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A LOT MORE YOUNGER CONSUMERS DINE AT RESTAURANTS BY THEMSELVES. PHOTO: SHUTTERSTOCK
ONE BIG POST- PANDEMIC CHANGE AT RESTAURANTS: MORE PEOPLE ARE DINING ALONE The Bottom Line: As off-premises sales at restaurants have taken off over the past five years, more consumers are eating alone, and often in their cars. What is the impact on the industry?
BY JONATHAN MAZE W e’ve spent much of this week examining the impact of the pandemic on restaurants, which you can read here. But there’s one element of that story I’d like to call out: A lot more consumers are eating alone. To wit: In 2019, 26% of consumers dined at restaurants on their own, according to Restaurant Business sister company Technomic. By last year that number was 32%. More to the point: The percentage of consumers today who dine alone easily outnumbers those who dine with their spouse, 32% to 26%. To be sure, most people—about two- thirds—still dine with other people. But Americans are now less likely to dine with small children, with co-workers, with friends or, yes, their spouse or significant other. And it’s not just that consumers are eating alone. Consumers are far more likely today to eat in their cars than they did before the pandemic. Younger consumers in particular are more likely to dine in their car, said Robert Byrne, senior director of consumer research with Technomic. The data confirms previous surveys that said roughly the same thing. Last year, for instance, OpenTable said online reservations for parties of one increased 8%. And some 60%
of respondents in a survey said they had dined alone at restaurants in the past year, including 68% of Gen Z and millennial respondents. OpenTable suggested restaurants customize their floor plans to encourage such customers to sit near others and strike up conversations, citing its survey showing 27% would invite other solo diners to their table. (We doubt 27% of people actually would invite other solo diners, but we’re pretty sure they would say they would to a person taking a survey.) That said, many elements of the dining-alone trend are disconcerting. The Atlantic, for instance, cited restaurants’ shift to takeout and away from their traditional roles as gathering spots as part of a troublesome trend of loneliness. “How much of our lives have we spent thinking about food as this social thing?” Byrne said. “You’re not just nourishing your body. You’re also nourishing your soul, your mental health, your relationships, your friendships. All those wonderful things that food, I believe, should represent.” But there are a few reasons for the dining-alone trend. First, a lot of people dine alone while traveling, often for work. Byrne also noted that there is a growing number of occasions that are naturally about dining alone—such as
snacking. He also blamed social media. The “car occasion” has soared since the pandemic, which Byrne suggested is linked to the number of video posts of people eating out of their cars. “The amount of videos that are recorded in a person’s vehicle just shocks me,” he said. Still, there is a sense in some places that the industry needs to give people more opportunities to connect with one another. The industry has spent a lot of time focusing on the takeout customer. They’ve turned their businesses in many cases into glorified vending machines, where people order on a phone or a kiosk and pick the food up in a box. Much of that humanity is gone. We thought of Byrne’s data on dining alone and his comments on people eating from their cars when we watched the Starbucks shareholder meeting. CEO Brian Niccol said there is a need for places like Starbucks where people can actually gather with one another. “That third place is probably more necessary than it’s ever been,” he said. Restaurants have spent the past few years simply reacting to what consumers want. But maybe it’s time to think of what they need.
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RESTAURANT BUSINESS APRIL 2025
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