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Beyond the Blue Plate

"Senior" just doesn't mean what it used to.

When you see Bruce Springsteen on the cover of AARP The Magazine, you know that the whole "senior citizen" concept has been turned on its head. For this, you can credit one demographic group: the baby boomers, the first of whom turned 60 in 2006. Now 40 million strong, the aging-boomer crowd remains hugely influential in pop culture, politics and all things consumer-related.

If you think this cohort is feeble or predictable, think again. "They're certainly heavier restaurant users than their parents were," says Bonnie Riggs, a restaurant industry analyst with NPD Group in Chicago. "A person in their 60s today is nothing like a 60-something was 10, 15 or 20 years ago."

• 93% of the growth in the U.S. labor force from 2006 to 2016 will be among workers ages
  55 and older
• Diners ages 50 to 64 are the second-heaviest restaurant users
• The average member of this age group made 205 restaurant visits in the 12 months through September 2009

According to Riggs, these stats have significant implications for restaurant operators. "Since these people are going to be staying in the workplace for an extended period of time, they’re going to look for convenient options, good food choices and a great dining experience," she says.

In particular, Riggs cautions against complacency in the face of supermarkets’ ongoing efforts to improve their prepared food options. Shaw’s Supermarkets, for example, recently built a new store in Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts, that features a panini station, a pasta bar and brick oven pizza. "It's great, restaurant-quality food, at much lower than restaurant prices," Mike Witynski, president of Shaw's, told National Public Radio. "And you don't have to tip."

Excerpted from Restaurant Business, February 2010  

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