In this episode of the PAX Hospitality Podcast, Leon Kennedy is joined by Tim Varney, Loren Daniels and Michael Bascetta to unpack The Gen Z Retail Revolution report from Principals — and what it really means for hospitality. Leon frames Gen Z as a “retail earthquake” and a clear changing of the guard: the playbook that worked for the last 20 years is falling over, and operators can either double down on the old rules or pivot into a new reality where Gen Z is both a powerful customer segment and a huge chunk of the workforce.

The crew walk through the report’s five big shifts: social commerce (TikTok and Instagram as shopping engines, not just entertainment), hybrid experiences (stores and venues as “experience theatres”), hyper-personalisation, ethics-as-standard and “localism in a global context.” They connect the stats to lived examples: 73% of Gen Z buying off influencer recommendations, guests expecting venues to be content-worthy stages, the demand for transparent ethics over greenwashing, and the tension between global brands and deeply local stories and partnerships.

From there, they zoom in on the practical implications for restaurants, cafés and bars. They talk about how to design venues that Gen Z actually wants to visit, how to empower frontline Gen Z staff instead of ignoring them, and why values-first, creator-led brands are winning. The episode closes with a clear challenge: stop treating Gen Z as a niche youth segment and start treating them as a market reset — then chip away at community, content, ethics and experience, one small actionable move at a time.

Topics Covered:

• The Principals Gen Z Retail Revolution report and the “changing of the guard” in retail and hospitality.
• Five critical shifts: social commerce, hybrid physical–digital experiences, hyper-personalisation, ethics and localism.
• Gen Z’s contradictions (digital vs real world, broke vs quality-obsessed, nostalgia and novelty) as product and brand opportunities.
• What Gen Z expectations mean for venue design, content, values, and how hospitality brands show up day-to-day.
• The role of creators, micro-influencers and frontline Gen Z staff in shaping brand direction and decision-making.

The PAX Hospitality Podcast is produced by PAX and Craate Creative. Support for this podcast comes from Square and Brunswick Design and Innovation. Our music is produced by Patricia Heath and Mattias Westergren.

PAX acknowledges the Wurundjeri Woi-wurrung people as the traditional custodians of the land on which we operate. We pay our respects to elders past, present and emerging and to all First Nations People.