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Millennials are known for changing the way the world works from changing gun control regulations to fast food. Fast food since conception was designed to be quick and was not meant to be something someone is going to live off of and eat every day. Wendy’s slogan over the past few years to increase customer sales and satisfaction has them claiming the use of, “Fresh, never frozen beef.” Other fast food restaurants have joined Wendy’s in an attempt to revolutionize the market in which they tailor to.
The reason for the slogan is due to the concern from their consumers, which is comprised of a vast number of young citizens, about the taste of the frozen beef patties.
For example, McDonalds has stated that within the next year they will make the switch to always fresh beef patties in the Quarter Pounders as a way to introduce this healthier option.
The reason for the burgers to be called a healthier option is due to the juiciness of the patty.
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Once frozen, beef loses its flavor and becomes greasy and unappealing. Fresh beef keeps its flavor as well as its natural juiciness sans large amounts of grease. Other fast food places such as Taco Bell, KFC and Pizza Hut are all making an effort to introduce healthier options because of the rising demand from millennials. Forbes magazine has attempted to discredit the headway being made for healthier options by stating that “fast-food consumers aren’t looking for healthy fare—they care more about the content of their food, not the calories (Tristano, Forbes)”.
The consensus from those who agree with the statement is that just because there are healthier options, does not mean that is what the customer will choose.
The customer will choose the item advertised with the most fulfilling and tasteful ingredients regardless of calories as opposed to the more body conscious option that may have a taste different than expected norms. Despite what may be commonly thought, young people in today’s society are shown to care more about the content and caloric values of the food that they are ingesting. This new ideology is why In-N-Out Burger now promotes the use of never frozen beef as opposed to the taboo flash frozen patties. (Tristano, Forbes).
As mentioned previously, restaurants such as In-N-Out Burger, Whataburger, Smashburger and others have begun advertising the use of fresh instead of frozen beef. In-N-Out Burger has been known to say, “we do not freeze, pre-package or microwave our food. We make things the old-fashioned way” (Yu, USA Today). The other restaurants have accepted the same claim of having the freshest choices of beef and nothing frozen. According to Ducharme there are four very prevalent reasons why not to eat greasy food that comes from flash freezing. The first being because it puts a strain on your digestive system and it can make you run to the bathroom. Other negatives resulting from eating grease ridden foods is greasy or oily stool as well as it can throw the healthy stomach bacteria out of order.
Lastly, it will raise your risk for diabetes and heart disease (Ducharme, Time). In order to combat the negatives from eating these unhealthy foods, millennials as the primary consumers have been staunch advocates for the inclusion of healthier options including less grease, lower sodium, and fresh foods. Fresh food has been known to have more nutrients and healthful fats and enzymes, while frozen meals tend to have more salt, unhealthy fats and toxins from being stored in plastic (Seidenberg, Washington Post). Taco Bell and KFC are a couple of examples of fast food restaurants making the jump into mainstream expectations and culture by increasing the inclusion of fresh foods into their menus as well as lowering sodium in their products.
Taco Bell is known for its popularity with the younger generations but has also been known as being one the chief fast food places for unhealthy menu items, much like McDonalds. Taco Bell is part of the Yum Campaign which is consumer driven and is, “an effort to make 15 percent of its menu items at the chain — as well as at Pizza Hut and KFC — conform to recommended mealtime limits for it, sugar and fats by the end of the year” (Downs, USA Today). The CEO of Yum, Greg Creed said, “We have done the moral thing. What we haven’t done is toot our horn. No one out suspects we have done it because we haven’t changed the taste” (Downs, USAToday).
Downs says Pizza Hut and KFC (also included in the Yum Campaign) by the end of the year will conform to the recommended mealtime limits for sugar and fats. The campaign states that by 2020, they want 20 percent of the menu items to be equal to or fall well below the salt limits for that certain meal (Downs, USA Today). Taco Bell has also pulled the sodium out of every ingredient they can from the tortillas, beef and chicken to the fire sauce and a plethora of other ingredients. “Menu items between 2009 to 2015 show that Taco Bell cut salt by one third in items out 33 menu items to choose from. Because millennials starting the debate about the health consequences of fast food it has started the drive to bring down sodium levels in fast food. In 2011, McDonalds’ burgers dropped their levels by seven to eight percent” (Downs, USA Today).
