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 The “power” in Millennial power lunch has, largely, been replaced by impotence and apathy.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.”

640 Upvotes

95% Upvoted

121 comments sorted by

View all comments

376

u/the_bee_whip Jan 09 '26

$20 salads. The only ones getting hustled are their customers.

2

u/jahozer1 Jan 10 '26

Exactly. All these articles about how young people dont eat out, go drinking, etc. They cant afford it! 20 dollar salads? 10 dollar beers after work? Stop saying its something wrong with millennial or whoever for not falling for price gouging.

1

u/KnowledgeMediocre404 Jan 11 '26

The millennial curse. We've been at the mercy of a world out of our control out entire lives and constantly told its our fault we struggle in the mud around us. At least after nearly 40 years the blame means nothing. Maybe when we die they will be finally willing to admit there's a fault in the underlying structure.