What College Students Expect From Quick-Service Restaurants

By: Multi-Unit Franchisee
Published: August 31st, 2016

A new study finds that college students are no longer satisfied with eating cheap food on the go. These kids were raised on well-prepared foods with a variety of cultural influences and trained to seek deals given economic uncertainty. Today's campus consumers expect more from quick-service restaurants (QSRs), according to the findings of a new survey from leading college marketing and insights agency Fluent.

"The next wave of consumers starts with a higher set of expectations for engagement than past generations: food that is tasty yet affordable, made with quality ingredients, and a social environment," says Fluent EVP Michael Carey. "In changing strategies over the past few years, QSRs set a new bar for themselves. Even a quick meal is an opportunity to relax, gather, engage or find quiet time, and enjoy. 'QSR' is a far more accurate label for what this demographic is looking for than 'fast food'."

It All Adds Up: How Much They Spend, How Often

As expected, college students limit their spending per visit, but their visits are frequent with most eating out multiple times per week. Respondents were asked specifically about going out to eat and about meals rather than about visits that might be interpreted as only for beverages.

• Nearly half of students (48%) spend between $5.01 and $10.00 on an average visit, with another 35% usually spending up to $15. Less than 10% said they would spend up to $20.
• While 12% say they eat out daily, the majority (52%) eat out two to three times per week, and 33% once a week at any kind of restaurant.

More Than Fast Food: The Experience

Quick-service restaurants increasingly present themselves as gathering places, and those efforts have been rewarded. After all, students have dozens of options, with 65% choosing to eat on-campus the majority of the time, 22% eating off-campus most of the time, and the rest eating on or off-campus about the same amount of time.

• "Socializing" is the number one thing students want from a typical restaurant experience after the food itself, with 739 students choosing that factor as one of the top three options.
• The second thing students seek from their restaurant experiences is the chance to try something new and different from what they normally eat, with 486 students making that one of their top three choices. Nearly the same number of students (471) say they want to "kill a craving." The fourth top reason is going out to celebrate with friends, reinforcing QSRs as a meeting place. Seeking alone time drew only 127 responses overall.
• Any brand assuming students living on campus, in the Greek system, or with family might eat out less or spend less would be wrong. When filtered for those populations specifically, the answers remained comparable to the overall respondent group.
• Eating out as a "splurge" of any kind did not receive a significant number of responses, perhaps because students do eat out so frequently overall.

The Bottom Line: The Must-Haves

College students aren't particularly fussy, but they will not compromise on the big three factors: taste, price, and quality. Per a weighted scale where 2.0 was very important and -2.0 not important, the first two qualities rated above 1.5.

• Other strong factors rating higher than a neutral 0 on the scale are: promotional value offerings, ease of ordering, portion sizes, close location, and whether the food is delivered quickly - and generally healthy.
• Less critical factors for the group were new menu items, environmentally friendly practices. A focus on organic, vegetarian/vegan or gluten-free options was of even less priority overall.
• Looking specifically at new menu options, 77% claim to try them at least once a month. Some 59% would try new items if encouraged by deals, coupons or value offers, 53% by word-of-mouth, and 47% would try a new flavor.
• The more comfortable students are with a restaurant, the more likely they are to frequent it and to try a new menu item there. 48% said they would not be willing to try a new menu item at a place they did not already frequent.

The survey was conducted July 20 - 26, 2016 and polled 1,142 students from across the country. 65% were female, and 81% were between the ages of 18 and 21. 50% lived off campus during the past school year, and 70% said they spend most of their time where they live, followed by on-campus locations, followed by at friends' and family homes.

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