Fresh blog from our fresh face

The following blog is written by Tim Swenson, the newest member of the d.trio team. Tim joined us mid-April as an Assistant Account Executive.

A lot of images come to mind when I hear the word “Fresh”. Most of these images are of food.

Personally, I don’t eat out a lot and try to avoid fast food restaurants when I can. A recent article on AdAge.com explains at length why this should worry many chain restaurants (including the heavyweight champion McDonalds). To the dismay of many restaurants it seems to be a trend with millennials. The article states that McDonalds “doesn’t even rank among the demographic’s top 10 restaurant chains.”

I’m one of the 59 million (give or take a few) millennials, and I have some advice for every restaurant. It’s not about whether you’re a chain or one of the best-kept secrets in the city. It’s about keeping it “fresh”.

The first thing we want to be fresh is our food. I recently went out to lunch with some colleagues, and we chose to eat at Chipotle. Once there we started talking about how Chipotle makes a strong effort to only sell the freshest ingredients possible while maintaining high ethical standards in regards to raising animals. We were ultimately happy with our decision, not only because it tasted great, but because it felt morally responsible.

We want another thing to be fresh and that’s the menu. More options will never be a bad thing. This will keep the menu from getting old and will keep us coming back for more. It would be a very demanding task for major companies like McDonalds and Burger King to change their menu but it’s worth looking into for the company’s future.

Don’t just give a more diverse menu though; give a customizable option for when we’re trying to eat a little healthier or when we want to build our own culinary masterpiece. A “Build-Your-Own” or “Á La Carte” option is something consumers crave for in almost everything in life, including meals.

Restaurants need to keep an eye on millennials. Remember that “fresh” can be more than a piece of copy in an ad. It can be a statement.

-Tim Swenson is an assistant account executive at d.trio marketing group