The PAX Hospitality Podcast
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The PAX Hospitality Podcast
Gen Z – What Happens When Ethics Become The Expectation
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In this episode of the PAX Hospitality Podcast, Leon Kennedy is joined by Tim Varney, Loren Daniels and Michael Bascetta to unpack The Gen Z Retail Revolution report from Principals — and what it really means for hospitality. Leon frames Gen Z as a “retail earthquake” and a clear changing of the guard: the playbook that worked for the last 20 years is falling over, and operators can either double down on the old rules or pivot into a new reality where Gen Z is both a powerful customer segment and a huge chunk of the workforce.
The crew walk through the report’s five big shifts: social commerce (TikTok and Instagram as shopping engines, not just entertainment), hybrid experiences (stores and venues as “experience theatres”), hyper-personalisation, ethics-as-standard and “localism in a global context.” They connect the stats to lived examples: 73% of Gen Z buying off influencer recommendations, guests expecting venues to be content-worthy stages, the demand for transparent ethics over greenwashing, and the tension between global brands and deeply local stories and partnerships.
From there, they zoom in on the practical implications for restaurants, cafés and bars. They talk about how to design venues that Gen Z actually wants to visit, how to empower frontline Gen Z staff instead of ignoring them, and why values-first, creator-led brands are winning. The episode closes with a clear challenge: stop treating Gen Z as a niche youth segment and start treating them as a market reset — then chip away at community, content, ethics and experience, one small actionable move at a time.
Topics Covered:
- The Principals Gen Z Retail Revolution report and the “changing of the guard” in retail and hospitality.
- Five critical shifts: social commerce, hybrid physical–digital experiences, hyper-personalisation, ethics and localism.
- Gen Z’s contradictions (digital vs real world, broke vs quality-obsessed, nostalgia and novelty) as product and brand opportunities.
- What Gen Z expectations mean for venue design, content, values, and how hospitality brands show up day-to-day.
- The role of creators, micro-influencers and frontline Gen Z staff in shaping brand direction and decision-making.
PAX acknowledges the Wurundjeri Woi-wurrung people as the traditional custodians of the land on which we operate. We pay our respects to elders past, present and emerging and to all First Nations People.
Panel Warm-Up And Topic Reveal
SPEAKER_00I'm recording sound, so Leon, you can talk whenever you want to.
SPEAKER_03Awesome. Welcome to the PAX Hospitality Podcast. I'm your host, Leon Kennedy, and I've got the crew with me today, so please say hi to Tim Varney. Hello. Lauren Daniels and Michael Bassetta.
SPEAKER_00Hello. We'll get it on the fifth episode, I reckon.
SPEAKER_03You know what stuffs me up is Siri, because Siri calls you Michael Boschetta every time, and it just gets in my head. It's quiet.
SPEAKER_00Just think of Bruschetta. Yeah. Bruschetta.
SPEAKER_03Now I'm going to say that next time. Just say bruschetta. Michael Bruschetta. Just change my fucking name. And make it easier for everyone. Michael Toast. So okay, today's episode's going to be a bit of a cool one. It's pretty, pretty specific. So there's a report that's been doing the rounds over the last, I don't know, what is it about a month, I reckon? It's the Gen Z Retail Revolution, which was put together by principals. I got it sent to me by a really good friend, but Lauren, you were actually on the call when they what did they launch it and present it or something?
SPEAKER_04Yeah, they well, we talked through the findings more specifically or more kind of laser focused with the idea at the end. You get this report. Amazing.
