gonna have to find a way to adapt. I understand having a core national menu, but do a local menu for each region of the country and try to source some local products. The second half of the 20th century saw the increasing homogenization of American culture, you are seeing a pushback against that socially, politically, and culturally now.

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                        • #13
                          Re: BI: Millenials are killing chains like Buffalo Wild Wings and Applebee's

                          If you live in Indy, there is no reason to ever go to a place like Applebees. So many better choices. Even in the 'burbs there are better places to eat. Fresher and better tasting food is really everywhere. I live minutes from an Applebees and have never eaten there willingly...

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                          • #14
                            Re: BI: Millenials are killing chains like Buffalo Wild Wings and Applebee's

                            Originally posted by BlueNGold View Post
                            If you live in Indy, there is no reason to ever go to a place like Applebees. So many better choices. Even in the 'burbs there are better places to eat. Fresher and better tasting food is really everywhere. I live minutes from an Applebees and have never eaten there willingly...
                            I did but it was when I first arrived at Purdue and well there was nowhere else to go. It wasn't impressive even then I doubt much has changed.

                            Food doesn't really taste as good as it used to either and its noticeable to me at least. Which is probably a good thing to consume less.

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                            • #15
                              Re: BI: Millenials are killing chains like Buffalo Wild Wings and Applebee's

                              You can also get a Chipotle so fast and easy, or some sushi place.

                              Call me crazy but cooking at home is the best I love cooking at home, it's cheaper, healthy and you get to spend time with your people.
                              @WhatTheFFacts: Studies show that sarcasm enhances the ability of the human mind to solve complex problems!

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