Muffin Break has copped a fierce backlash after its general manager claimed young people are increasingly unwilling to work for free to gain valuable work experience.

The chain's general manager Natalie Brennan said she'd seen a decline in the number of younger people and new graduates approaching her business for unpaid internships over the past decade.

“There’s just nobody walking in my door asking for an internship, work experience or unpaid work, nobody,” Ms Brennan told News Corp.

But the comments have drawn the ire of 'millennials' and trade unionists who attacked Ms Brennan - especially over her claims young people think social media ‘is going to get them ahead,’ and that there is ‘definitely an inflated view of their self-importance'.

Millennials have had enough of being robbed. Robbed of wages, robbed of ever having a job with paid leave, robbed of ever owning a house. Good on them. Those doing the robbing had better watch out. — Sally McManus (@sallymcmanus) February 23, 2019

Interns Australia, the support and advocacy group for interns and students undertaking work placements in Australia, said most young people could not afford to work for free.

“The research we’ve done has shown that when a young person does an unpaid internship they’re often out of pocket around $6000,” IA executive director, Sarah Ashman-Baird told SBS News.

She said the idea that millennials are unwilling to gain work experience is ‘unfair’ and that Gen Y is just as willing as other generations to complete internships as a stepping stone to their field of choice.

I feel like the lady who runs Muffin Break in Australia complaining about how social media makes millennials think they’re too good to work unpaid “internships” at her pastry kiosks is gonna get a real lesson in what social media can do for your business.https://t.co/lWdqMbVQUs — Catherynne Valente (@catvalente) February 23, 2019

Ms Ashman-Baird said the backlash to the polarising comments could signal a positive shift in the way internships are regarded and regulated.

“Essentially [the backlash] indicates that people value young people’s time as well," she said.

“Everyone should have an equal opportunity to undertake an internship regardless of their background.”

Muffin Break has also previously fallen afoul of the Fair Work Ombudsman.

In 2016 the Ombudsman found two employees were underpaid a total of over $46,000, and in 2014 it found a student who had worked at Muffin Break for almost two years had been underpaid almost $20,000.