Six-point gap emerges as Australians scale back QSR spending

Baby Boomers are driving the decline, with 51% reducing their QSR spending.

A net six percentage points (pp) more Australians cut back on their quick-service restaurant (QSR) spending than increased it over the past six months, according to Boston Consulting Group's report.

The pullback is expected to deepen, with the gap widening to a net negative nine pp over the next six months as consumers plan to spend less.

Baby Boomers are driving much of the decline. Fifty-one percent said they had reduced QSR spending, compared with 14% who increased it, creating a net balance of -37pp for the cohort.

The pressure is strongest amongst lower-income households earning less than $75,000 a year, which recorded a recent net balance of -22pp and is expected to fall further to -28pp over the next six months.

Middle-income households ($75-200K) are also becoming more cautious.

Consumers cited higher prices as the biggest reason for cutting back (70%), followed by wanting to build savings (49%) and having less savings available (49%).

The report noted that the responses reflect two different pressures: households protecting their finances and households responding to financial strain.

Most consumers reducing QSR spending are changing how they buy rather than leaving the category altogether.

Seventy-six percent are cooking at home more, 35% are treating QSR as an occasional purchase, and 16% are skipping meals or snacks entirely.

The ways consumers cut back differ by generation.

Baby Boomers are less likely to chase promotions, with 35% seeking deals compared with around 45% amongst younger cohorts.

Instead, they are simply visiting less often. Gen Z is more likely to split dishes, doing so at twice the rate of other generations—a sign of a stronger preference for shared, social ordering occasions.

Value menus remain a broad-based strategy across income groups, with higher-income consumers slightly more likely to use them.

Despite weaker consumer sentiment, burger and chicken QSR brands in Australia continue to grow, at around 10% and 7% compound annual growth, respectively.

That contrasts with the US, where chicken brands have been the clearer share winners whilst burger performance has been more uneven.