Millennials 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 increase 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 be blamed on a 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 cliché 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, the executive director of insights at the restaurant-industry tracker TDn2K, recently told Business Insider. Many of these options involve...[read full article at Business Insider]

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