Where you belong.(Viewpoint essay)(Survey)(Brief article)

It turned out that besides feeling like he didn't belong at the stuffy restaurant for white Republicans, the cool young man and others his age felt that they weren't wanted and wouldn't be welcomed there anyway.

This wasn't the first time I've heard this. In spite of living in a youth culture, younger consumers from teenagers to 20-somethings easily feel unwanted and unwelcome, not only by malls but also by restaurants. Waiters and management expect young customers to spend less and make more trouble than older (but not too old) customers. Customers who look too old feel just as unwanted as customers who look too young. Even if the age discrimination is based on experience, businesses of all kinds pay a price for it. The price includes less patronage and less word of mouth. A college student, talking about going to a pricey restaurant to celebrate getting an A in a midterm exam, said:

"Those of us who can afford splurges are happy to spend $20 on a burger (which means at least $50 a person with beer and tip) when we want to celebrate. We rarely talk about it because most of the girls think the good restaurants are just for old people."

One of our restaurant clients took our advice, instructing wait staff and bar staff to go out of their way to welcome young people and make sure they knew that the restaurant was glad they were there. Telling them to bring their friends helped generate more traffic in a matter of weeks.

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