FAFH industry needs people to eat breakfast at sit down restaurants

The absolute smorgasbord of food, beverage, and non-food categories present at this daypart is staggering. Coffee, tea, juices, eggs, bacon, sausage, breads, potatoes, jams, syrups, hot sauces, dairy – the list goes on from there. But, the breakfast occasion has changed dramatically in the last 25 years and some operators have adapted while others continue to offer the same old, same old.

I remember going to breakfast at Denny’s, or a local indie, with my friends in the early 90s, sitting in a banquet, turning over the 6 oz ceramic mug that was kept filled with weak, brownish coffee for the duration of our visit. After devouring a plate of two eggs, hash browns, three strips of bacon, and toast I walked to the counter and paid for my meal that went for $8.95.

Gen X (yes, we do exist) expectations for a sit-down breakfast were low. We didn’t need fresh squeezed OJ, or a list of ten different coffee drinks. We didn’t care if the eggs were cage-free or organic. The bacon was not “rustic cut” or from some family farm in Iowa. But, let’s face it, my generation is old, and our expectations are nowhere near the same as today’s college-aged kids. They demand a whole new experience shaped by what they see on Tik Tok, snapchat, and Instagram.

And yet, there are still multiple restaurant brands that continue to offer an early ‘90s value proposition to a new generation that grew up experiencing breakfast with brands like Starbucks, Panera, Dunkin, and Jamba Juice that have reinvented the breakfast occasion. I know Starbucks just started advertising free refills of plain coffee for the dine-in patrons, but that concept is so foreign to Gen Z and even some Millennials.  First of all, no Gen Zer is going to order plain coffee and second of all, isn’t everything to-go now?

So, as Denny’s, Bob Evans, IHOP, Cracker Barrel, Waffle House, and other legacy sit-down breakfast brands examine their menus, they need to start asking themselves – what are we anymore? What would make a suburban Gen Zer with a driver’s license and a group of friends choose us on a Saturday morning? According to IFMA Scope (Feb 2025), Denny’s has 281 fewer locations than last year. Bob Evans has 64 fewer locations. Perkins is down 104 locations.

Maybe breakfast chain First Watch has the answers with their 346 new locations in just one year. I like to call First Watch, and brands with a similar menu and vibe, Midscale Plus (creativity is not my strong suit). Chris Tomasso, CEO of First Watch, in a recent podcast with Phil Kafarakis, President and CEO of IFMA The Food Away from Home Association, said, “we’ve disrupted the legacy breakfast segment and occasion. We are right in line with where the consumer is and where they are going.” Just like Fast Casual disrupted QSR in the early 2000s, Midscale Plus could offer a new, more premium experience for today’s younger, more sophisticated patron.

The table is still set for sit down breakfast occasions, but a new generation of consumers has a different ask of the occasion. They want more variety on the menu, more coffee options, more healthy options, and yes, they also want to have a mimosa on a Tuesday sometimes. If these options are not readily available, then Gen Z will look elsewhere for the away-from-home breakfast occasion and the Midscale segment will suffer. 

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