---
title: "SmartBrief: How restaurants and food brands can win over Gen Z"
url: https://burnaze.com/article/f54f1d8e-e50a-45fd-8bef-7640f7dafdb6
source: "1851 Franchise"
original_url: https://1851franchise.com/smartbrief-how-restaurants-and-food-brands-can-win-over-gen-z-2705453
category: "Restaurants"
industry: "Restaurants"
published: 2018-02-06T20:15:01.000Z
modified: 2026-11-01T02:51:46.217Z
image: https://newimage.1851franchise.com/cdn-cgi/image/quality=85,format=webp,width=1280,height=720/story/featureImage/e2f2258f5be9fa670294f183c8cdd8603787.jpg
---

# SmartBrief: How restaurants and food brands can win over Gen Z

**TL;DR:** Industries are shifting focus to Gen Z, who have $828 billion in spending power and prioritize sustainability and organic ingredients. Restaurants can target this demographic with discounts, clean labeling, and in-store signage.

*originally published in 1851 Franchise on 2018-02-06. [Read the original](https://1851franchise.com/smartbrief-how-restaurants-and-food-brands-can-win-over-gen-z-2705453).*

## Story

After years of focusing on millennials, industries are changing their focus to the next generation, Gen Z. According to a recent SmartBrief article , those born after 1996 command about $828 billion in spending power. This group of digital natives have grown up with phones in their hands and raised with different values than their predecessors.

“For previous generations sustainability, organic, locally sourced ingredients, those weren’t part of the conversation. With this audience, those key issues are top of mind and it’s important to talk about them,” said Marisa Allan, vice president of partner innovation at Unidays .

So how do restaurants target this new demographic? Focus on getting them in the door with discounts, clean labeling and utilize in-store signage to drive the impulse buy.

## Entities

- 1851 Franchise (publication)
- Restaurants (sector)
- sustainability (topic)
- Gen Z (person)
- restaurant marketing (topic)
- gen z (topic)
- target demographic (topic)

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Originally reported by 1851 Franchise (https://1851franchise.com/smartbrief-how-restaurants-and-food-brands-can-win-over-gen-z-2705453). Summarized by Burnaze (https://burnaze.com/article/f54f1d8e-e50a-45fd-8bef-7640f7dafdb6).