1. Educated working families gain in importance
“Highly educated working families are a core restaurant consumer that’s overlooked, and their disposable income is only growing,” said Rich Shank, director of consumer insights for Chicago-based Technomic. This subset of consumers represents 16% of the total foodservice population but 36% of total foodservice spend, Shank said.
He cited Pew data to suggest one reason this cohort is so reliant on foodservice. According to Pew, 60% of higher-educated working women have two or more kids today, compared to only 51% a decade ago.
So what do these foodservice-reliant, high-earning families want? Food quality above all, Shank said, as well as healthful options and convenient takeout service. And, he said, these mobile users love to share photos of their food on social media.