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Speaker 1: Thanksgiving week here in the United States, which of course

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Speaker 1: kicks off the holiday shopping season, but that's also a

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Speaker 1: pretty busy time for eating out as well. Going by

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Speaker 1: the number of reservations book through the Open Table platform, dining, though,

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Speaker 1: has been relatively flat in twenty twenty three. The numbers

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Speaker 1: also show that solo dining is on the rise, while

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Speaker 1: the most popular days to dine out Thursday and Friday.

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Speaker 1: Let's get some insights into some of these details with

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Speaker 1: Debbie su, the CEO of Open Table, joining us now

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Speaker 1: and Debbie, great to have you here on the program.

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Speaker 1: Always fun to talk to you about dining trends. Let's

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Speaker 1: first start off here with some of the comparisons, because

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Speaker 1: I know, over the past year or so we've sound

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Speaker 1: a kind of compared current of dining conditions with pre

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Speaker 1: pandemic conditions. We're now starting to take a look more

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Speaker 1: at the year to year numbers, say from twenty twenty

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Speaker 1: three back to twenty twenty two, and based on your

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Speaker 1: own data, it says things are basically unchanged.

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Speaker 2: That's right.

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Speaker 3: We're seeing dining demand remain relatively flat year over year

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Speaker 3: from twenty two to twenty three, and I actually think

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Speaker 3: that's incredible if you think about all the macro economic

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Speaker 3: uncertainty that we've seen this year, as you yourself have

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Speaker 3: been reporting on, I think it's a win that restaurants

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Speaker 3: are coming out relatively flat over year, and it's a

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Speaker 3: testament to how important restaurants are to all of us.

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Speaker 2: So I think it's actually good.

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Speaker 3: I wish it were higher, but we're seeing some really

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Speaker 3: bullish signs for the holiday season that's coming up in December,

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Speaker 3: Valentine's dam and Mother's Day. We're really high up your

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Speaker 3: every year, we're expecting to see the same for the

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Speaker 3: holidays in December.

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Speaker 1: Is this traditionally a time where we do see an

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Speaker 1: uptick in people going out to restaurants. I know we

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Speaker 1: kind of think of the holidays, at least here in

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Speaker 1: the US as kind of that time where we all

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Speaker 1: spend with each other at home, but I don't know,

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Speaker 1: been known in your family. Sometimes it's a little bit

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Speaker 1: there would go out.

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Speaker 2: People are definitely going out in Romaine.

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Speaker 3: You mentioned before the segment started that you're hosting this year,

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Speaker 3: and maybe you want to five yourself some work and

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Speaker 3: host at a restaurant. This is typically a very busy

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Speaker 3: time for restaurants. Lots of restaurants do Thanksgiving meals, they

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Speaker 3: host Thanksgiving meals all of the year end holiday parties

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Speaker 3: leading up into right up to the first of the year. Actually,

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Speaker 3: so we're expecting a big increase.

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Speaker 2: From a year over year standpoint.

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Speaker 3: Restaurants books are getting booked up, so if you haven't

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Speaker 3: made your reservation, I would definitely go go do that.

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Speaker 2: But this is a big dining moment in the year.

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Speaker 4: So people are going out and outside of just the holidays,

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Speaker 4: as Romain mentioned, people are going out alone.

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Speaker 2: Talk to us about what we're.

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Speaker 4: Seeing in solo dining, because I have to admit I

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Speaker 4: was a little bit surprised to see that uptick there.

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Speaker 3: Yes, so solo dining has been up four percent year

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Speaker 3: over year. It's the party size that has increased the

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Speaker 3: most actually this year. And I think the reason we're

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Speaker 3: seeing that is because there's been renewed focus on self

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Speaker 3: care of dating yourself. I myself, I'm based in San

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Speaker 3: Francisco and this Wednesday, I happen to have a free

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Speaker 3: block open for lunch. I walked to Niman Marcus and

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Speaker 3: dine by myself at the Rotunda and it was glorious.

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Speaker 3: So I'm not terribly surprised to see this dat I

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Speaker 3: think more and more people are happy dining alone.

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Speaker 4: Well, Debbie, I commend you because I could not be

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Speaker 4: alone with my own thoughts for an hour or so.

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Speaker 4: But also in your research, there's this trend too of

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Speaker 4: an increased awareness and increased popularity when it comes to mocktails.

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Speaker 4: I mean, just speaking anecdotally, this is something that I've

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Speaker 4: seen on social media among my own friend group that

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Speaker 4: people are often opting for non alcoholic beverages. And it's

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Speaker 4: interesting that it's showing up in your data as well.

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Speaker 2: That's right, and it's global. We're seeing this as a

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Speaker 2: global trend.

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Speaker 3: Diners as they write reviews for restaurants are mentioning mocktails

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Speaker 3: at a rapid clip, much more so than we've seen

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Speaker 3: during other periods.

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Speaker 2: And I think, you.

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Speaker 3: Know, you have a dry January and people are sober

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Speaker 3: curious and being dare I say, more health conscious? So yeah,

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Speaker 3: we are seeing arises in mocktails and people are all

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Speaker 3: about them. So instead of you know, having a beer

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Speaker 3: or wine before your you know, your course comes, we're

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Speaker 3: seeing actually a lot of people order that non alcoholic beverage.

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Speaker 1: That's very Did you just use the phrase sober curious?

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Speaker 2: I did. I did.

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Speaker 1: It's a new one, that's the thing. I like it.

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Speaker 1: I've never heard that before.

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Speaker 4: Sober curious. People are still ordering espresso martinis though. Uh, Debbie,

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Speaker 4: it's always so fun to talk to you. Really appreciate

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Speaker 4: you stopping by. This is open Table CEO, Debbie Sue