Gone are the days when you walk into a restaurant because of its beautiful exterior or its bustling atmosphere. Although these are still important features of a good restaurant experience, Millennials now rely heavily on what's online to make these decisions for them.

Millennials are pickier

In the past, people often rely on word-of-mouth and recommendations to determine which restaurant to dine at: be it due to the great food or amazing service rendered by the staff. Now, the internet has made all these much easier as millennials can easily whip out their phones to do a quick Google search, or look up hashtags of the restaurant on Instagram.

Here, they scroll through tons of reviews and photographs to determine if it is worth their time and effort to head there.

The millennials are easily swayed by the opinions of others and are increasingly visually motivated as compared to the generation before them. Rather than prioritizing the taste of food, millennials tend to look towards the visual aspects of the dining experience. Is the restaurant or food aesthetically pleasing? Is there a possibility for them to gain more followers through these beautiful pictures posted?

Yet, this does not mean that their taste buds are less demanding. In fact, they do still expect the food to be of high quality and standard. A restaurant with several bad reviews will be taken off the 'to-eat' list of this generation.

Must-haves for restaurant owners

Some restaurants have recognized this fact and have started revamping their websites to include more visually-appealing images. Social media accounts on Facebook, Instagram, and perhaps even Twitter (learning from President Trump) are created to update regular patrons of upcoming sales and promotions.

They may also hire sub-contractors to make online reservations available. These changes and updates were few and far between among restaurateurs.

To deal with these changes in behaviors amongst the working millennials who are picky about their dining experiences and heavy reliance on the internet, there is a need for restaurants to step up their presence online.

The result?

A snaking queue and a fully booked restaurant! Even though millennials are more demanding, they are also more patient regarding wait times. A millennial is willing to wait to eat at the restaurant that will garner him or her 10,000 likes as compared to the previous generation.

Other than that, restaurateurs should also look long-term as the increased online presence would also help to drive in new traffic - the millennial foreign travelers. As countries like China grow, many of its people are also looking abroad for exhilarating experiences, including the next dining destination that everyone online is talking about!

So what are restaurateurs waiting for? They really need to start contacting website developers and social media agencies to help them to raise their game in this digital age.
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