SPEAKER_03I'm so keen then to hear your insights then because I guess I read it and someone sent it to me on a Reddit, and I was like, oh man, this is amazing stuff. And like there's really, really practical stuff in there. So in a second, I'll run through a bit of an exec summary and I'll run through just the main points that really spoke to me. And these are things that have kind of um got me really talking, you know, in the last few weeks, like when I'm talking to people, I keep coming back to some of these stats, and I think to kick off, like what I found so revealing about it is um it's a it's a little bit out there, so just bear with me for a second. But I definitely I feel as though right now in business in general, there's a real changing of the guard. Yeah. Do you feel it? Yeah. Like it's it's kind of I don't know, it's and it's kind of interesting. Like I feel like there's a um there's a lot of people in um a certain kind of segment that are finding that like you know the things that made them successful over the last like 20 years aren't necessarily working anymore. You know, and they're not really sure how to deal with it. Like I think some people are sort of just doubling down, you know, like that, um, you know, like that the Douglas Adams parrot, you know, that you know that one that was like, you know, it was in, I can't remember which book it was in. They talk about how like they're going extinct. And so they're like, oh shit, what do we need? What do we do? And they're like, well, what do we do really well? And they're like, well, we procreate slowly. And they go, okay, well, let's just procreate really slowly. So they're doing that. And then there's the others that are pivoting, they're going, okay, it is a new world, it's in it's a new era, there's a new everything, let's let's lean into it. And what I thought was great was I've I guess I've been skirting around that conversation with a lot of different stakeholders at the moment where yeah, I feel like we are in a bit of uncharted territory, and you know, it is there is that changing of the guard, but this article really nailed it with some stats for me where it's I get that from uh this is all about marketing and understanding, you know, really forensically what this juggernaut of a segment's about to do. But remember, right, like Gen Z might be what 18 point something percent of the population, and it's gonna become this like you know, trillion dollar segment. It's part of the market, which means it's also probably part of your workforce. Huge part of the hospital.
SPEAKER_02And it's the the workforce at the moment that most owners and managers are lamenting. Yeah, saying that they don't want to work, they don't want to do this, they won't come in a minute early.
SPEAKER_03But it's also like what have you done to speak to them?
The Changing Of The Guard In Business
SPEAKER_02Yeah, so I guess we're not changing what you're saying before, we're not changing the way we work to allow any room for these people to grow into, and everyone's wondering why they don't want to come into hospitality. Yeah, exactly.
SPEAKER_03And you have that that sort of thinning middle. Totally. So I I think like what I would love to do in this conversation, like obviously, you know, Lauren, from a marketing perspective, it'd be great to get stuck into some of these stats. I I'd encourage everyone who's not a marketing expert or doesn't work in marketing to consider this from the perspective of think about your staff and your workforce as this segment and how are you setting up your business and your operations to speak to them.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. I mean, at the end of the day, if you can't uh cater for Gen Z and your workforce, then you you're gonna be a far cry from being able to cater for them as a customer.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, bang, nailed it, exactly that. Okay, so quick exec summary. So also we'll we'll link this somewhere, will we? Like, yeah, straight in the show notes. Alright, cool. So then okay, the the exact summary, right, is like Gen Z is this like retail earthquake, you know, that's about to happen. And as it stands, um, quick caveat, I'm probably just gonna rattle off some stats for a little bit. So if you're not into that sort of thing, just um press skip about four or five times. Um so yeah, Gen Z is this retail earthquake that's about to happen. 4.6 million Australians aged 13 to 28 equals 18.2% of the population right now. By 2030, Gen Z is going to control a$12 trillion economy in global spending power. Um, and the main headline, right, is that their impact goes far beyond youth marketing, right? Like they're reshaping every layer of retail operations from product to brand, distribution to store experience. So the the big thing that struck me is these five critical shifts in retail, and what these represent is the future, right? And what I took from this is like, man, if you're not starting to build your shit in this direction, you are just gonna get left behind. And it's not even like a oh, it'll happen in 15 years. It's like, no, 2030, dude. That's like, what is that, like four years away, really? Yeah, yeah. Um, okay, so the main thing is there's like social commerce infrastructure, right? Like talking about how platforms like TikTok and Instagram are shopping engines, not just entertainment. Um, 73% of Gen Z purchased by influencer recommendations, 73% of the code. I know that's what's depressing, but it's life, yeah.
Gen Z By The Numbers And Why It Matters
SPEAKER_02And it's like depressing. I think it's well it's just a new way of finding shit at the end of the day. It's like they're not sitting. I I don't know, I was listening to a different podcast the other day, and they said, you know, if and it relates to our children, right? Like I I show my kids an ad on TV, they're like, what the fuck is that? Usually the only time my kids see it at TV advertisement is when we're watching the footy. The footy, yeah. And most I think most of the reason why I might watch a game of Carlton play is to watch the ads. And she'd be like, What do you I love the ads? Just like what? Put that in the screen. Honestly, like they don't and obviously she's not on TikTok and stuff yet, but even that shifting when they do eventually get on social media, it's where they're gonna get all their information from, like we already do.
