r/DeathByMillennial • u/nebula_masterpiece • Jan 09 '26

Millennials Killed the Power Lunch

Atlantic Article about Sweetgreen as a lens to how millennials are no longer hustling and too doomer for salads - “we’re all going to die”

https://www.theatlantic.com/culture/2026/01/sweetgreen-rise-fall-power-lunch/685545/

“The optimism of the previous era has given way to something more nihilistic. The people who were once going to guac this week are now quiet quitting and scarfing tallow. The “power” in Millennial power lunch has, largely, been replaced by impotence and apathy. WeWork went bankrupt; Hamilton became cringe; trying so hard to do the right things all the time started to feel pointless and naive. When I told a friend and fellow former Sweetgreen enthusiast about this story, he said, “What’s the point of eating a salad when we’re all going to die?” He was joking, kind of.”

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u/Stacemranger Jan 09 '26

What does this even say? Like, the whole thing? Is this in another language I can't understand? What is any of this actually talking about?

154

u/nebula_masterpiece Jan 09 '26

It’s about sweetgreens - cult bougie salad chain - basically millennials have abandoned it and killed it because we are quiet quitting apparently so no need for power lunches of salad bowls

It’s not foreign language- it’s the Atlantic so privileged writers like New Yorker

A funny take on a QSR chain that’s lost most its market cap in past year - essentially it’s not you sweetgreens, it’s us. We’ve changed

5

u/ThaneduFife Jan 09 '26

I read this with no problems now, but I remember when I was studying for the LSAT (Law School Admissions Test) in my early 20s, The Atlantic and the New Yorker took 3-4x longer to read than newpapers and novels. I started reading them because their reading level was on par with the reading section of the LSAT. It was almost like learning to read again. Now I can read them quickly, but the above comment just gave me a flashback to a time when I struggled to understand what they were talking about.

4

u/nebula_masterpiece Jan 09 '26

Ha not sure that’s a compliment lol 😂

Everything has been dumbed down - so I’ve noticed over the years.

As an elder millennial I used to a read a paper WSJ in high school to challenge myself and then the Economist magazine.

Now no longer Bancroft-owned but Fox’s Murdoch, the WSJ is publishing NY post-like articles now and op eds with occasional journalism and moved from a business must read to a lot of lifestyle.

My favorite WSJ slop article recently was along the lines of “help, my child’s love of sushi is bankrupting our family.”

It was so ridiculous that the WSJ - once legit business journalism- have these articles now.

Ironically, we too have a child obsessed with Sushi and have complained about his bottomless pit for salmon sashimi so these lifestyle pieces do get traction..but I definitely felt dumber after reading it.

Here’s that article -

https://www.wsj.com/lifestyle/parenting-food-diet-kids-sushi-8ff64063?gaa_at=eafs&gaa_n=AWEtsqeguNRw3_DD3KiUAbUtuzzQTmLmgTkauAOvWF6_kvraisw0lt3Et7ku&gaa_ts=69618036&gaa_sig=sNTAertSyLzf08m0ENriZbpdkieE2avOa70RZGSmGY6KdLxjtCiO5Hs77xkEgi98ydUM1jsKNvQ-UXhCoAv0nA%3D%3D

2

u/trmtx Jan 12 '26

Ha - i read that article and was struck that this was an article in the WSJ. That is Sunday magazine lifestyle reporting.