Food  

Diary Of A Millennial: What We Want From Your Food Business

By Zainab Amoo

21 June 2020   |   12:00 pm

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Dear Food Business Owners, For millennial, food isn’t just there to satisfy our hunger or even our taste buds. Yes! I am a millennial as well and a foodie so trust me on this one. Now, how and what we eat is a lifestyle, and at times a political statement. Matter of fact anything we…

Brunch at Nok By Alara. | Photo: Ofadaa

Dear Food Business Owners,

For millennial, food isn’t just there to satisfy our hunger or even our taste buds. Yes! I am a millennial as well and a foodie so trust me on this one. Now, how and what we eat is a lifestyle, and at times a political statement. Matter of fact anything we do as millennial is a political statement if I may say so. You can call it show off but hey! It is what is it is.

So how do you get us to patronise your food business knowing fully well that we are the largest working population, and play a major role in determining popular culture and trends?
Oh yes!… you need us and this is what you need to know.

We are all for the show
We are big on experiences, unique eating experience, unique dining experience, unique this, unique that, as long as it comes with an experience worth talking about. We want the world to know the new cool things we are up to or the new cool things we are doing. So the question is, are you cool enough to make us want to be affiliated with your brand? We share and are a part of what we think will make us “look cool” — in other words, we’ll only share what we believe will maintain or increase our reputation in the eyes of our peers. Any food business can try to make money but staying in the business for the long haul, you would have to introduce the cool factor.

Food delivery. | Photo: WeeTracker

We are in this with you as long as it’s techy
Please help our ministry. A lot of us grew up sleeping on our computers. And technologies like mobile ordering and delivery apps are playing a key role to make eating more convenient for us. So what does that say? We want the easy life. Can you make that happen? Can your website load fast and reads well on a phone? Can you respond quickly to our DMs on social media? We want Instagram-worthy photos of our food that boasts colour, texture and alludes to smell and flavour. Can that happen? Can we search for you and find you on google?

We want to be part of a good cause or feel affiliated to it
We want to be affiliated with brands that get us promoting happy feelings, being a part of our everyday day life. It just has to go beyond your product. We have to think about your brand and think family or think about your brand and think sex or think success or something memorable. Do you see why your food business might not be here for the long haul? Take a re-evaluation. Are you building a long term business or hey! Are you just trying to make some good money for the time being? It’s fine, this is not a judgement zone but if the business is mostly targeted at us then it’s never too late to have a rethink.

Rice beans and plantain. | Photo: Nightlife

We are all for the taste and quality
Now after you are done with all the glam of appealing to what makes us unique as millennial such as belonging, tech, a great cause, selfie culture and all that charade, the most important recipe to selling to a millennial is ensuring that taste and quality are not compromised.

The truth is we are a promising demographic for the food industry because of our buying power; we would literally go all out to get a nice meal. The key to developing a good relationship with us is through transparency and inclusiveness. Millennials like to feel connected to their products and we like to feel as if we are in charge of our lives in every way. By considering millennial lifestyles when developing products or a brand for them, food companies are much more likely to find success with this demographic.