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Food & Bev Briefing: Protein, Tipping Culture, CEOs & More

The June 3, 2025 edition of our "Food & Beverage Insights Briefing" newsletter
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June 03, 2025 at 3:00 pm UTC

Sign up for our food & beverage briefing newsletter. This monthly email curates our latest research into the media & entertainment industry, helping you stay ahead of the most important consumer trends. 

Welcome to our food & beverage insights briefing,

In this monthly email, we will curate the most important insights from our team of industry, political and economic experts and deliver them right in your inbox. Consider it your one stop shop for the data you need to know about the food & beverage industry. 

Let’s start by diving into Gen Z’s approach to healthy eating, as well as their obsession with protein. Plus, we cover the situations consumers say tipping is most necessary, how favorable Americans feel about food & beverage CEOs and where consumers are pulling back on spending.

Read on for recent insights into these topics and more, or download our full reports for a deeper dive.

Gen Zers eat healthy to feel, not look, good

Reasons for eating healthy vary amongst Gen Zers, but the most common is that they want to feel healthy and in shape, slightly outperforming the desire to look healthy and in shape. Even a small difference here represents a sea change from the mindset of millennials, who were largely raised on 90s diet culture and heroin-chic imagery, where eating less (and ultimately weighing less) were key tenets.

The culture around healthy eating was shifting when Gen Zers were cementing their own approaches. The rise of the body positivity and subsequent body neutrality movements, while initiated by older generations, mainstreamed Gen Z as they came of age, allowing them to embrace their bodies in a way previous generations were taught not to. This, combined with the love of food that comes with foodie culture, has allowed Gen Zers to look at food as something more than just functional — though the functions they do associate it with are more long term, like living a longer and healthier life. Read more about Gen Z’s approach to healthy eating.

Consumers are worried about how tariffs could change the price of groceries

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Shares for "Not concerned" and "not too concerned" are not displayed.
Surveys conducted monthly among roughly 2,000 U.S. adults, with a margin of error of +/-2 percentage points.

While the details have changed quickly, President Trump has made tariffs a centerpiece of his administration’s policy toolkit, creating risks for U.S. consumers and companies alike.

Most U.S. consumers believe companies will pass on 50%-100% of the cost of the Trump tariffs to them and are especially worried about the prices of essential goods like groceries, gas and automobiles. Ahead of the reciprocal tariffs’ anticipated July 9 implementation deadline, many consumers have already altered their behavior to undertake more DIY projects, delay large purchases and seek additional work.

Our new tariffs tracker uses proprietary Morning Consult survey data to comprehensively monitor U.S. consumers’ attitudes surrounding the tariffs, including awareness and support, inflation expectations and spending behavior, and corporate blame. Explore the full tracker here.

Americans hold the most favorable views of food & bev CEOs

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The executive class as a whole may elicit mixed feelings from the public, but food & beverage CEOs are bucking the trend.. Out of eight industries tested, food & beverage CEOs were most likely to earn a favorable opinion from the general public. Roughly 2 in 5 (43%) U.S. adults said they have a favorable impression of food & beverage CEOs, 12 percentage points higher than the share that said they have an unfavorable impression.

That said, opinions vary starkly across demographics, similar to other industries. Men, Republicans and higher earners are particularly sympathetic towards CEOs, while the opposite is true of women, Democrats and low earners. Download our full report to see what Americans really think of CEOs, including a ranking of consumers’ favorite executives.

Early tech adopters aren’t shying away from alcohol

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Morning Consult Intelligence, Apr. 8, 2024 - Apr. 8, 2025. Brands with fewer than 250 survey responses were not included in this analysis. Net purchasing consideration is the share of a population who would consider making a purchase from a brand, minus the share who would not.

Examining the brands early tech adopters are more likely to consider purchasing than the general public reveals that this cohort seems like a lot of fun. Naturally, their net purchasing consideration (defined as the share who would purchase from a brand minus the share who would not) is higher for tech brands like Amazon Alexa, Apple AirPods, and Meta AI.

Beyond tech brands though, they also have differentiated purchasing consideration for several alcohol brands (Budweiser, Bacardi and Heineken) and luxury vehicles (BMW, Land Rover, Mercedes-Benz, and tech-forward Tesla). Their entertainment standout brands include Marvel, PlayStation and Call of Duty, the NBA and Madison Square Garden, a venue for all kinds of live entertainment. Taken together, this brand list offers insight into how this group spends their time and money: they live large in luxury cars, enjoy sports and gaming, and don’t shy away from alcoholGet to know early tech adopters, a media savvy and luxury loving group, in our audience deep dive.

2 in 3 Gen Z adults say they follow a high-protein diet

Gen Z adults have become uniquely fixated on eating a protein-heavy diet relative to the rest of the population. Approximately two-thirds (66%) of Gen Z adults said they follow a high-protein diet, notably higher than the shares who said the same of every other tested eating regimen (aside from, incorporating a high variety of fruits and vegetables). The young cohort also overindexes on adhering to a high-protein diet relative to the general population (59%).

While social media is undoubtedly the primary source of Gen Zers’ newfound protein fixation, the behavior also feels like a hyper-specific manifestation of several broader trends that we’ve been observing among the generation across different Morning Consult datasets, including their shift toward the political right, their particularly poor self-image and their loss of trust in societal institutions. (In our health survey, 63% of Gen Z adults said they trusted their primary care provider “a lot” or “somewhat,” 12 points lower than the share of all U.S. adults who said the same.) Read more about why Gen Z can’t get enough of protein.

Food & beverage services induce more pressure to tip than others

Tipping used to be a reward for great service, but for many, it’s become more like an obstacle course of guilt, avoided eye contact, and touchscreen prompts demanding 25% for a takeaway muffin at a counter. Welcome to the era of “tip creep,” where many consumers believe they’re being asked to tip more than ever before.

Still, a majority of adults do believe tips should be given in many situations: Among the nine services most likely to command gratuities, at least half of U.S. adults said tipping was necessary or expected. That said, the scenarios where consumers feel outsized pressure to tip lean more toward food and beverage than other categories. Dining at an independent restaurant is the occasion that most adults believe warrants a tip and is also where they feel the most pressure to do so — followed by getting delivery at home. See a data deep dive into consumers changing tipping behaviors here.

High-income households pulled back spending in April

In April, consumer spending (nominal and not adjusted for seasonality) rose 6% year over year and dropped 1% month over month. High-income households had been increasing their spending since the beginning of the year — however in April this group experienced a broad-based pullback. High-income households spent less in almost every category, including alcohol, groceries and restaurants.

Only a handful of essential categories (gas, auto payments, personal care services, and public transportation) avoided the chopping block. Heightened volatility and increasing chatter about a possible recession in April could have prompted higher-earning consumers to put on the brakes. Explore more category spending changes here. 

We update consumer spending data every month. You can expect May consumer spending data around the second week of June.

Want more insights? Dive into additional analysis from our team of experts below.

A headshot photograph of Nicki Zink
Nicki Zink
Deputy Head of Industry Analysis

Nicki Zink is deputy head of Industry Analysis. Her team identifies trends affecting key demographics across food & beverage, travel & hospitality and financial services. Prior to joining Morning Consult, Nicki served as the head of digital intelligence at Purple Strategies, a corporate reputation and strategy firm. She graduated from Miami University with a bachelor’s degree in mass communication. For speaking opportunities and booking requests, please email press@morningconsult.com.

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