Australians are changing their dining habits in response to cost-of-living pressures finds research from restaurant dynamic pricing platform EatClub.
“As the country’s leading dining deal app used by millions of Aussies to secure dining and drinks deals every week, the results of our latest research show some extraordinary changes in the behaviour of diners across the country,” says EatClub co-founder and CEO Pan Koutlakis.
“2023 is the year of the singles … We have seen a significant increase in the number of diners going out for a bite to eat solo. In fact, the amount of people dining out solo has doubled.
“While the number of solo diners is increasing, couple bookings are declining.”
Mr Koutlakis says not only has the demographic of diners changed, but the type of food people are eating has changed as well.
“During lockdowns, people were big on burgers and pizza for takeaway. While they are still popular now, burgers have dwindled a little in popularity and pizza has continued to be a strong favourite,” he says.
Dining out
Despite recent interest rate rises, Mr Koutlakis says Australians are still dining out.
“What has changed, is where people go,” he says.
“Bars and pubs have experienced a 20% increase in the number of visits and spending since interest rates started to bite. It looks as though this is how Aussies cope with stress – they head to the pub. Not only has the number of people going out to bars and pubs increased, so has the frequency of their visits.”
The EatClub research found that Sydney has the biggest spends on dining out. This has, however, dropped “slightly” since May.
“Diners are still going out more but spending less per occasion,” says EatClub. “Diners in Sydney still spend the most on their dine out experiences compared to the rest of the country. However, they are the only ones that have shown some decrease in spending since interest rates have started to climb. This isn’t the case for other cities.”
Melbourne folk are said to love their cafes and dine out the most compared to other states. Melbourne has the most transactions in terms of dining occasions.
Takeaway
Takeaway spending has “slightly” decreased since the rate hikes and the arrival of winter, says Mr Koutlakis.
“It looks like consumers like to look after their money when at home but still like to spend when they are out and about being social,” he says.
According to EatClub’s research, there has been a “strong” rise in the popularity of Vietnamese and Thai dining over the last few months.
“When it comes to takeaway, Australian households love their burgers, pizza, Vietnamese and bubble tea,” says Mr Koutlakis, adding that “burgers have declined since Covid lockdowns [while] pizza is holding steady and doesn’t show any downward trend”.
