Teens still love Chick-fil-A and Starbucks and, increasingly, Raising Cane’s. Just apparently not as often as last year.
Young people are cutting back on their spending, according to the latest Taking Stock with Teens. According to the twice-annual survey, teenagers’ self-reported spending declined 6% over the past year, to $2,263.
Yet they remain enamored with Chick-fil-A. The Atlanta-based chicken sandwich chain, which has thrived over the past two decades to become the country’s second-largest restaurant chain, was listed as the top restaurant by 16% of teens. McDonald’s, at 10%, was second.
Chipotle was third at 9%, followed by the fast-growing chicken fingers chain Raising Cane’s and the casual-dining steak chain Texas Roadhouse, both at 4%.
The 47th survey from the Minneapolis-based investment bank for the first time featured a new category, coffee and tea. The Seattle-based coffee shop giant Starbucks dominated that category, with a 37% share among teens.
The Piper Sandler survey is a closely watched benchmark of young spenders and their priorities. The survey is important given companies’ eagerness to court Gen Z customers in particular.
The spending data in particular is disconcerting, though perhaps not unexpected, given inflation and concerns about fast-food prices in particular. Abbie Zveinieks, senior research analyst for Piper, noted in a statement that spending among teens is now “well below pre-pandemic levels.”
She also noted that the survey this year is seeing some shifts toward “smaller, innovative brands,” a likely result of social media that is emphasizing key products while more nimble brands are better able to keep pace.
While inflation is a major concern for teens, noted by 9% of survey respondents, the environment (14%) remains the chief concern among social causes.
Teens’ favorite snack is Goldfish (12%), their favorite celebrity is Taylor Swift and they tend to prefer Netflix (29%) slightly over YouTube (27%) among video options.
As for the restaurants on the ranking, Chick-fil-A has been tops among teens for the past few years, which has helped fuel the chain that now generates $9.4 million in sales from its average stand-alone unit. Domestic system sales last year neared $22 billion.
Starbucks has likewise been among teens’ favorite restaurants, and this year is clearly their favorite coffee or tea concept. Their spending has helped drive cold beverage sales in particular, pushing sales of cold, customized beverages to more than three-quarters of total beverage sales at the chain.
Flavor shots for those customized beverages, meanwhile, now total $1 billion in annual sales for Starbucks in the U.S.
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