Shared Restaurant Tables: The Reason 90% of Gen Z Like Them
Term: Shared seating arrangements.
Appearance: Lengthy, awkward and making a comeback.
The Return of Communal Eating? Not Again. The Sole Appropriate Location for Long Benches is the School Canteen
Who would voluntarily eat with strangers as an adult with free will? Gen Z, it seems. Research indicates from the restaurant reservations company Resy, "90% of gen Z diners say they enjoy shared seating, versus just 60% of boomers".
I’ve Never Felt More Out of Touch. Before You Start Harrumphing About the Youth of Today
Group dining in patriotic “British Restaurants” was a major trend during the WWII, in fact – there were about two thousand five hundred of them, supported by Winston Churchill.
It Was Logical When Food Was Scarce, But Why Do It Now?
This might seem strange to you, admittedly, but shared dining can be enjoyable! As Pablo Rivero notes: "They naturally turn dinner into a shared experience," and "You never know who you’ll be seated next to; that’s the fun of it!"
The “Fun” of Having Dinner Interrupted by Someone Explaining Loudly That Their Therapist Revealing They Are an Empath
Or being squeezed next to a Hyrox bore chomping chicken breasts to fuel his "workout routines"? Or a nano-influencer filming you accidentally in their video while eating a salad? You have to remember: gen Z – the most digitally connected group, who grew up during COVID, and many of whom entered an almost exclusively digital workplace – love a structured communal activity. It’s the same impulse behind the rise of youth running groups, hiking outings and art nights: they’re craving offline social connection.
I’d Rather Eat in a Solo Ramen Stall Found in Japan.
You might not fancy it, but lots of young people are lonely (Nearly half of them, as per an Oxfam study released this summer). A recent American study a third of males aged between 18 and 23 reported they hadn’t seen anyone outside their household in the previous seven days. Isn’t it a good thing they’re going out and sharing meals with new people?
Perhaps. Studies Indicate Those Dining in Groups Report Greater Happiness
Conversing with new people is good for us, too: it enhances our feeling of community. Additionally the Resy survey highlights an additional benefit: 14% of survey respondents said they’d found a romantic partner at a communal dining experience. Given gen Z have gone off the apps, this gives them a shot at a unplanned "meat-cute".
I Hate That Pun Nearly as Much as I Dislike Shared Seating.
My work here is done.
Appropriate comment: "Gen Z think communal dining ate and left no crumbs."
Don’t say: "It’s all fun and games until someone drops a katsu prawn on your Y2K baggy jeans."