New Creator Genres: Fast Foodfluencers
Welcome to your weekly dose of smart Gen Z analysis from YPulse Daily Intelligence.
“I read the YPulse newsletter every day. It's how I keep up with the audience.”
Kaley Mullin | Youth and Trends Insights Lead, YouTube. Subscribe to the newsletter.
⚡️ YPulse AI is coming. Learn how YPulse's generative AI is going to transform Gen Z insights. Click here.
01 | Dig In 🍟
YPulse’s most recent Food Shopping and Trends report data shows that a whopping 94% of 13-39-year-olds have visited a fast food restaurant like McDonald’s, Wendy’s, or Taco Bell in just the past month. For years, YPulse data has shown that McDonald’s dominates as their favorite fast food or quick service / chain restaurant, especially for Gen Z. Yes—that does in fact mean they’d choose drive-thru burgers over line-order burritos. But they’re not just constantly eating fast food, they’re watching content about it, too.
With Gen Z, fast food content on TikTok can influence the masses. The popularity of McDonald’s Grimace shake basically united the world last summer (as a meme at least), and the portion size of Raising Cane’s secret sauce has millions of viewers watching mukbangs. The mesmerizing nature of food content for Gen Z often provides a blend of these mukbangs, reviews, and even ASMR—garnering millions of likes. Fast food content specifically draws in teens and young adults because it’s what they’re eating out most often, and it keeps them going back for more.
In YPulse’s The End of Foodie Culture (As We Know It) trend report, we reported a shift in food-related identities among young consumers. While Gen Z is less likely to consider themselves foodies compared to Millennials, we’ve said before that this generation still loves food content. They’re just not as into recipes and hacks; they’re more drawn to food content that combines entertainment with food experiences. For Gen Z, videos like “what I eat in a day” and “oddly satisfying” content are what they most want to see.
Brands ask us constantly what creators Gen Z wants to see in their ads, on their feeds, or getting PR. And while there’s thousands to choose from, just knowing names and niche content types that could be tapped into gets a brand one step closer to finding their match. Keeping up with creators (big or small) who share their favorite orders, try out new menu items, and promote even the most local fast food chains can lead to a perfect food brand collab. These are three fast food influencers we think brands should know about:
Natelo (@natevlogs) | 613K followers, 26.5M likes on TikTok
Natelo has a playlist called FAST FOOD where users can watch all his reviews and mukbangs. His most-viewed video, just uploaded May 19, shows him trying one of his followers’ altered Chipotle orders: a grilled burrito covered with a large cup of Raising Cane’s sauce. Some of his other most-viewed content shows Natelo trying his followers’ fave orders from places like Popeyes, Taco Bell, Shake Shack, and more based on recommendations they leave in the comments. Last month, Natelo partnered with Jollibee, a Filipino fast food chain that he claims is his “favorite chicken spot,” and uploaded a video trying on and directing followers to the brand’s new merch collection of hats, tees, and sweatshirts. And as a Filipino himself, Nate tells viewers the merch makes him a “Swagipino.”
Recommended by LinkedIn
Alexis Frost (@alexis.frost) | 2.5M followers, 170.4M likes on TikTok
Calling herself a “Fast Food Foodie” in her TikTok bio, Frost has a series “eating what employees eat,” where she samples employees’ favorite orders and gives her own take on them. As someone a tad older in the space, her innovative fast food content is still loved by Gen Z. One of her most-viewed videos, with over a million views, shows her trying KFC’s five different flavors of saucy nuggets and being completely honest about not liking most of them. And another viral video shows her taking order suggestions from employees at Wingstop step by step, down to mixing sauces for dipping. Whether it’s a McDonald’s hack or trying what most would deem “strange food orders” she’s created a community of fast food enthusiasts, bringing her some major brand deals. Frost has already participated in several sponsored videos with brands like Oreo, Little Caesars, and iHop.
Natalie Ludwig (@eatsbynat) | 286.9K followers, 29.5M likes on TikTok
Ludwig describes herself as “your friendly neighborhood foodie” in her bio. Based in San Diego, CA some of Ludwig’s most popular content are her food comparisons between brands. For example, she puts fast food chicken tenders up against each other and in one recent video, she tastes the Crumble Cookie flavors of the week, comparing them to Dairy Queen’s cookie flavored ice cream. She even has a playlist with 45 videos dedicated to her cookie reviews, as well as playlists of her trying just donuts, and international foods. Ludwig is also known for putting weird food combos to the test like trying 7 Up cake to see if it tastes like the actual soda. Ludwig’s content isn’t strictly about fast food, though: she also creates food videos about snacking (which we know Gen Z loves) featuring brands like KitKats, Rice Krispies Treats, Little Bites, and more. Just yesterday, Ludwig uploaded a video in partnership with Kelloggs to promote the brand’s Extra Crispy Clusters cereal where she’s seen pairing the cereal with ice cream.
⚡️ YPulse AI is coming. Learn how YPulse's generative AI is going to transform Gen Z insights. Click here.
02 | What‘s Trending on YPulse ⚡️
03 | Most Clicked News of the Week 📰
YPulse experts curate the most interesting and relevant Gen Z from around the web in our daily and weekly newsletters. Get it sent straight to your inbox.
Mattel and Outright Games are creating new toy franchise video games.
The collaboration will release three console and PC games by the end of the year: Matchbox Driving Adventures, Monster High: Skulltimate Secrets, and Barbie Project Friendship. This partnership follows the success of Barbie DreamHouse Tycoon, the first official Barbie game on Roblox, which pulled in over 27M players. Rumors suggest that a Barbie mobile game may also be in the works for later this year, although no official confirmation has been made. (Forbes)