The question is this: Now that older Baby Boomers are becoming empty-nesters, with more disposable income, more free time to linger, and fewer restrictions on where they can eat, do modern quick-service chains really want to miss an opportunity to market to 80 million men and women with whom they already enjoy an existing, if somewhat dormant, relationship? Does a focus on 18- to 34-year-old male heavy users preclude making some targeted additions to the menu—and, perhaps, the restaurant facilities themselves—to bring back those boomers in droves?

I would suggest that Baby Boomers, being nostalgic sorts, would gladly revisit the quick-serve chains of our youth if we felt those chains were making an effort to court us by offering products and environments more relevant to our tastes, lifestyles, and sensibilities.

So what sorts of tweaks might chains make to their menus to make them more attractive to Boomers? Since nostalgia is the order of the day, I would first suggest some comfort-food staples that hearken back to the tastes we knew and loved as kids, but with an appropriate quality upgrade and contemporary flair to account for our generation’s more seasoned palates.

For middle-class Americans who came of age between the 1950s and 1970s, we’re talking meatloaf sandwiches, macaroni and cheese, soups, stews, slow-cooked meats, chilis, casseroles, and pot pies. Each and every one of these favorites has been given an upscale flourish or clever reinvention in recent years by various restaurateurs around the nation. Menu-development pros at quick-serve chains could conceivably sample some of these creations and tinker with basic formulas to arrive at something novel and appealing that works seamlessly within their unique operational settings. Ideas, as a peek at a handful of menus demonstrates, are plentiful.

When it comes to mac-and-cheese, for instance, Berkeley’s T-Rex Barbecue features a version that employs aged cheddar, parmesan, and Smithfield ham to delicious effect. On the other coast, Manhattan’s Blue Smoke was featured on the CBS Evening News last year for its creative treatment of nostalgic standbys such as warm barbecued potato chips, a sliced Texas beef brisket sandwich, and tuna salad on white toast. And in Seattle’s Queen Anne neighborhood, the storied 5 Spot takes a regional American approach to comfort food with its so-called Melting Pot Meals, offering everything from spicy red beans and rice to hot turkey sandwiches to halibut and chips.

Clearly, some of these items would be more at home at some quick-serve chains than others. But as comfort food with a clever twist continues to pop up on menus coast-to-coast, it’s not hard to envision some chains tapping into the trend as a means of making themselves more relevant to a vast group of consumers with whom they may have lost touch, but who remain well within their reach.