SPEAKER_03Dude, so 73%, right, are purchasing via influencer recommendations. That is three times higher than traditional ads. Three times, right?
SPEAKER_02Like that is Yeah, because there's a direct there's a click conversion rather than a traditional ad.
SPEAKER_03But I I mean like what are you gonna do?
SPEAKER_02Yeah. Oh, I saw something on TV, maybe I'll buy a Toyota Hylux one day. Like, fuck.
SPEAKER_03Sure, but I think anecdotally, right, like what where my mind goes with this, like that totally tracks because I think about you know the purchases that I've made in the last little while, so many of them have been through, you know, influences that I follow. Because think about it, in when you go on TikTok or Instagram, you are curating your own world, right? Yeah, and it is like the people that you tend to engage with or follow or whatever. Like-minded. Exactly, you know, so I'm just like, okay, I'm not gonna, I'm not gonna go into the freaking K-hole of like which better motorcycling gloves should I get. Yeah, I'm just gonna go to the guy that rides like me and that thinks about motorcycling, that's what he's got, cool. You know, and if he's recommending something, I'll pretty much buying it.
SPEAKER_02And the the the the people that are getting a heap of traction and smart brands are doing it, they're focusing on the micro influencer cohort that are like five to ten thousand followers, but they're real specific and they're really trusted. Yeah, instead of throwing it to someone that has half a million followers and getting a 0.00% uptake. Um same with me, it's like certain things I follow that are like hyper focused on something I love. Yeah, someone says these shoes, running shoes are great, you're gonna check them out. I'm gonna at least check them out. Yeah, 100%. Whereas if it feels like an ad, I'm not gonna check them out.
Social Commerce Becomes Infrastructure
SPEAKER_03Yeah, yeah. So interestingly enough, we'll we'll get to this in a second. But so there's last thing on that point around social commerce infrastructure is success comes from community building and authentic creative partnerships, not top-down content, which I'm sure you've got a lot to say on that. Um second point that really got me is like the hybrid experience integration, right? So physical stores must act as experiential stages for content creation. All right, so digital shopping doesn't replace in-store, it actually raises expectations for it. Crazy, right? So you know, using AR, QR codes, sensory immersion to drive real-world engagement. Like, and this is the future, right? I remember doing this um case study on uh Best Buy in America and how they sold because at the time all these people in retail were freaking out because the the consumers were coming into you know your department store, talking to someone about what iPad or specific laptop they needed, and then once they worked out, oh, this is what I need, they would literally, while they were in store, go online and purchase it online because they could get it cheaper, yeah, and then walk out. Yeah, and so the retailers were just like, we're fucked. Yeah, what are we gonna do? You know, and so Best Buy did this really cool program where they said, Okay, we're gonna change, we're gonna reimagine our stores, right? And we're gonna not set them up according to appliance, we're gonna set them up according to brand. And then what we're gonna do is we're gonna leverage each brand and say, hey, this is you should think about this as inventory space and a mini showroom. And and it kind of I don't know how it's going now, but yeah, did that work?
SPEAKER_00Well, I think that would be so annoying for me. I need a microwave. Yeah, go to five different sections of the store.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, true. I don't know. I mean, I've I've I I've never followed up on it, but I just think that thinking around re-imagining how you do retail is the future, and it's knowing that it's like, okay, people are gonna be purchasing that way. I've got to bring it now. I mean, yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_04Look at Mecca and their four-story in like insane new flagship in the middle of the mail button.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, you can't just be like, oh, I'm just gonna do a normal coffee shop. Yeah, I'm gonna do a normal, yeah, it's all different. So, okay, then next point is like hyper piper personalization as standard. 67% of Gen Z reject standardized offerings, 86% value authenticity. That's what you were saying before. Right? If you can sort of go, oh, that sounds a bit selly to me, or I don't know, someone's trying to sell me something, you kind of tune out. But if it's just someone being like, I really love this product, and here's how it helps me, yeah, then you'll explore it. Um, personalization is about identity affirmation, not just convenience, right? Identity affirmation, like how massive is that, especially on the episode we did about you know that whole model uh must be transparent. So, like I say, so Gen Z can smell manipulation a mile off. Like it's huge, right? Doesn't this just change? But think about all the sort of like go back five years and think about all um content production, right? And all the sort the social posts that you know most restaurants were doing. Like we're open at five, come and have a drink. Right, no worries, yeah. You know, so now it's like okay, that's not gonna cut it anymore. You know, it's like you've got to be speaking to identity and it's gotta be affirming that, or it's just not gonna even register. Um, ethical positioning as a purchase driver. So sustainability and social values aren't just nice to haves. Brands must offer proof, not promises. This is big to me. Um, more greenwashing. No more greenwashing.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, you can't bullshit your way through it because they've got this generation has all the information they need at their fingertips to decide whether you're full of shit or not.
