GLPs and the Business of Consuming Less

How a rapid shift in appetite is reshaping food, hospitality, fitness, and lifestyle demand

GLPs aren’t just a weight-loss story. They’re a consumption-reduction story, with downstream effects well beyond food and drink.

For people using them – recent Gallup data reported by NPR says 12.4% of U.S. adults today, more than double the rate from early 2024 – reduced food and alcohol intake isn’t a conscious choice. It’s a behavioral shift. As adoption grows, the implications extend far beyond healthcare into food, alcohol, hospitality, fitness, and lifestyle categories.

Where smart leaders should be moving now:

• Food and restaurants will compete on intention, not volume. This is a product and menu design shift. Fewer calories doesn’t mean fewer expectations. People are becoming more selective about what they consume when they do eat or drink. Protein, nutrient density, and quality matter more than portion size. Product, menu, and pricing models built around volume will face pressure as “value” gets redefined.
• Alcohol becomes an accent, not the centerpiece. Lower-ABV, 375s, and non-alcoholic options aren’t a niche anymore. The opportunity isn’t just replacement drinks, but bars and restaurants that preserve the social ritual even as alcohol consumption shifts.
• Hospitality must shift from frequency-driven to occasion-driven demand. This is a demand and economics shift. Reduced appetite affects visit frequency, not just order size. Hospitality brands will increasingly need to justify the trip itself, not just the check. Experience design, clarity of concept, and reason-to-go matter more when visits are fewer and more intentional.
• Muscle maintenance becomes a requirement, not a nice-to-have. Most GLP weight loss includes muscles as well as fat, unless people actively counter it. That makes resistance training, protein intake, and muscle-preserving programs essential, not aspirational. Expect growth in strength training, functional fitness, and products designed to support lean mass, especially among midlife consumers.
• Lifestyle categories must reorient around post-weight-loss demand.
  Significant weight loss changes how people shop, dress, and participate. Wardrobes need rebuilding, not just refreshing, potentially under tighter household budgets. That creates opportunity for resale and recommerce, including retailer-owned resale platforms operated by major brands, reinforcing the strategic value of brand-owned resale initiatives. More broadly, as people become more mobile and more visible, demand expands across lifestyle categories that support renewed participation – from apparel to experiences – underscoring the importance of long-horizon brand building.

The throughline

When people consume less, value must come from elsewhere. The brands that understand that and deliberately build for it will be better positioned than those still optimizing towards volume.

Photo by Or Hakim on Unsplash