Since the decline of milk began, beef sales started to decline right along with it. Millennials are much less fond today of meat and dairy products, especially red meats. Many young people today are ditching meat in general, and those who don’t, prefer to stick with more “safe” meats that don’t evoke a strong moral response, such as fish.
Beef is also a bit more on the pricey side, which makes it a lot less desirable for today’s vegan and broke millennials. Even if you put moral issues aside, the fact that your average millennial owes tens of thousands of dollars for his government-backed student loan is a great reason to stay on the frugal side.
Casual Dining Restaurants Are Devoid of Millennials
Today’s generation has very different habits when it comes to eating. They prefer to either eat a precooked meal, order something off of Uber Eats or Seamless, or go to a fancy restaurant or Starbucks and blow the last bit of money they have left after loan payments and rent. Many of the classic casual restaurants, such as TGI Friday’s and Applebee’s, are becoming strangely devoid of the presence of millennials, as they do their best to avoid these locations.
Market Studies reports that sales at casual dining restaurants have been in serious decline in the past few years. While many of these brands and establishments are doing their best to woo millennials back into their restaurants, their efforts have largely been unsuccessful. It seems that there’s something unique about the millennial mind, where the more you try to appeal to them - the less they want to participate.
They Donate a Lot Less Money to Churches
This generation is a lot more atheistic, and a lot less charitable when it comes to donations. Most of today’s social fabric has been relegated to the United States government, with public services such as Food Stamps and Medicare taking the lead instead of the community or the church.
Millennials also don’t really know their neighbors anymore, which is largely due to the fact that they move every other year or so. This causes them to be a lot more focused on spending money on themselves and is in turn a leading factor of the record loneliness rates among young people today.
Millennials Aren’t Really Into Sports Anymore
Another institution that has begun to find itself shrinking from year to year, is the sports industry. Back in the day, families used to sit at home and watch sports games, or buy tickets and watch their favorite teams perform. Sports used to be very much related to patriotism and was a common value that was shared across the nation. Nowadays, millennials don’t really care for sports anymore, which explains the severe decline in viewership that brands such as the NFL have experienced in recent years.
This change has caused sports to also transition into a much more digital format, although it seems that the industry will never recover its former glory. Ticket sales are also down across the board, which might explain why we almost never hear about sports today except in a political context.
McDonald’s and Drive-thrus Aren’t Nearly As Popular As They Used to Be
Just a decade or two ago, almost everyone used to eat at McDonald’s and enjoy a nice, cheap meal. This same generation, that liked going to see the golden arches back in the day, are now much more prone to eating a vegan diet or ignoring fast-food entirely. McDonald's has put a lot of emphasis lately on vegetarian food and healthier options, but it seems that most of the potential market has already left for other alternatives.
While Ronald McDonald is sitting sadly in his corner, another trend which has almost disappeared are the classic drive-thrus. Back in the day, when you wanted some fast food on the go, you stopped at a McDonald's or another fast food provider and got your order without leaving the car. But they've become so obsolete that people who were born after 2010, usually don’t even know what a drive-thru looks like.