Stores As Experience Theatres
SPEAKER_03Yeah, and it's you know, not just this generation, it's like we're heading into this kind of you know, very uncertain time and everything's new and people just question everything. Yeah, you know, you kind of have to. So I feel like it's a that to me is probably one of the most salient points in this whole thing because uh it's interesting again, anecdotally, right? Like you you as well, right, Michael. Like we've both spent the best part of almost a couple of decades now, pretty well immersed in companies that focus on impact. You know, we've kind of just not I don't know if whether it was super conscious for you or not, but for me, I definitely it's sort of happened pretty organically. But whenever you're in that space, you're always thinking about you know, we're we're doing something in particular because it's meaningful, it's making the world a better place, and then there's always gonna be someone that comes along and sort of you know tries to emulate it. Yeah, and most of the time in the in a positive impact way, you want to support them because the more people doing positive impact is better. Yeah, but then like you said, right, there's this that element of the greenwashing, and that's where it gets really tough.
SPEAKER_04Oh, the token and the tokenism around.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, but and it's rife in industry, like whether you're looking at coffee and big people touting specialty coffee and they're buying crap and just passing it off and charging for whack and trying to say it's fair trade and all that stuff we know. And then in you know, restaurants talking about how they source ingredients and that sort of thing. I like being a restaurant in Melbourne saying we only have Australian ingredients, that's like being in London and saying we get our ingredients from anywhere in Europe. Yeah, that's how big our country is, literally. But then people go, Oh, that's great, they only use Australian products, and you're like, that is a fucking wild notion. Yeah, when you really think about how big our country is. Yeah, but we're using the terminology to then make people think we're doing something, you know, noteworthy here. See, where it's not, it's like, okay, pat on the back, mate. Like Earth is a four and a half hour flight away to like.
SPEAKER_00We could even argue that is it Bar Midland in Castle Maine? Yeah. Victoria's only use Victoria's UK. Victoria's bigger. But at the same time. They need to step up their game. Come on, guys.
SPEAKER_02But they don't use things like they don't use sugar, is it like no sugar, no coffee, no coffee. Basically, anything doesn't grow in the vehicle, which is when you think about there are a few key ingredients you're like, how do we do that? But they're pulling it off, and it's an amazing venue.
SPEAKER_03And I guarantee you that not only would they be pulling it off, but they'll be getting some amazing engagement and representation of those efforts. Yeah. Um, I mean, you must see it in coffee a lot, right? Like, not just the greenwashing thing, but just arbitrary claims around.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, the marketing coffee buzzwords that are used that nobody really knows the meaning of. And as a customer, you've got to wade through it all to understand what's what, and it's very difficult.
Personalisation And Identity Affirmation
SPEAKER_03Yeah, 100%. Um, okay, then there's like this notion around localism within a global context, right? Gen Z want global brands with local relevance, community partnerships, First Nations collaborations, regional storytelling drives loyalty, proximity, purpose, people outweigh scale and polish. I mean, you literally just covered that in what you said, right? So they're kind of like five great points that I think are are crucial for business owners to take a board. If I just recap it real quick, it's social commerce as infrastructure, it's hybrid experience integration. So you you what that means is you take the jargon out of it, it means like your your retail experience, your in-store experience, you've got to step that up. Um, number three is hyper-personalization as standard. People want to know your identity, and you need to affirm your identity because they can smell manipulation and my love. Number four is ethical positioning is now not just a nice to have. And if you're gonna go out and focus on it, you've got to show proof, not promises. People don't give a fuck. Um, and then the last one is like localism within a global context, right? Gen Z want global brands with local relevance, it's about proximity, purpose, people outweigh scale and polish. So epic points, right? Then the the next section that I think really hit me is around some of the strategic insights and imperatives, right? So the there was this section around like the Gen Z contradictions and seeing them as opportunities. And this to me is awesome because almost in a I'm I'm cautiously saying this because it kind of flies in the face of like an iterative kind of product mindset, but it just gets the creative juices fine, right? Like, so we talk about contradictions as opportunities, right? Gen Z are digitally fluent but crave real-world experiences, they're financially stressed, yet demand high-quality ethical products and value nostalgia and novelty at the same time.
