The Yelping public has caught on: solo dining is the way to go
This is not a prolific essay on the merits or transformative power of solo dining.
…though I do believe that solo dining is a powerful and exceptional experience! Many other writers have tackled this topic. Now eating alone back in the news, this time with tech-infused data:
Yelp searches for “solo dining” have nearly quadrupled in the first three months of 2025 as compared to the same period last year.
In its annual State of the Restaurant Industry report, Yelp says the change “marks a significant cultural shift” as diners stop viewing meals out solely as a social activity and more as a break or gift-to-self. Some restaurants are even redesigning spaces to be more solo-friendly, Yelp says. This year, it seems, barstools are in and big tables are not.
There are plenty of reasons, anecdotally, for why we want to eat alone. Thinking: a near constant barrage of news, challenging and changing social conditions, impossible-to-align schedules, and just the need for a *%&^ing break from routine could factor into the uptick in interest.
Then there’s the food itself. Societal realities aside, an increase in soloing seems also a natural response to the decade-long popularity of “shared plates” concepts. Hate sharing food? You’re not alone, says Food & Wine in an article published early this month. Bon Appétit begged restaurants to stop explaining sharable menus years ago. And somehow, rather curiously, sharing food from the same plate is a trend that lasted even in the early months of the pandemic, when we were still wary of shared surfaces like menus, as chronicled by Eater in 2020. (Still, years before the pandemic, people — across borders and continents — were asking for the trend to end.)
Of course there’s a counterpoint:
While I do not support yuck-ing anyone’s yum, there is some evidence that eating alone might not be the panacea we think it is.
The US dropped to its lowest spot ever in this year’s World Happiness Report (this is the report that routinely reports residents of Nordic countries are happiest) — ranked a dismal 24th. One possible reason, according to one of the report’s authors who is also a professor at Oxford, is that Americans eat too many meals alone.
“The extent to which you share meals is predictive of the social support you have, the pro-social behaviors you exhibit and the trust you have in others,” Jan-Emmanuel De Neve told the New York Times in March.
Oof.
IMO, this solo dining ‘trend’ is evidence of continued good hospitality.
A decade ago in Paris, I had a strange solo dining experience at a Very Famous Restaurant that left me uncomfortable. The server didn’t seem to understand how or why to handle a solo diner and I felt rushed out the door. I found refuge in a nearby cocktail bar, where the bartender told me, “I was taught to always treat solo diners even better.” (That’s not saying that couples get the shaft; it’s that he knew a solo diner would likely respond positively to a little extra effort to ensure their comfort. I know I do.)
Last spring I ate alone at a restaurant in San Francisco (it was Flour+Water, a perennial fav, literally went last night again) and I was gobsmacked when the server offered half-priced, half portions of many of the restaurant’s pasta dishes, all so I could enjoy the same (maligned) shared-plates experience solo. I posted about it on the then-new Threads and came the closest ever to a viral hit with 3 million views and 3,000 likes. Paraphrased consensus in the replies: “Wow, I love dining alone, more restaurants should do this.”
I don’t need a tech company’s data to tell me that dining alone is a delight, but I can appreciate what it means for the future of restaurants. In challenging times during an era that’s deprioritized traditional fine dining, I think a solo meal with a side of casual conversation can feel like a real luxury.
What else?
DoorDash chief marketing officer Kofi Amoo-Gottfried is #8 on this year’s Forbes World’s Most Influential CMOs list. Forbes cites DoorDash’s aggressive growth “into a cultural and commercial powerhouse” as its reasoning. — Forbes
Eater NY says reservations fraud is up and companies aren’t doing enough to stop it. One 15-seat New York City restaurant lost *four* prepaid meals to fraud and chargebacks after they were booked with stolen credit cards. (A Resy rep says chargebacks are down this year.) — Eater NY
The CEO of Darden Restaurants, parent of Olive Garden, says diners are coming back to casual dining. They’re realizing that places like Olive Garden are a great value, he said during the company’s recent earnings report. Olive Garden’s same store sales, the industry’s metric of choice to identify growth, are up almost 7 percent this fiscal quarter. — Fast Company