The reasons different generations choose their breakfast foods vary most with the youngest and oldest adult generations. While Gen Z is focused on cost and convenience (quick and portable foods), Boomers are the only group to include healthfulness in their top considerations. Millennials, Gen X, and Boomers all consider made-to-order preparation and customization important – take advantage of technology like phone apps or ordering kiosks to enable easy and accurate customization for consumers.
Sizzling Breakfast Trends
What’s the Latest on Breakfast?
Did you know 8 in 10 restaurants offer breakfast on weekdays, and 7 in 10 offer breakfast on weekends (Datassential’s Breakfast Keynote Report, April 2023)? While breakfast isn’t always the meal we picture at restaurants, it has seen growth as an away-from-home occasion (see chart below). Learn about consumer breakfast motivators, breakfast menu trends, and more to unlock smart breakfast innovation!
Away-from-home breakfast occasions have increased over the past four years, coinciding with increased hybrid work styles. Consumers are both increasingly eating sit-down breakfasts away from home and buying breakfast away from home to eat at home or at work (Datassential’s America in Transition Keynote Report, December 2021).
Datassential Breakfast Keynote, July 2019 vs. April 2023
Breakfast away from home is highest among Boomers, who are more likely to have free time on their hands in retirement years. Millennials aren’t far behind, with more than a quarter eating breakfast away from home.
Datassential Breakfast Keynote, April 2023
Top Factors for Choosing Breakfast Foods Away from Home
Datassential Breakfast Keynote, April 2023
Breakfast Trends on the Menu
Top-growing breakfast dishes include a variety of handhelds, which ties into consumers’ want for both portability and customization in their breakfast foods. Check out Lamb Weston’s recipe for Sunrise Sliders (pictured below) for a spin on a classic breakfast slider, using waffled hashbrowns in place of a traditional carrier.
Growth on app/entrée/side breakfast menus over the past 4 years in Datassential MenuTrends, YE March 2023
Fresh Top Chain Breakfast Introductions
Top chains release new breakfast menu items and limited-time offers ranging from classic crowd pleasers to unique twists. Find balance between highly craveable dishes (like breakfast platters with crispy potatoes) and differentiators (like breakfast bowls) by exploring top chains’ breakfast concepts, below. Note how some chains offer side options or made-to-order elements to appeal to consumers’ want for customization.
Datassential Concept Testing (SCORES)
top performer for item type, generation (>90th percentile)
above average for item type, generation (70th to 90th percentile)
average for item type (30 to 70th percentile)
below average for item type (10 to 30th percentile)
lowest for item type (<10th percentile)
Brunch by Numbers
Though related to the breakfast daypart, brunch is a whole different game. The brunch occasion skews heavily away from home, with most consumers eating brunch out on a weekend and during later morning hours. For consumers, brunch is an opportunity to linger and spend time with friends and family – consider indulgent breakfast trends like brunch burgers with fries or chicken and waffles (which grew 47% on breakfast menus¹) for this occasion where socializing is the top consumer motivator.
¹ Growth on app/entrée/side breakfast menus over the past 4 years in Datassential MenuTrends, YE March 2023
² Datassential Breakfast Keynote, April 2023
Datassential Breakfast Keynote, April 2023
Smart Breakfast Innovation
Whether it's addressing top breakfast motivators for consumers through portability and customization or using breakfast trends to capture consumer interest, consider taking advantage of breakfast foods with high margins. Breakfast potatoes are the number two breakfast food with high margins, according to operators, with breakfast starches leading and combo platters following (Datassential’s Breakfast Keynote Report, April 2023). Think breakfast bowls with potatoes as a base or a loaded chicken and waffle fries concept to take advantage of high-margin breakfast potatoes through trending dishes. Figure out your target consumer; are they busy work-from-home Millennials, or Gen X brunch friends, for example? Decide which trends are the best fit to differentiate your menu and innovate smartly using on-hand ingredients and high-margin foods.