SPEAKER_02So they're kind of like some really cool, like it sucks to be a product manager for the next 20 years. Or on the contrary, right? It's like there's some great parameters to discover.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, because it's like, how do you strike that balance between you know digital and real world? How do you strike that balance between I don't really have cash, but um I only want high-quality ethical products? Uh man, how good would that be as a focus group?
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_03You know, like you'd learn some amazing things because all the more reason now, it's not just you know the 80s and 90s anymore where it's like just have heaps of stuff, or buy things, you know, like no one's got the cash for that anymore. Yeah, um, yeah, awesome. Okay, and then yeah, I guess just like some core themes to act on authenticity over performance, co-creation over passive consumption, values first, not brand first. That's a big one. Yeah. Like, I don't even think that's something that that I've been really even thinking of, right? Like, I mean, a lot of the work that I've done over the last five years is helping people with their mission deck. Right? So it's all going into the man, into the full-on midst of like identity and why do you exist and how do you put that, how do you turn that into a great onboarding document that you can train your staff in and then they can impart that with your customers and whatnot. But I'm when when I think about values in that deck, I'm never actually really directly thinking about them as a sales device, you know. It's like I'm going straight to purpose and brand promises and stuff like that. But man, your values are actually way more potent. So yeah, I thought that was interesting.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, yeah. I think it's but you look at some of the most successful brands in food or not in the last few years, all of them are speaking to that. Yeah, like it's really the the product is so far down the line. Yeah, and you know, brands of like Apple have been around a long time.
SPEAKER_04Look at Union Square Hospitality, yeah. Like absolutely dominate here, so transparent with it, yeah, and yeah, and and and attract the right kind of stuff because of it.
Ethics, Proof Over Promises
SPEAKER_03Yeah, 100%. So I'll I'll do this last one, which I thought is kind of cool. It's like the actionable playbook. There's like five points to it, and then I'll I'm gonna put you all on the spot. Well, so I just want I just like pick it pick something that struck you in all of that, and let's dissect it a bit further. Um so you've got some time to think about it. But the implementation blueprint that I think is really cool, again, it's just five quick points, right? Number one is build community infrastructure, right? So if you're a business owner right now, if you have a brand, if you need to implement some of this stuff, invest in long-term creator relationships, empower store teams to generate content. That's a big one. Like, how many times do we like need to go through that process of like how do we solve this problem? And it's like, no, no, we need that person with the awesome camera setup is gonna come in once every three weeks and do a six hour shoot, and then that's gonna be the bad that's not gonna work anymore.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_03Do you know what I mean? And so y if people want stuff that's less polished, but Liver and more raw. Um okay, second one is around design stores as the experience theatre. Go beyond sales into inspiration and content creation. And to me, it's about you know, it's this idea around staff are hosts and not salespeople. Like that's that's the number one metric, right? How do you put some you know indicators around that to give people a sense of am I being a good host right now? And and how much more important that is than just selling and and whatnot. Um implement personalization as identity infrastructure. So letting users shape products to express their identity. You know, you think about like Nike Buy You campaign, things like that. Um, transparency and consent are essential, but I know you've got some great thoughts on that, Michael. Um integrate ethics into operations again, make sustainability structural, not promotional. Um, and then the last one's just like local relevance at scale, right? Like, how do you decentralize control? This is a Chris is a crazy one. I I think this is the one point for me that I was like, I don't think people are ready for this one. Yeah, you know, especially in that older world, right? It's just like my this is my thing and my IP, and I do this and the customer buys it. It's like, nah, bro, it's different now. You know, you gotta let go of that control and you gotta let people in and let people shape it. And it might be different to what you thought. Yeah, that's okay. Yeah, you know, that that's an example of you it gone to the days where you just tell the market, you know, what they want. It's more about you need to listen to what are their needs, right? And speak to it. So, yeah, amazing. All right, so fair bit of stuff there. Feel like we could do another hour of just like going through some of those points, but keen to know from you guys, like out of everything we just covered there, what's one or two things that really stood out and what do you got to say about it?
