Parisa Imanirad, a scientist and cancer researcher from San Francisco, is married and has a large circle of friends. But once or twice a week, he goes to a restaurant alone.
Imanirad said that eating alone gives him time to think or read. He tried not to touch his phone and was happy in the silence. “It’s like a spa, but a different kind,” Imnirad said over lunch alone at Spruce, an upscale restaurant in San Francisco.
Imnirad is not alone in his desire to be alone. In the US, restaurant reservations have increased 29% over the past two years, according to OpenTable, a restaurant reservation site. They are up 18% this year in Germany and 14% in the United Kingdom.
Japan even has a special word for dining alone: ”ohitorisama,” which means “alone” but with honorifics spoken before and after the name to make one’s groups feel less awkward. In a recent study, Japan’s Hot Pepper Gourmet Eating Out Research Institute found that 23% of Japanese people eat out alone, up from 18% in 2018.
As a result, many restaurants in Japan and elsewhere are redesigning their seating areas, changing menus and adding other special touches to attract solo diners.
“Even places that are called family restaurants are increasing the number of seats for single diners, and restaurants are offering courses with small meals so that a person eating alone can get a variety of food,” said Masahiro Inagaki, a senior researcher at the center.
OpenTable CEO Debby Soo thinks remote work is one of the reasons for the increase, where diners want to relax in their home offices. But he thinks there are deeper reasons as well.
“I think there’s a broader movement of self-love and self-care and … enjoying your company,” Soo said.
The pandemic has also made social interaction impossible and therefore more important when eating out, said Anna Mattila, a professor of residential management at Penn State University who studied food alone. And smartphones help some diners feel connected to others even when they’re alone, she said.
“Social norms have changed. “People don’t look at food alone anymore and think, ‘You must be lonely,'” says Mattila.
Growth comes as more people live alone. In 2019, the Pew Research Center found that 38% of US adults aged 25 to 54 were living without a partner, up from 29% in 1990. In Japan, single families now make up one-third of the total; that is expected to rise to 40% by 2040, according to government data.
Increasing interest in solo travel — especially among travelers age 55 and older — also only leads to more food.
On a recent trip to Lucerne, Switzerland, Carolyn Ray was surprised when her host led her to a beautiful reserved lake view table, complete with a small vase of flowers. Ray, the CEO and editor of JourneyWoman, a website for solo women over 50, said some restaurants tried to seat her in the back or asked bluntly if anyone would join her.
Ray advises women who plan to dine alone to go elsewhere if they are treated poorly or given a bad table.
“It’s almost as if the world hasn’t bought into this idea that we are alone because we want to be alone and independent and develop,” he said. “We can walk into any restaurant we want and have one table and feel good about it.”
Shawn Singh, a Houston-based content creator and restaurant reviewer, said he eats alone about 70% of the time. If the idea of going out to eat alone scares you, she suggests going for lunch instead of dinner – where the tables are often filled with groups – or going out on a weekday morning.
“The best way to see a restaurant you’ve been wanting to see for a long time is to go on your own,” said Singh. “If I go at 5 pm and I’m alone, I’ve never been denied a place.”
Restaurants are not always happy to sit one dish at a table that can fit more. London’s Michelin-starred restaurant, Alex Dilling at the Hotel Café Royal, caused a stir last year when it started charging single customers the same price as two customers. Its eight-course tasting menu, which includes caviar and Cornish squid, costs 215 pounds ($280) per person.
The restaurant, which has only 34 seats, did not respond to a request for comment. But its website does not allow bookings for less than two people.
Some restaurants say it’s worth seating one person at a table for two because solo diners tend to be loyal, repeat customers.
“Even though there may be a short-term loss there, I think we’re playing the long game and establishing ourselves as a really special place,” said Drew Brady, chief operating officer of Overthrow Hospitality, which operates 11 vegan restaurants. concepts in New York.
Brady has seen an increase in solo diners since the disease, and says they’re split equally between men and women. At the company’s flagship restaurant, Avant Garden, they make up 8% of customers.
In response, the restaurant teamed up with Lightspeed, a restaurant technology and consulting firm, to develop a one-stop dining plan. Avant Garden now has an open table designed for solo dining, with a $65 four-course menu designed as a passport to enhance the experience of entertainment. When solo diners order a cocktail, the bartender mixes it tableside.
Mattila, of Penn State, said restaurants may want to consider more changes. His research has found that solo diners prefer angular shapes – bright, tables or plates, for example – to round ones, which are more associated with group communication. They also choose slow tempo music.
Jill Weber, founder of Sojourn Philly, a Philadelphia company with two restaurants and a wine bar, said she adds a communal table to special events like wine tastings so people have a place to gather. And he doesn’t offer specials designed for two.
Weber, who is also an archaeologist, likes to eat alone when he travels.
“There is disagreement about where we should go and everything that goes with that. You have the freedom to stay as long as you want, order what you want and stay with those things,” he said. “It’s also brave sometimes.”
-Dee-Ann Durbin and Anne D’Innocenzio, Associated Press business writers
Haven Daley contributed to this report.
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