Even fast-casual dining may be too much of a financial burden for younger generations.
Chipotle CEO Scott Boatwright said young diners between the ages of 25 and 35 are cutting back on dining at the Mexican-inspired fast-casual chain. But these millennial and Gen Z customers are not snubbing Chipotle for other fast food spots; they’ve stopped dining out as frequently altogether.
“This group is facing several headwinds, including unemployment, increased student loan repayment, and slower real wage growth,” Boatwright told investors at the company’s earnings presentation on Wednesday. “We’re not losing them to the competition. We’re losing them to grocery and food at home.”
“We’re not losing them to the competition. We’re losing them to grocery and food at home.”
No, they are losing us, period.
Do you think we are excited to live after being treated this way? Why would we be?
Even if things are magically fixed tomorrow, the feeling of economic valueless to the society around us and the brittle anxious state of precarity have settled into our bones.
What a failure to grasp the seriousness of the moment…
You can say the exact same thing for over-60s like me. No jobs will hire us. Squeezed by economic realities. Shunned as irrelevant, unwanted, and ugly.
Absolutely, I didn’t mean to suggest this is exclusive to younger people.
the feeling of economic valueless
This is a really good point. There’s a local pizza place near me and a large costs $25 with one topping, but it’s so dang good I never question the price. But you won’t find me dropping $10 for a junky Papa John’s pizza.
It’s not just fast casual, but literally all food eating out is getting ridiculously expensive. Add in the fact that you can make much healthier meals at home for a fraction of the cost, and it just doesn’t make any sense to eat out any more.
Good points all around. I cook 95% of my meals every week, so it’s always a bit stunning when I order out or walk to a restaurant, but yeah, I definitely plan to spend big when I go.
doesn’t make sense to eat out any more
It does if your overworked and too tired to make food. Yeah you can make a healthier, tastier, cheaper meal at home but it may take you an hour to do. That’s a lot of extra work a week especially if you live alone and don’t have anyone to share that work with and some people just don’t have time for that.
Groceries are getting expensive too though, at least in colorado. Seems like the only cost effective options anymore are costco and trader joes, and there are only 3 total in my city of half a million people. Safeway is crazy overpriced for no reason; often more expensive than eating out.
It’s wild how the narrative can go from saying we’re only broke because of avocado toast and Starbucks and without skipping a beat blame us for declining sales at a fast food chain like it’s some kind of crisis
You’re not wrong. That’s why whenever someone tells me that we’re not in a recession, I reflexively think: “What you mean is, rich people aren’t in a recession.”
Income inequality rising is a feature not a bug. Now let’s lower them interest rates to bouy asset prices while wages stagnate against inflation so we can maintain employment by making employees cheaper. We’re cooking with gas baby.
“What you mean is, rich people aren’t in a recession.”
What is rich nowadays? Growing up, a $100,000+ salary was considered quite rich. No way that qualifies now.
I am, by many definitions, rich. By my mother’s generation and demographic I’d be considered almost unimaginably rich. In 2025 America though I am at best “comfortable”. I am rich enough to afford groceries, but I am not rich enough to not notice or feel the impact of a carry basket of groceries setting me back over $100. I am rich enough to afford health insurance but I am not rich enough to not sweat the premium bill and the deductible. I am rich and fortunate to enough to own a home, but I wonder how I will afford the ever increasing taxes and maintenance costs when I am no longer able to work. I worry that a single extended illness will wipe out most if not all of the wealth my wife and I have worked 30+ years for. So, I rarely eat out. I scaled down my spending. And I keep my focus soleky on caring for those I love.
When the system has degraded in such a way that only those with an 8+ (preferably 9) digit net worth can feel safe, then you can no longer expect the system to remain for much longer. To me, it feels like America was assassinated by Reagan and the Republicans and ever since, the people on the top have just been the maggots feasting on the rotting flesh. Its either going to be collapse or revolution.
My situation is better than most. I’m single so no spouse and have no children, and I grew up poor, so I already possess a lot of experience and knowledge one would need to navigate the current economic situation well.
And I’m not spending. The vast majority of the money I make goes into my investments, savings, and my mortgage. I cook 95% of what I eat. When I go into the office physically, I have my self-prepped meals and snacks I bought myself, because if you buy them at the office there’s a 200-300% upcharge. If I order a $15 shirt online and don’t like the fit, I package it up, walk it to the UPS store, and return it. If I bust a seam or tear something, I mend it myself by hand. When I had a car I did the minor repairs myself. I DO perform minor home repairs myself.
I can only imagine how difficult it is now for every working adult with kids, especially with child care costing the same as another annual income.