Localism With Global Relevance
SPEAKER_02Um I think for me the the point around designing stores is experience theatres and then how that flows through to hospitality. So the understanding that, like you said before, you can't just open something and they will come. Like there'll still be a few percent that are able to do that. Yeah, uh, and I've always lent on the the Henry Ford quote, the classic of if if you ask people what what they wanted, they would have said a faster horse. Yeah, and I've always lent on that. Now I'm like, I can't use that anymore because this generation is gonna be like, I don't need eat, I don't need either. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Right. So we don't drive anymore. We don't drive anymore, you idiot. We need a faster train. And going into the hospitality context, I think trying to understand what they want coming into a venue is gonna be really challenging for people that are too rigid in their their ways of opening venues, right? And the the the old way of opening of oh yeah, we we kind of think there's a product market fit here, we like cooking this style of food, we are this style restaurant, and then from the day they open to the day they're closed, that's all they are, right? Yeah, and the inability to change along the way. Yeah, and and I think this is specific to the lack of response to when people do come in and visit their venue, and they're giving them indicators of how to make that those adjustments, and they just don't budge on it. Yeah, it's like how are they ordering? How like what are the dishes they specifically like? Yeah, are they leaning into a specific style of food? Like, what are the things that are popping up? How can you capture those and then act upon them? So then when this generation is coming into your venue, they feel like this is tailored for them. Yeah, right, and there's things that get them excited around the dishes, or the if something's tactile, or like something in the venue that that piques their interest. And I think at the moment we're building it in our own vision without really thinking about too much outside the outside world or in this specific generation. Yeah, like we're still building traditional restaurants as if our parents are the main customers in that age room. It's just like that's a big shift, right? Yeah, dude, 100%.
SPEAKER_04Or jump or jumping on trends. It's like it's almost like millennials and older, if they're in the set that are owning these restaurants, they it's trendy to jump on trends. So I think of every kind of marketing coordinator right now, they would be getting hit in their Instagram inbox with owners going, This looks cool, it's strange. Well, we do that. So it it it's it has to be coupled with like the the authentic identity piece first, yeah, before you start getting like, Oh, we should join the TikToks. Yeah, too.
Contradictions As Product Opportunities
SPEAKER_02But I think this is the key thing, is like people think by listening to your customer and making slight adjustments to cater for them is moving away from your core identity. It's like, no, it's not the point. Yeah, the point is like if you've got a really great identity that you continue to align with and people still love, it's about well, how does that identity continue in slightly different contexts? And how can you own a product or a narrative or whatever it is while still being true to your identity? I think that's the biggest gap because people immediately go, I don't want to jump on that trend. It's like, no, no, no, no, like you're missing the point. There's a specific thing right now where I don't know, what's a good example? Fucking matcha is everywhere. So do you really want to jump on that trend? Maybe not. There might be something within your venue or service, you're like, oh, that one dessert, a bit of matcha would be delicious. You're not changing your identity.
SPEAKER_03No, but if also if three out of ten customers are asking for it, yeah, totally different. You kind of crazy to leave that on the table. It's not just like you re- you knee-jerk reactively, just do it. You should then figure out how do I do this in an authentic way. Exactly. Those are the brands that do it the best. My my dad used to always say the customer is king, but you are the monarchy. You know, so yeah, it's a classic one. That's great. Yeah. Um, what about you, LD?
SPEAKER_04Oh, there's so much. I'm just trying to like filter it down in my head. Um, the f I was just thinking then while you were speaking, like restaurant operators right now, for you to get a good gauge of where you sit on this, is look at your dining room on like a Thursday or Friday night. And like, how old is everybody in there? And is that is that quite typical? Is that what you rely on? Is your repeat repeat trade people who are 50 and above? It's like that's cool for now. But are you going to have the ability to adapt or keep evolving for this trillion dollar market? Um, it used to be like I used to look at a res report and go, cool, we've got uh 70% of the dining room is repeat trade tonight. That's wicked, it is good. But if that 70% are retired and they're not the youth, like we're kind of yeah, that's a great point.
SPEAKER_03I mean, I can send that there's always gonna be some people that are kind of like, yeah, I don't want to fully optimise my business to speak to this new segment when I've already got such a big segment that's different, yeah, or that's old school.
