More Americans believe that when it comes to dining out, one’s company, two’s a crowd, a survey shows.
Solo dining at restaurants is booming — with single-person reservations rising 29% at American eateries over the last two years, according to reservation platform OpenTable.
And it’s not just in the US. Dining alone is on the rise across the world in places like the United Kingdom — where it’s jumped 14% this year alone — and in Germany — which has seen an 18% boost.
Japan has also experienced an increase, with the country’s Hot Pepper Gourmet Eating Out Research Institute finding about 23% of people regularly eat out alone, up from 18% six years ago.
“I think there’s a broader movement of self-love and self-care and really… enjoying your own company,” OpenTable CEO Debby Soo told ABC News, adding that the rise in remote work may also be bolstering the trend.
Anna Mattila — a Penn State professor who has studied solo-dining — also thinks the pandemic may have also contributed by normalizing solitary behavior, while smartphones are able to keep people connected.
“The social norms have changed. People don’t look at solo diners anymore and think, ‘You must be a loner,’” she said.
Whatever the motivation, restaurants are rising to meet the market.
Avant Garden, the upscale vegan eatery in the East Village, hired the restaurant consulting group Lightspeed to adapt their space and menu to the needs of solo diners — which restaurant owner Drew Brady says makes up about 8% of their customers.
The restaurant now has a large table specifically set aside for solo diners, a $65 four-course menu designed for one person, and when solitary customers order a cocktail the bartender makes it at the table with them.
Brady, whose restaurant group Overthrow Hospitality has 11 vegan restaurants across New York City, sees solo dining as an investment in repeat customers.
“While there may be a short-term loss there, I think we’re kind of playing the long game and establishing ourselves as a place that’s truly special,” he told ABC.
The trend started after the pandemic, Brady said, adding that solo diners are pretty evenly split by gender.
For people intimidated by the idea of eating alone, Houston restaurant viewer Shawn Singh — who estimates that he’s solo about 70% of the time he eats out — recommends going for lunch, or for early dinners on weekdays.
“If I go at 5 p.m. and alone, I haven’t been denied at one place ever,” Singh told ABC.
But for Jill Weber — founder of the hospitality group Sojourn Philly, which always puts aside communal tables at events for solo visitors — the intimidation of dining out alone is part of the thrill.
“It also feels brave sometimes,” she said.
