You Can Blame Millennials for the Rise in Wannabe Restaurateurs

Look, nobody ever said Millennials had great taste. We're dealing with eye-melting social media saturation and narrowing job prospects, don't begrudge us for enjoying a little Taylor Swift and the occasional adult ball pool. And who doesn't like cornershop nacho creations?

Despite such questionable leisure pursuits and a supposed lack of money, the 18 to 35-year-old demographic could be fueling an entire portion of the UK economy.

According to UK government's startup loan scheme partner, Startup Direct, there has been a rise in the number of people looking to launch businesses in the dining out sector.

As The Daily Telegraph reports, in the first four months of this year, Startup Direct received almost 2000 applications for funding, 374 of which were for food and drink businesses. Over the same period last year, only seven out of a received 713 applications came from wannabe restaurateurs.

Speaking to the newspaper, chief executive of Startup Direct James Pattison said that this could be due to a rise in entrepreneurs targeting the Millennial dining market. "Today's twenty-somethings are short of money but prioritise eating out so there's a strong market for food businesses who have sound business plans and can make the numbers stack up," he said.

As Millennial spirit animal Drake would say, you can thank us later.

The amount of money today's young adults spend on food has been well documented, mainly by advertisers bent on figuring out exactly how to market to a generation sick of marketing. A 2013 survey of Americans born between the late 1970s and early 2000s found that nearly half self-identified as "foodies," while a more recent UK study showed that 53 percent of Millennials eat out once a week, compared to 43 percent of the general population. With a keen interest in food and spending power that is expected to peak in the next few years, it's little wonder new food ventures are set on luring Gen Y.

But it's not just the corporate suits behind the rise in new food businesses. While you will have undoubtedly waxed lyrical between mouthfuls of taco about quitting your job to start a food truck, many young people are actually getting out there and doing it too.

"With the help of startup loans, trends in popup restaurants and food trucks, niche cuisines, and even trends in social media to aid in free marketing, the restaurant business is increasingly accessible to anyone with an entrepreneurial spirit," says The Restaurant Association Legal and Policy Director Jackie Grech.

Of course, even with all the hashtags and can-do attitude in the world, the dining out sector is still fraught with financial risk. The nine-out-of-ten-restaurants-fail-within-the-first-year stat may be a little heavy handed, but it is estimated that 80 percent do fold in the first five years. You need only take a look at London's track record of popular-but-still-shuttered eateries to realise that opening a restaurant is tough af.

"The risks of restaurant ownership are no doubt there and it's definitely hard work," says Grech. "But age is not a barrier to success in hospitality which is one of many reasons it's an incredibly attractive field for young people."

While it's probably not advisable to invest your parents' savings on a bao roll venture, at least you can rest easy knowing that your fast-casual, community-centric dining habits are helping fuel the economy (and perpetuate a patronising cultural stereotype, but hey, is that a Sriracha guacamole?)