---
title: "The Latest Consumer Restaurant Trends & Insights from Black Box Consumer Intelligence"
url: https://burnaze.com/article/8939f95e-fe97-44c0-8ca2-9842cce74be6
source: "Franchising.com"
original_url: https://www.franchising.com/articles/the_latest_consumer_restaurant_trends__insights_from_black_box_consumer_int.html
author: "Multi-Unit Franchisee"
category: "Restaurants"
industry: "Restaurants"
published: 2020-07-07T07:00:00.000Z
modified: 2026-11-01T02:33:05.353Z
image: https://imgs.franchising.com/art/articles/5436_plate.jpg
---

# The Latest Consumer Restaurant Trends & Insights from Black Box Consumer Intelligence

**TL;DR:** Black Box Intelligence reports on the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on the restaurant industry, highlighting key consumer insights and trends, including a rebound in restaurant spend for Gen-Z consumers and a decline in spending for consumers older than 65. The pandemic has also changed spending patterns, with older consumers increasing their share of spending at limited-service restaurants.

*By Multi-Unit Franchisee, originally published in Franchising.com on 2020-07-07. [Read the original](https://www.franchising.com/articles/the_latest_consumer_restaurant_trends__insights_from_black_box_consumer_int.html).*

## Story

Black Box Intelligence continues to provide its regular updates detailing the current impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on the restaurant industry. Here are some key consumer insights from the company as of the end of June: Restaurant spend for Gen-Z consumers rebounded back to pre-crisis levels for the week ending June 21, reporting +1% YoY growth. Spending for this age cohort fell to a low of -41% for the week ending March 29.

Not surprisingly, consumers older than 65 had the steepest declines in restaurant spending, bottoming out at -59% for the week ending 3/29. Recovery has been slow for this age cohort and, as of June 21, their spending was still down -22%. Besides the obvious explanation that older consumers feel more threatened by Covid-19, another factor at play is that older consumers historically allocate more of their restaurant spending to full-service restaurants.

In 2019, roughly 50% of restaurant spending by 65+ aged consumers went to full-service restaurants with the other 50% going to limited-service. Those spending patterns have significantly changed during the pandemic. In April, 65+ aged consumers increased their share at limited-service restaurants to 79%.

While that allocation has been falling in recent weeks, this group is still spending 70% at limited-service for the most recent 30 days. Contrast that to Gen-Z, who allocated 75% of their restaurant spending in 2019 to limited-service and 25% to full-service. That spread grew to 86% in April going to limited service at the height of the pandemic.

## Entities

- Franchising.com (publication)
- Restaurants (sector)
- Multi-Unit Franchisee (person)
- covid-19 impact (topic)
- Gen Z (person)
- consumer trends (topic)
- Black Box Intelligence (company)
- restaurant spending (topic)
- generational spending (topic)

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Originally reported by Multi-Unit Franchisee, Franchising.com (https://www.franchising.com/articles/the_latest_consumer_restaurant_trends__insights_from_black_box_consumer_int.html). Summarized by Burnaze (https://burnaze.com/article/8939f95e-fe97-44c0-8ca2-9842cce74be6).