Solo Dining Is No Longer Taboo: Why More People Are Eating Alone

Eating is a necessity, a pleasure and also, in its own way, a great social act. Around tables, people celebrate, remember and pay tribute. We gather for dinner on first dates, to celebrate birthdays, promotions, the arrival of the new year or to say goodbye to a friend moving to another city. Eating has always been synonymous with sharing, especially in a bar, exposed to strangers’ eyes.

At least, that’s how it used to be.

Table for one, please. Walk into any restaurant at rush hour and look around: More people are eating alone. Not out of obligation or because they have no one to share a meal with. They do it by choice, to enjoy the solitude and avoid the stigma that, not long ago, followed those who sat alone at tables designed for groups.

A question of impressions and data. As with most trends, studies and percentages help gauge their scope. While it’s not always easy to find a place to eat alone, OpenTable estimates solo reservations in the U.S. have increased 64% since 2019. Between 2022 and 2023 alone, Resy, another booking platform, reports a 21% rise in such requests.

And the actual number of solo diners may be higher. OpenTable and Resy only track advance reservations, not walk-ins.

Is there more data? While studies vary, most point the same way. In late 2024, OpenTable estimated solo dining in the UK rose 14% over the previous year, jumping to 23% in Manchester. Other studies note increases in Germany and Japan, while the proportion of Americans eating alone increased by 53% between 2003 and 2023.

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Why? The answer involves multiple factors. Analysts and the industry agree on two main drivers: the pandemic, with its restrictions and contagion fears, and a cultural shift in how society views solo diners. “It has always been frowned upon for a person to be a loner, but now the taboo of showing loneliness has been broken,” anthropologist José A. González told Spanish newspaper El País in 2023.

“This trend was growing before the pandemic, but now it has taken hold because we’re used to being alone,” Spanish chef Lola Marín told the same outlet. “Years ago, it was unthinkable for a woman to dine alone or drink wine at a bar. Now it’s common.” On social media platforms, people increasingly flaunt their solo dinners as a badge of independence.

Going further. Some argue Generation Z and millennials, as trend drivers, have influenced this shift as much as the pandemic.

A change with nuances. The rise in solo dining isn’t just about shedding loneliness taboos. The New York Times noted a curious link: As more Americans eat alone, the country’s overall happiness index has declined. The reason? Not all solo diners choose to be alone.

Oxford University professor Jan-Emmanuel De Neve sees broader implications. “The fact that we’re increasingly socially isolated means also that we’re not testing our ideas about the world with other people,” he says. The result, he argues, is more echo chambers and polarization.

Image | Girl with red hat (Unsplash)

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