For the first time in U.S. history, older people are dining out more than their younger counterparts, Florida Today reported.
A study released this year from the NPD Research Group found that Americans ages 49 and older eat out more frequently than younger adults. The Bureau of Labor Statistics says young adults are more than two times as likely to be unemployed than those above 55. Higher unemployment rates among the young, a lasting remnant from the recession, caused the historic shift, Florida Today reported.
Since 2008, baby boomers and the generation before them, "mature traditionalists," increased their dining out habits by almost 6 percent, the study said.
"I figure I'm worth it," Johanna Karas, a 74-year-old Walmart cashier from Melbourne, Florida told Florida Today.
She eats out at least three times a week, either with friends or by herself. Karas figured that going to restaurants was preferable to always buying groceries and cooking for herself, Florida Today reported.
"Treating myself is a nice thing to do," Karas said. "And I'll take something home if I don't finish it and have it the next day."
While older folks wine and dine their nights away, younger adults' eating out numbers have dropped 12 percent since 2008.
"I think since the recession hit, what the study shows is true," Cathy Popp, owner of At Pineda Crossing Bar & Grill in Melbourne, told Florida Today, "Younger people who used to go out and start partying by eating dinner and going on somewhere else aren't doing that like they did."
Older customers see the value in spending time out.
"They're more established income-wise, with more disposable income," Clay Townsend, restaurant manager at Dixie Crossroads, told Florida Today. "They tend to cherish what a special moment it can be, eating out in a restaurant with family and friends- enjoying that situation and moment in time without crippling their budget."