The Yum campaign has started to change the salt levels in order to become healthier for their consumers but have also kept the same taste of the product before the levels dropped. Millennials are avid fans of eating out and Patel states that, “the University of Arkansas analysis on food spending shows that from 1970 to now, spending has gone up from 25.9 percent to 43.5 percent” (Patel, Forbes). The younger generation is busy changing the world, so they do not always have time to make a home-cooked meal.
While millennials are changing the world like reforming gun laws, it does not mean that their fast food efforts have been working to the desired effect. Young people have been in the works to change fast food since 2011 with the induction of President Barack Obama’s Food Acts where we saw changes in food safety regulation, higher food stamp usage, farmer subsidy and protection laws while also reducing hunger in families and pushing for making healthier food choices (Valente, Healthier). In 2015, the top ten fast food chains with healthy options lost on average 0.3% of their profits than those with the regular unhealthy food menus. Subway and Quiznos, to name a few, lost 34.1% profits in total with the inclusion of healthy options (Tristano, Forbes).
Whereas Potbelly Sandwich Shop, Culver’s and Jet’s Pizza in total increased their profits a whopping 43.1%(Tristano, Forbes). As stated previously, a decent portion of consumers do not care near as much about how healthy the food is. Their main focus is on the quality (in terms of freshness) of the food and not the exorbitant calorie count. People are going to choose a nice warm slice of a pizza because it is greasy and full of deliciously appealing sodium ridden cheese than eat a body conscious meal consisting of a turkey patty with kale and a side of sweet potato fries. People love the greasy and unhealthy foods, not the food that is good for the human body.
Keeping body consciousness in mind, a correlation between millennials not having time to make a meal for themselves and the explosion of the fast food market with healthier options has been found. “According to the Organic Trade Association, millennials are 52 percent of organic consumers which means millennials eat their vegetables. Which has marketers and entrepreneurs taking note” (Patel, Forbes). That is why McDonald’s is now offering salads and other improved foods. The Yum Campaign as mentioned earlier started in order to lower fats and sodium, so it can meet the health demands of the young generations.
With obesity at an all-time high while these juveniles were growing up, a lot more value was placed in what they put inside of their bodies and on educating themselves on the benefits of natural and organic foods. This increase in the need for body conscious education was the way to combat the obesity in America. Theo, a manager at Broderick Dining Commons at Old Dominion University said, “the new food trend with millennials eating healthy and trying new foods is a positive impact on the world. It’s going to help with the obesity in America. Millennials want to eat healthy, they want to know where the food comes from and how it affects the body.”
Food Manufactures have an interesting challenge with this headstrong generation. Because they educate themselves on what is going into their bodies, manufacturers have to be one hundred percent truthful in their advertisements about their food products as well as the nutritional statements. These young activists will do the research and read the labels to uncover the truth (Adams, Food Able). The manufacturers of the fast food that are willing to go the extra mile in ensuring authenticity will be the ones to retain and grow their collection of millennial dollars. Those who choose to not be truthful in the ways listed above are the ones who do not gain the profits and business and do not seem to care about their consumers, nor truly want their business.
Young people have begun to change the world in many different ways. These people are making headway in gun reformation as well as charging towards new and healthier fast food options. Millennials should be known as the generation willing to make a change for the better in these United States. They have chosen to put health and safety of the citizens first, especially those younger than themselves, to promote a change for the better. Reforming gun laws can save countless lives in a comparable manner to the way that healthier fast food options can save lives as well. These revolutionaries have changed the way food is viewed and put a new spin on the meaning of the word healthy, whether it be at a Taco Bell advertising lower sodium levels to Wendy’s touting their “Fresh, never frozen, beef”.
As one of the managers working at Broderick Dining Commons said, “Millennials want to eat healthy, they want to know where the food comes from and how it affects the body.” The goal is to create these healthier options for those on the run, hence fast food. Being on the run does not negate the fact that people want the most health-conscious option at these establishments. While fast food is still synonymous with thick, salty and greasy, changes are being made to revolutionize and revamp the market to be more accommodating to those wanting a health conscious and fast meal.
In summation, “Fresh, never frozen, beef” may seem as small pebbles in a large fish pond, but it is the small waves they create when dropped in that starts the waves in motion. Fast food was ever prevalent and booming in the days of the baby boomers and still remains a force to be reckoned with now and in the foreseeable future. Why not adapt the new millennial health mantra to the fast food giants to ensure a healthier and more revolutionized future for those dwelling in the United States?
Fast Food Changed Because of a Younger Generation. (2021, Dec 09). Retrieved from https://studymoose.com/fast-food-changed-because-of-a-younger-generation-essay
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