Fast food has a Gen Z problem

• Gen Z doesn't see fast food the same way as older generations.
• Diners in the age group are less likely to say that fast food is a good deal, Morning Consult found.
• For chains like McDonald's, the solution isn't as simple as $5 meal deals, an analyst said.

Some of the youngest consumers aren't the biggest fans of fast food — and that's a problem for big chains like McDonald's.

Gen Z diners surveyed by Morning Consult were less likely to say that they thought fast-food chains were a good value than all the older generations. Morning Consult collected the data in monthly polls over the course of this year and broke results down for other generations, including millennials, Gen X, and baby boomers.

Winning over Gen Z diners is key, Lindsey Roeschke, a travel and hospitality analyst for Morning Consult, told Business Insider.

Some Gen Z consumers are teens or young adults just deciding what their favorite brands and dining habits look like, Roeschke said. Older members of the generation, meanwhile, are becoming parents — one of the most common fast-food consumers, given that they're often looking for a quick, easy meal for their families.

"If they don't reach them and connect with them right now, there's a chance that they'll alienate them as they become even more important of a target," Roeschke said of the restaurants.

While majorities of each age group said that they found fast food a good value, there were differences between them. In July, the most recent month in the survey, Gen X diners said that fast food was a good value by 48 percentage points over those who said it wasn't. For Gen Z diners, the margin was smaller at 34 percentage points.

Along with baby boomers, Gen Z diners were also less likely than millennials or members of Gen X to say that they were likely to purchase fast food — a metric Morning Consult calls "net purchasing consideration."

After years of raising prices, many fast-food chains started offering discounts this year, including revamped value menus and limited-time meal deals, as sales slipped.

The highest-profile example has been McDonald's $5 meal deal. The chain initially planned to offer the meal for a month starting in late June but has since said that almost all its restaurants will keep it on the menu through August. Burger King and Wendy's have also debuted value meals this year.

But the limited-time deals have done little to shift diners' perceptions of fast food's value, Morning Consult also found.

There are other ways for fast-food chains to keep younger customers coming back, Roeschke said.

Roeschke said Morning Consult's past research suggested that shaking up menus with new items (think Chipotle's TikTok-inspired quesadilla with fajita veggies) could draw in more Gen Z diners.

Loyalty programs that give frequent customers exclusive access can also appeal to Gen Z, Roeschke said.

"They really value things like early access to new menu items and insider knowledge," she said, adding that many younger consumers wanted "to be the first to know something" and "the first to share something with their friends."

McDonald's did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

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