Key findings:
- 69% of Gen Z adults say eating out is a treat reserved for special moments.
- 74% like to experience new foods and cuisines.
- 53% choose fast food restaurants, making fast food the most popular restaurant type among Gen Z.
- 59% discover restaurants through recommendations from friends or family.
Gen Z is an increasingly important audience for restaurant brands, but what shapes their choices when it comes to eating out? YouGov Profiles data explores their attitudes and preferences, offering a closer look at how this generation approaches the restaurant experience.
Eating out is a treat for most Gen Z consumers
Nearly seven in ten Gen Z adults (69%) agree that eating out is a treat reserved for special moments, including 23% who definitely agree. Just one in five (20%) disagree.
Gen Z is keen to try new foods and cuisines
Treating restaurant visits as an occasion does not mean Gen Z adults are conservative about what they eat. Nearly three-quarters (74%) say they like to experience new food and cuisines, including 29% who definitely agree.
There is also demand for greater choice on menus. More than half (55%) agree that restaurants should offer more vegan or vegetarian options, including 21% who definitely agree and 34% who tend to agree. Around one in five (22%) disagree, while 23% neither agree nor disagree.
Together, these findings position dining out as both an indulgence and an opportunity for discovery, with variety and catering to dietary needs playing an important role in the experience.
Gen Z frequent fast food and casual dining restaurants most
When it comes to restaurant types, Gen Z adults gravitate towards accessible dining formats. Fast food is the most popular restaurant type, selected by 53%, followed by casual dining at 43%.
Independent restaurants also attract more than a third (35%), ahead of cafés and bistros (31%), national chains (29%) and local or regional chains (28%). Nearly a quarter (23%) choose restaurants specialising in ethnic or cultural cuisines.
Recommendations fuel Gen Z’s discovery of new restaurants
Personal recommendations remain the strongest route to restaurant discovery among Gen Z adults. Nearly six in ten (59%) discover restaurants through recommendations from friends or family, making word of mouth considerably more influential than online reviews (30%).
But discovery is also closely tied to both physical and digital exploration. More than two in five Gen Z consumers discover restaurants by exploring local areas (43%), while an identical proportion use social media (43%).
Traditional advertising plays a smaller role. Around 13% say advertisements help them discover restaurants, the same proportion who use food blogs or websites.
Methodology: YouGov Profiles is based on continuously collected data through rolling surveys, rather than a single limited questionnaire. Figures are drawn from responses collected between August 2025 and August 2026, using a 52-week dataset updated weekly. Data is nationally representative of adults (18+) in Great Britain and weighted by age, gender, region, education, and social grade.
YouGov BrandIndex tracks daily perceptions of thousands of brands. Rankings are based on the Purchase Intent question: “From which of these would you be most likely to purchase?”. Scores are reported as [net scores from –100 to +100 / percentages], based on daily UK surveys weighted by age, gender, region, social grade, and ethnicity. Figures cover the period 1 January to 16 August 2026 with sample size ranging from 1,889 to 2,011.
Image: Getty Images