Casual dining is in danger - and millennials are to blame.
Brands such as TGI Fridays, Ruby Tuesday, and Applebee's have faced sales slumps and dozens of restaurant closures, as casual-dining chains have struggled to attract customers and increase sales.
"Casual-dining restaurants face a uniquely challenging market today," Buffalo Wild Wings CEO Sally Smith recently wrote in a letter to shareholders.
According to Smith, these sit-down restaurants' struggles can be blamed on a frequently besmirched generation: millennials.
"Millennial consumers are more attracted than their elders to cooking at home, ordering delivery from restaurants, and eating quickly, in fast-casual or quick-serve restaurants," Smith wrote.
While blaming millennials has become a trend to the point of cliché in retail, Smith isn't wrong to zero in on younger customers' changing tastes as a major factor in casual dining's downfall.
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