Generational Eating-Out Habits: How to Impress the Baby Boomer?
Tags: Baby Boomers, Restaurant Marketing, Restaurant, Restaurant Business

Let’s start with Baby Boomers first!

Baby Boomers belong to the generation, members of which were born during the most often defined period of 1946–1964. This generation witnessed so many historical events, global as well as technological changes: post-World War II atmosphere, the space race, Beatlemania, Swinging Sixties, Woodstock, to name a few.

Today Baby Boomers are like a walking encyclopedia that love telling about events they witnessed next to the meal. And, yes, this generation loves to eat out. Rather occasional than daily, but always with great pleasure.

11 Ways How to Impress the Baby Boomer that Goes to a Restaurant?

Baby boomers, part of whom are reaching the retirement age, don’t go to restaurants as often as younger generations, but still go out to enjoy. Usually, these people are grown in disciplined households and have good manners, more conservative mind, respectable confidence and immense kindness. Sometimes it might be trickier to satisfy their needs. However, once convinced — always loyal.

1. Comfort for Baby Boomers is essential. They love to be taken cared of, and more than anyone else value good manners of the waiting staff as well as quality customer service.

2. Clean environment is a must. They might not notice the interior design solutions, but will always evaluate if the floor is shiny, cutlery glossy, bathroom gleaming, and the air — dust-free.

3. Baby Boomers are not that much into experimentations. They tend to stick loyal to their favourite restaurants and are not easy to invite to new places.

4. Baby Boomers is the most loyal generation, always coming back to the good old restaurant instead of experimenting with new places. Always keep a record about them on your reservation system, even if that was a walk-in or phone call booking, write down names, preferred tables and favourite dishes. This most generous generation of all will greatly evaluate such attention!

5. Baby boomers tend to use computers and rarely choose apps or browse on mobile devices.

6. They open the computer to browse the restaurant website, collect information of the menu as well as prices, and won’t hesitate to book a table online if they’ve got impressed (when the reservation form is easy and simple to fill).

7. It’s is very likely that Baby Boomers won’t visit restaurant’s social media page or read the reviews online.

8. Baby Boomers are not into new dietary tendencies: keto, paleo, gluten-free, vegan sounds too foreign for them. They are flexitarians, and will usually go for clear, understandable, familiar, traditional and high-quality menu choices. Be sure to take care of fresh & healthy vegetables, fruits, because these ingredients are so much about vitamins. Baby Boomers care about freshness and quality, so will always be impressed by seasonality as well as products, coming from the local farms.

9. If you are willing to catch the attention of Baby Boomers by offering them exotic tastes, you can always try. However, be sure to pair such new flavours with familiar, simple and their favourite food.

10. Speaking of food choices, they are more about routine and familiar ingredients. Baby Boomers tend to stick to their favourites and stay loyal with them on every return.

11. Baby Boomers are not the top spenders, but won’t go for cheap eat’s either: most of them value great quality for a reasonable price. As this generation tends to pick traditional, familiar dishes, which could actually be prepared at home, they don’t want to enter too deep into expenditure.