Sep 16, 2026 · 37 min · 12 segments
GLP-1 medications are increasingly popular among Americans. So how are they influencing restaurant sales? This week’s episode of the Restaurant Business podcast A Deeper Dive features Lisa Miller, a…
Lisa MillerGuest
Jonathan MazeHost
So my big question really is like, how do we have a sense of how popular the these drugs are or and are going to get? I mean, ultimately, for the restaurant business and for our listeners, that's what they're going to want to know is like how we think.
And I believe that these this is going to just continue to get more popular, especially now that you can get it in pill form.
And the whole catalyst for this report that I'm working on is a lot of executives were calling to say, hey, I see this data, but what's next? So wave one was definitely more women taking the drugs.
What I saw in my July data, which I literally just got back not too long ago, the number of baby boomers that are taking now the Ozempic and so on just increased because now it's only $50 through the bridge program through the government.
And those two variables of the pill form and lower cost will absolutely unlock growth and more people taking it.
Right now, it might feel kind of quiet and in the diet front, right? You don't see as many commercials.
Not surprising, January is a big diet season, but also in the spring leading into summer.
Yeah, people still about 10%, 12% of people are taking GLP-1s, but that is just gonna ramp back up in January and then summer again.
And so we need to be, restaurants need to be prepared for what's coming next in what I call wave three, which is gonna be the season coming in January.
From a restaurant perspective, again, something nobody's talking about is the unintended consequences of holiday eating.
When you think about catering parties, when you think about people going out for celebrations with families at dinner, there are still going to be a portion of America during this holiday season that are going to be on this GLP-1 drugs.
And there is going to be good consequences for some and not so good consequences for others.
So my big question really is like, how do we have a sense of how popular the these drugs are or and are going to get? I mean, ultimately, for the restaurant business and for our listeners, that's what they're going to want to know is like how we think.
And I believe that these this is going to just continue to get more popular, especially now that you can get it in pill form.
And the whole catalyst for this report that I'm working on is a lot of executives were calling to say, hey, I see this data, but what's next? So wave one was definitely more women taking the drugs.
What I saw in my July data, which I literally just got back not too long ago, the number of baby boomers that are taking now the Ozempic and so on just increased because now it's only $50 through the bridge program through the government.
And those two variables of the pill form and lower cost will absolutely unlock growth and more people taking it.
Right now, it might feel kind of quiet and in the diet front, right? You don't see as many commercials.
Not surprising, January is a big diet season, but also in the spring leading into summer.
Yeah, people still about 10%, 12% of people are taking GLP-1s, but that is just gonna ramp back up in January and then summer again.
And so we need to be, restaurants need to be prepared for what's coming next in what I call wave three, which is gonna be the season coming in January.
From a restaurant perspective, again, something nobody's talking about is the unintended consequences of holiday eating.
When you think about catering parties, when you think about people going out for celebrations with families at dinner, there are still going to be a portion of America during this holiday season that are going to be on this GLP-1 drugs.
And there is going to be good consequences for some and not so good consequences for others.
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