Sample size a couple dozen only, but IBU on the menu has also been helpful to non-IPA drinkers I know, so they can avoid things they don't enjoy. It's also trended locally (Ballard) towards golf - see Reuben's releasing a zero-ibu IPA.
Yeah, I agree listing the IBU is useful even for people who want low IBU.
But the reason that's even an issue in the first-place is because of grandstanding hop-heads pushing the upper limit so high that a casual drinker selecting a brew at random has an increased chance of getting something they'd find completely unpalatable.
It's like hot sauce. You didn't need to put the Scoville units on the menu until people started making hot sauces that would peel the lining off your digestive tract. But they didn't start making those hot sauces until people started measuring and talking about Scoville units as the only metric worth caring about.