The people who do spend, however, can’t anymore, and the scary thing is, that doesn’t impact the wealth of truly wealthy in a meaningful way. Those people are planning for the crash, because for them, it’s just another buying opportunity.
The people who do spend, however, can’t anymore, and the scary thing is, that doesn’t impact the wealth of truly wealthy in a meaningful way. Those people are planning for the crash, because for them, it’s just another buying opportunity.
see Naomi Klein’s The Shock Doctrine for extensive explanation of this.
It’s for Boomers. Media likes to keep the bag over their heads as they kill the rest of us. Blaming us for the systemic failures that were started and perpetuated by their generation is the easiest way to keep the grift going.
Is he really blaming us, though?
"This group is facing several headwinds, including unemployment, increased student loan repayment, and slower real wage growth,”
At the end of the day, he only cares about the bottom line but it sounds more like he’s acknowledging the broken economy than blaming us for not buying fast food
No shit, Sherlock.
What are they expecting when they not only enshittify the product but increase the cost of it to the price of a whole-ass pizza?
Chipotle makes pizza?
Edit: apparently they had a pizza chain called Pizzeria Locale that failed https://www.thetakeout.com/chipotle-restaurant-pizzeria-locale-locations-closing-1850614719/
They’re saying you get a single burrito for the price of an entire large pizza. It’s a bad value when your budget is limited.
Important to remember: “the economy” is just “how we distribute labor and stuff”.
We have a really dog shit nonsense economy that doesn’t seem to do anything good. Based entirely on nonsense ideology and punishment.
People are hungry but solid gold pleasure yachts and Zionist child killing bombs must not be interrupted.
People are choking on fumes and can’t afford to keep their lights on, but The Oil Must Flow and investors must be made whole. No woke shit like solar panels.
It’s not being hyper-redundant for resilience, it’s not building some mega-project, we aren’t all toiling in the science mines for the benefit of all who come later. It’s not for anybody but a few parasitic mentally ill privilege addicts.
So how long can this last? Months?
It’s fucking exhausting.
“We’re not losing them to the competition. We’re losing them to grocery and food at home.”
… You’re losing us because of greed.
And in RESPONSE Chipotle decided to FIRE a Thousand Workers and raise PRICES to try and Convince rich people who eat REAL Mexican food to give Them MONEY!
It’s not just fast food, it’s everything and almost everyone. I work sales for a luxury brand in a very affluent area. Our year over year sales numbers have plummeted, even when our client base is very well off. People are hanging on to their old product longer or just flat out buying cheaper versions. The only ones who aren’t feeling a real pinch are the metal credit card holders who make over 500k.
I knew it was going to come to this. Come Christmas time companies will start sounding the alarm about the economy when people barely surviving day to day don’t have any extra to buy their shit as Christmas gifts. It’s been ignored for months (years?) but once it actually starts affecting companies then the people in charge will actually pay attention.
America, where not only are corporations people, they are the most important people.
McDonalds has been actively lobbying the WH to raise the minimum wage for months, realizing the economy is about toast. They refuse to be the only one to do it, you know, let capitalism solve its own problems like it supposedly does. So they’re going to make everyone else do it at the same time. But I’m sure not enough to have a meaningful effect, just keep the treadmill greased.
They’re the only people, in a sense
It’s actually the decline in quality that put me over the edge. Even the good local pizza place started tasting different, restaurant food is fuel like any other now, it’s not special.
40 years ago Wendy’s burgers were actually good.
A lot of restaurants are basically who can cook Sysco frozen jalapeno poppers the best. They all taste and look the same.
COVID causes brain damage that effects sense of taste.
Yeah my aunt can’t taste anything any more after covid, it’s awful.
Meanwhile I can poach a $1.50 chicken thigh in $0.75 of stock and it tastes like heaven, so that’s not my problem.
That and everyone trying to lower costs by cheaping out even more
Do you have a Steak and Shake or Marco’s near you?
The billionaires don’t give a fuck.
“Let them eat cake.”
But Chipotle sucks. There’s a reason we dont make it at.home. its another version of subway. Which is horrible fast food.
In the UK subway lost the rights to call their loaves bread because of the sugar content.
What’s the use case?
-
It’s too expensive for “budget “ food like Rosa’s Cafe, Fuzzy’s, other taco joints round here.
-
It’s self serve and not that nice. If we want to take friends/family out as a treat, why would we go to Chipotle?
-
It’s walk in, and could be slow with the finicky ordering/lines. Bad idea if in a rush.
-
Not great car food.
I feel like it was a meme among college students for awhile, but it isn’t cool anymore.
That, and our local Cava has also kinda taken its place because… well, it tastes good for the price, is healthier, and more exotic.
-
“people who have less and less money are not spending it on luxuries that are getting more and more expensive”
