• Wall Street Journal, Monday, February 1, 2010 10:42 AM

Has Burger King relied too heavily on customers who may be permanently changing their eating habits? asks Julie Jargon. For years, it could count on the 18- to 34-year-old "super fans" who dined at its establishments several times a week and would wolf down cheeseburgers with the abandon (and absence of love handles) that is the province of youth. Then the recession hit.

"I don't think we'll go back to eating out as often as we used to," says one 28-year-old who, with his fiancée, discovered the joys of home-cooked organic veggies following a lay-off. "We always used to talk about eating at home more, and now that it's happened, we've found that we really enjoy it."

Market-research firm Sandelman & Associates data show that, on average, 18- to 34-year-olds went to fast-food chains about 13 times per month from January to September 2009, down from almost 19 times per month in 2006. Brian Gies, Burger King's vp of marketing impact, agrees that the recession probably will change the way people spend going forward. On the bright side, he says, "we're on the lower end of the affordability spectrum, and we stand a pretty good chance of remaining part of the super fans' repertoire."

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