Did you hear? Restaurants are fed upย with parties of six hogging the table for hours on end.
They started either charging a large deposit, or only allowing large party bookings outside the dinner rush.
For the food service industry, it’s largely a convenience play. Big parties take longer to serve, and the extra income isnโt worth the hassle (Groups of 6+ made up only 8%ย of the 2023 reservations booked on Resy).
You know who’s NOT inconvenient to serve? Parties of one.
Online mentions of eating alone rose by 9% YoY. Source: Brandwatch
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Eating alone โ whether itโs sad, completely fine, or glorifiedย โ has dividedย the Internet for years. But the number of folks who enjoy it, or venture to try it, are steadily growing.
In response, restaurants that traditionally thrive on two- or four-tops are adaptingย to the shift, adding single-portioned meals, special pricing, and optimized seating.
There are plenty of opportunities to build on this trend. You can:
Help The Diners
Eating at a new place alone can be daunting โ it’s helpful to know what to expect.
Thereโs tons of content reviewing restaurants, but why not build a database compiling the most solo-friendly spots in each city, and save diners the time to read 10 SEO articles? You can even include videos of actual foodies reviewing their experiences in local spots.
AI can be a powerful add here โ build a dating app-style UI, have people input their preferences, and โmatchโ them with restaurants from your database. This could be popular among the growing solo travelerย crowd.
Help The Restaurants
Offer design services to restaurants that want to cater to solo diners, and help them curate the โparty-of-oneโ experience, from space design to music to lighting. Build them a cozy nook โ thereโs aย scienceย to it.ย ย
As a bonus, add on waitstaff training to make sure their service is considerate for solo diners, like not forcing them to sit at the bar, or assuming theyโre waiting for someone (or judging them if they’re wearing an Apple Vision Pro).ย
Think Beyond Food
The popularity of solo dining signals that the society is making progress in de-stigmatizing โaloneโ experiences.
Notably, weโll see a rise of single-person households in the coming years, which could open up a whole lotta opportunities.ย
A quarter of 40-year-olds in the US wereย never married, and over 40% of them don’t consider marriage or kids important life milestones.ย
Globally, Asian countries likeย China,ย Japanย andย Koreaย have already been moving in this direction for years.
Those who build for the “single-minded” will see big profits. Think: One-person meal delivery services, furniture and home decor for small spaces, pet-related services, self care experiences, and many more.ย
Source: Pinterest
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