Imagine you’re craving a burger. You go to the nearest restaurant and step into a space resembling an industrial warehouse with pipes visible on the ceiling. You sit on a stool at a long high table, where a server comes over and points you to the “handhelds” section of the menu. Your burger arrives in a metal tray lined with newspaper with ketchup in a stainless steel cup on the side.
These places now have a name: millennial burger joints. And Gen Z has been having a field day making fun of them on TikTok.
What is a millennial burger joint?
There’s no set definition. Some have fluorescent signs and truffle fries. Others have chalkboard menus and specialty sauces.
It started when TikTok user @fairylights2007 (btw, some millennial burger joints also have fairy lights) posted a video set to Kyle Gordon’s “We Will Never Die,” a song that parodies early 2010s millennial music. The text read, “this song is so truffle fries overpriced burger brick walls metal tin of ketchup.” Pretty much everyone knew what she was talking about.
Millennial burger joint traits flooded the comment section. For example, “the menu is written in the typewriter font,” and “it’s always a brioche bun, too.” The “specialty burger has an egg on it and is $18,” and “every waiter is wearing a beanie for some reason.” Menu sections have titles like “‘pick your protein’” and “‘shareables,’” with one user commenting, “handhelds make me rage.”
Still, most users agree the most definitive trait of the millennial burger joint is its unique concept, or at least an attempt at one. One commenter wrote that all menus have “‘our story’ and it says something like “‘two college dropouts who just love burgers.’”
What does Gen Z think of millennial burger joints?
As the above sentiments suggest, most Gen Zers don’t look at them favorably. Their main gripe lies with prices. In a post showcasing a restaurant’s leather-bound menu, TikTok user @madisonfin_ wrote, “I already know the burger is like $30.” Other users show burger joint footage set to “We Will Never Die” and ask viewers to guess how much a burger costs.
In general, it seems like Gen Z just likes to mock millennials. The millennial burger joint trend has inspired millennial dessert places, millennial weddings, and even millennial Harry Potter adults. All of these videos use Gordon’s song, aka “The Ultimate 2011 Millennial Anthem.”
How have millennial burger joints responded?
Of course, millennials are on TikTok. So are burger restaurants. For the most part, they’ve embraced the trend.
Raleigh’s Pub, a bar in Berkeley, CA, posted a video with the text “Chat are we cooked?” The montage did seem to check many millennial burger joint boxes, including a brioche bun burger in a tray, menus that resembled chalk writing and wooden picnic tables (again, it’s the vibe, not necessarily the individual details). Plus, the caption read, “Are we actually just 2 guys with a crazy dream?”
While millennial burger joints’ glory is coming to an end, the brioche buns and truffle fries were good while they lasted.