Sonoma County millennials drive market toward fresh, clean fast food

Hold the pickles, hold the lettuce — and hold the antibiotics, synthetic chemical fertilizers, pesticides and GMO-fed beef.

When it's time to eat on the run, diners now demand that their convenience food is natural, pure, sourced humanely and healthy, especially if they are Millennials.

Americans born between 1982 and 2000 now number 83.1 million, which makes Millennials the nation's largest and most diverse generation. As such, their dining dollars have a powerful influence on the fast-casual industry.

'Everybody is asking questions about their food,' said Paul Schiefer, director of operations for Amy's Drive Thru, a vegetarian fast food restaurant that opened in July in Rohnert Park. 'We get a lot of students from Sonoma State University nearby, but really, our diners are a pretty broad group. Everybody is looking for healthy.'

Burger King was the first national chain to announce plans for healthier, more humane menus. It promised to use cage-free eggs chain-wide by 2017.

McDonald's followed by pledging a transition to sustainable beef by 2016, and a switch to cage-free eggs within a decade, then in September announced plans to test an organic hamburger called the McB with German audiences after several years of declining international sales. CEO Steve Easterbrook described it to industry analysts as a way to 'enhance our appeal in the areas that matter most to consumers, to great tasting, high quality food, convenience and value.'

In November, Taco Bell added cage-free eggs to the list of changes it would make during 2016, along with removing artificial colors and flavors from core menu items and removing trans fats, high-fructose corn syrup and unsustainable palm oil.

Even Subway, long considered a healthier fast food choice, is switching to antibiotic-free chicken by the end of 2016, removing artificial colors, flavors and preservatives from its menu by 2017 and committing to antibiotic-free turkey, pork and beef over the next decade.

Diners of all ages are increasingly concerned about health, transparency in food production and giving animals a better life, but in the world of fast-casual food, Millennials are making the most waves. According to a 2015 survey conducted by global market research firm The NPD Group, they account for a quarter of the group identified as 'clean eaters' and carry that mindset with them when they eat away from home.

Nearly 80 percent of Millennials surveyed by the National Restaurant Association said they are more likely to visit a restaurant that offers healthy options, and 66 percent of fast casual restaurant operators said their customers are more interested in locally sourced items than they were two years ago.

Those opinions are reflected in the trade group's 2015 top three menu trends: a demand for gluten-free items, sustainable food items and locally sourced produce.

At Amy's, more than 95 percent the ingredients are organic, and all are non-GMO. Every menu item has a vegan or gluten-free option, and everything is made from scratch, including tofu for chili, pizza dough and pasta for the mac 'n' cheese.

Owners Andy and Rachel Berliner went so far as to contract a private potato field outside of Bakersfield to grow the spuds for their skinny, crispy, sunflower seed oil-fried fries.

The recipe seems to be working. Schiefer notes that Amy's serves about 3,500 customers a day, topping 4,000 on weekends. The Amy's Burger remains the bestseller, a double patty made of vegetables, mushrooms and grains topped with double cheese, tomato, onion, Sonoma Brinery pickle and Fred Sr.'s regular or spicy secret sauce, all on a toasted bun.

Rather than going for a Big Mac, meanwhile, more Sonoma County customers are choosing quick options like the Sloppy Seed burger of spicy sweet tofu, avocado spread and grilled red onion from Seed on the Go, a vegan food truck based out of Santa Rosa. Owner Jerri Hastey said she can serve up to 300 customers a day, most often in the 13 to 30 or the 50-plus age groups. Their choices seem more about health than avoiding meat.

'We found that more than 85 percent of our repeat customers are not vegan or vegetarian, which frankly surprised me,' Hastey said. 'My belief is that the younger generation is more aware of making choices that are better for the planet and themselves, and the older generation is learning to make healthier choices based on experience and aging.'

Her truck, purchased as a gift from her daughter, actress and 'The Help' star Jessica Chastain, made headlines late last year in People magazine and was mentioned on The Ellen DeGeneres Show. DeGeneres, a vegan, lauded Seed on the Go for its focus on locally sourced organic produce and unique recipes such as Chastain's favorite sweet potato and quinoa pasta mac 'n' cheese made with nondairy butter, unsweetened almond milk and nondairy cheddar.

The proof is in the tasting, Hastey says, because if a food doesn't taste good, it's not going to sell, no matter how Earth friendly it is.

'The uniqueness of our carnitas taco attracts most, since it's made of jackfruit, mushroom and kale with lime cabbage and charred pineapple verde,' she said. 'But it is reordered because it is well textured and flavorful. The sliced roast seitan in our Korean barbecue is great, too, as it mimics the taste and texture of beef, so it is an easy transition for accepting plant based cuisine. We typically use it for promotional tastings, and people are shocked after eating to find it is not meat.'

If there's a trade off to the healthy fast food trend, it's that diners have to wait a bit longer to eat, since food at Amy's Drive-Thru and Seed on the Go are cooked to order. Yet as NPD notes in its report, 80 percent of clean eaters view their dining habits not as a diet, but as a lifestyle.

And that, it seems, is worth slowing down for.