From Values-First To An Actionable Playbook
SPEAKER_04Yeah.
SPEAKER_03And it to me, the way I think about that is that like that's a crazy position because what this report shows, right, and what the new market is always gonna dictate is what all the other segments start to appreciate too. Yeah. It's just a question of time. It's like if you do something that is like, okay, I'm gonna really position myself to target you know, a segment that is like say a decade, oh what worked a decade ago, that might suit that segment, but it's gonna be really grating for the newer segments. Whereas the other way around, right, you focus on the newer segment, it might be different to what the other segment had, but it's not gonna be as grating. Yeah, like they're gonna be probably a bit more tolerant and open-minded to it.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, yeah, yeah. The the other thing I think of is just that authenticity piece, or um, you know, the way that millennials boomers are uh categorizing Gen Z as they don't want to work, they don't like, they don't have any money, they're not going out. It's like they are. Time Out just did a really good report on the drinking culture of Gen Z because there's this anecdotal um story that they're not, they don't drink, they're all sober, they're really it's like no no, they do, they just don't get absolutely shit faced on the end. They're really selective. It's a good it's called Sip Happens Time Out recently released. Put it in their notes as well. Yeah, but it's they are selecting what to drink, they're spending a little bit more, and they're just drinking less. So but it speaks to all those other points as like they're drinking less, but they're looking for something that's interesting or specs to or a producer they resonate with or a bit of credibility, or yeah, so your storytelling and the way that you market those things has to be backed by your ethics and your it touches on the real world experience that they're uh seeking.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, and I feel like there might be a little disconnect between you know, maybe a generation having having grown up in the digital world a little bit, what is their real world experience look like? And it might it might be strikingly different to what like these millennial boomer generations and what their real world experience. So that sort of connection could be tricky to to get right because it's like this is not what I was thinking by real world experience.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, um well funny on that as an anecdote, there's a I saw a great Instagram of a dad saying you a punishment for us when we were kids was you had to stay home. Yeah, and they he said that to his kids, and he's like, How's that a punishment? Right? So it's a total shift in like you can't leave the house for two days. You're like, that's the worst idea to me. Like right now, though, kids are like, sweet, yeah, so happy with that.
SPEAKER_00Well, boredom, boredom was so connected to to when we were sent to our room, like there's bugger all to do, but if you're sent to your room now, you've got a whole universe.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, it's a dream world. Um, what about you, Tim? Anything actually, before I come to you, something I want to ask you, Lauren.
SPEAKER_04Yeah.
SPEAKER_03Um, in that bit around, you know, success comes from community building and authentic creative partnerships, not top-down content, what does that mean?
SPEAKER_04Like, to me, what it means is uh I I guess that authenticity piece again, like rather than going, uh our marketing, our social media strategy means we hit pillars in food and drink and um vibe, and every week we're gonna put out a post one, one, one, and then we're done, and we write some copy and we're good to go.
Hospitality Translation: Designing For Gen Z Guests
SPEAKER_02It's like that could work for a little while, but what you need is people that can like they're window shopping, so thinking more in a more considerate way about the content that you're putting out there, being like a look behind the curtain rather than fully staged the pillars can be hit, but in one shot, yeah, and understand, and that whole vibe and product offering can be seen. It's like window shopping, exactly that, yeah, and a look under the hood, and they understand, oh, they've got that drink and this food, and that's how they make that dish, and yeah, all in like a 30-second clip, yeah, rather than the classic, we're drinking this Riesling this week, and this is great.
SPEAKER_04Or the only photography on our gram is is polished. It's like they said it there, Gen Z smell rats. Like, cool, that's not how it always looks.
SPEAKER_01Exactly.
SPEAKER_04Um, I think what restaurant operators will hear here is that um creator partnerships. Do we need to, do we need to host influences? Like there's a big uh there's big commentary in the old world of you shouldn't be hosting, you shouldn't, you know, people emailing and asking for um free meals. Like JLo absolutely says his, you remember he used to shit down all the time couscous for comment. Yeah, it's like part of the. Which is pretty funny. It's pretty funny.
SPEAKER_02It's like, well, that's exactly what traditional media get. Yeah.
