Home » Study: More Aussies Dining Solo As Cost Pressures Bite; Pizza Still Our Top Takeaway

5 July, 2023

Study: More Aussies Dining Solo As Cost Pressures Bite; Pizza Still Our Top Takeaway

Research by Dining deal app EatClub, hows Aussies doing dining different in the face of rising cost of living pressures.

Restaurant dynamic pricing platform, EatClub, has released the results of its 2023 dining research and the insights show Aussies are changing their dining habits in response to cost of living pressures.

The main findings included:

. The number of solo diners has doubled in twelve months

. Couple diners have decreased

. Sydney diners spend the most money per occasion

. Melbourne diners dine out more frequently compared to the rest of the country

. Vietnamese and Thai cuisine has seen the strongest growth

. Pizza is still the most popular takeaway food

“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,” EatClub cofounder and CEO, Pan Koutlakis said.

“2023 is the year of the singles. We have identified that over the last 12 months, 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.”

Koutlakis said not only has the demographic of diners changed, 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,” Koutlakis said.

“Dine in has been on the rise since lockdowns have ended. Despite recently interest rate rises, this trend has not changed. What has changed is where people go. Bars and pubs have experienced a 20 percent 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.”

Sydney has the biggest spends on dining out, however this has dropped slightly since May. Diners are still going out more but spending less per occasion. 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 love their cafes and dine out the most compared to other states. Melbourne has the most transactions in terms of dining occasions.

“Takeaway spending has slightly decreased since the rate hikes and the arrival of winter. 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,” Koutlakis said.

“Interestingly, the cold weather in June has seen an even bigger increase in spending in bars.

“Group take-away parties have also reduced over the past 18 months.”

According to Koutlakis, EatClub’s dining research also shows that 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, although burgers have declined since COVID lockdowns where pizza is holding steady and doesn’t show any downward trend.

“The big statistic in all of our research is that people are using dining deals on EatClub 20 percent more frequently but the average spend is reducing slightly.

“Overall, our research shows that Australia’s dining industry is in good shape and Australians love eating out. Despite the strong pressure of rising living costs, consumers are still allocating spend to dining out.”

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