SPEAKER_04So yeah, well, and there's a lot of like creators that don't fit, right? And that's where that whole couscous for comment is ridiculous. But if you've got creators who are obsessed with food, they have really good blogs, they've got a following, and the people that are interested in what they have to say care about where they're eating, hell yeah, that's a partnership to itself.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, but also, I mean, credit. I think people here create a partnership and go straight to, oh, I've got to work with the best influencers. That's not necessarily true.
SPEAKER_02It's like I was saying before, the micro micro influencers in this space. Yeah, that's probably too like super trusted.
SPEAKER_03Not even influencers though, right? Like just you've got people coming into your business and making content of it. Yeah, they're already share it.
SPEAKER_04Even if it looks like shit, right? If it's if somebody's come in and they're saying great things about your venue, share it. UGC, it's free.
SPEAKER_03Like free marketing. Yeah, no, exactly. And it and it it just goes a long way because it it to me it's the equivalent of like someone's giving you a compliment and you're acknowledging it. Yeah, instead of just blanking them and looking away awkwardly.
SPEAKER_04They may not write a Google review, they may not respond to your feedback emails, but if they're posting something, that's them acknowledging what you've done. And and if they're saying things that aren't you know quite right in there, treat that like a review, follow it up, like 100%. Close the feedback loop on it.
SPEAKER_03Um what about you, Ani?
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I I mean I was just thinking about how kind of potentially overwhelming this would be for a lot of people, a lot of operators, particularly in hospitality and in coffee, and how to sort of compute all of this information would be quite daunting. Yeah. So we've touched on a lot of stuff there that is like kind of external to what a lot of operators are probably like focusing on. Yeah, and to be able to like jump in and make the best of all of this would be quite difficult. Um and I think my point before of um the real world stuff is fascinating to me. Yeah, that's that for me who's squarely in the millennial um chunk, it's uh so interesting to understand what those younger generations actually want. Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_02I just did a quick uh check of what the actual age range for for that for Gen Z is like maybe I'm not far off it, but I'm seven years off it. Seven years off, and I'm like, I'm kind of skirting it, guys. I'm the closest.
SPEAKER_00Walk me, walk me through them, MB.
SPEAKER_02What's that? The ages, the brackets. The age ready brackets 13 to 27 for Gen Z right now. Yeah, yeah. So I'm a bit off it. Yeah.
SPEAKER_04I think about um some businesses that I've worked with is there is a layer of people here that make all the decisions.
SPEAKER_02Up high.
SPEAKER_04The last people that they listen to in terms of I I think this, what about this? I've got a suggestion. Frontline is the Gen Z.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_04That's like, what would you know?
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_04I've been in the game.
Trends Versus Identity And Adaptation
SPEAKER_03It's like maybe listen to them, lock them in a room and capture that because I w I I won't talk the details, but if if anyone's interested, they should Google um the history of Crocs, and there was one single campaign at Crocs that turned the whole company around, and it didn't come. This the CMO does this awesome interview about it. I heard it. I think I heard it on like um HBR or something, but he basically was like, It wasn't my idea. He's like, you know, all that happened was the one of the interns came and knocked on my door and was like, Hey, I just wanted to show you this picture, and it was a picture of Post Malone wearing Crocs, and he was like, Who is this? And what the hell he's doing. She's like, You should do a collab with him, you know. And he was just like, This guy's got face tats, like you want me to go to a board of very conservative people and be like, hey, we're gonna, but he just was like, you know what, you can't have your finger on the pulse, let's go with it. And it broke the internet, yeah, you know, and everything turned in the you know, it was just on the back of that. So listen to you know the future. It's right there.
SPEAKER_04Like Eve Saint Laurent have like mimicked them in like a platform version.
SPEAKER_00It was almost like they they um they got through the the chunk of crocs being incredibly uncool.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, and that almost was to their advantage because uncool stuff becomes cool real quick, and if you can hang out for as long as they got it such a millennial, it's like the cool exact stuff is the last, I think the last sort of takeaway for me is the insight that really got me is that you need to be thinking about Gen Z not as a segment anymore, it's a complete market reset. Yeah, and I think if you if you look at it from that lens and then you apply some of the things that we talked about today, it kind of helps you a little bit to frame it and think about how to implement it. So cool. I reckon we should cut it there. How do you guys feel? I feel okay. Amazing. Thanks for um hanging out and talking about some stats with me. Thank you, man.
SPEAKER_02Thank you.