According to OpenTable's solo dining reservations are up 8% this year and the average solo diner spends about $84.

據 OpenTable 稱，今年單人用餐預訂量增加了 8%，單人用餐者平均花費約 84 美元。

So here with me now in studio of 57 to discuss this trend is Steven Zagor. He is a restaurant consultant, an adjunct assistant professor at Columbia Business School.

現在，史蒂文·扎戈爾 (Steven Zagor) 與我一起討論這一趨勢。他是一名餐廳顧問，也是哥倫比亞商學院的兼任助理教授。

Thank you so much for joining us.

非常感謝你能來參加我們的節目。

So we're just talking a little bit in the break and I am an only child.

我們在休息時間聊了一會兒，我是獨生女。

So I am very comfortable solo everything, but dining, I've been solo dining for a while but I guess it's finally people are catching up with what I already knew.

所以我對獨自用餐感到非常舒服，我已經獨自用餐有一段時間了，但我想人們終於趕上了我已經知道的事情了。

Exactly. You're already into the solo mode, so for you, dining out is just an extension of being on your own.

沒錯。你已經進入了獨來獨往模式，所以對你來說，外出用餐只是獨處的延伸。

You go, "Well, I'm here today at home, I might as well just go out by myself."

你會說：「好吧，我今天在家，我還是自己出去吧。」

Yeah, and I enjoy it.

是的，我很喜歡。

You enjoy your own company.

我喜歡你自己的陪伴。

Yeah, and it's a combination of it's like your own company, but you're in public.

就像陪伴你自己，但你在公共場合。

So I like to be around people, but I don't necessarily want to be like sharing a meal with them.

所以我喜歡和人在一起，但我不一定想和他們一起吃飯。

But [what] you said [is] a really key thing: dining out is an experience.

但你所說的非常關鍵：外出用餐是一種體驗。

It's not just going out to eat. You're feeling all the vibes around you. - Yeah.

這不僅僅是出去吃飯。你感受到周圍所有的氛圍。 - 是的。

You're feeling the energy of other people, you're seeing the action maybe at a bar or waiters and waitresses moving around.

你會感受到其他人的能量，你會看到酒吧裡的動作或服務生的走動。

So you've left that moment of solitude, being alone, and you come out to a different location where you're still alone, but you're embracing all the things that are going on.

所以你已經離開了那個孤獨的時刻，你來到了一個不同的地方，在那裡你仍然孤獨，但你正在擁抱正在發生的一切。

So like why is this happening more and more?

那麼為什麼這種情況發生得越來越多呢？

Is it that we are generally, you know, operating alone more and more and so we just don't have the connections to like gather people to go out or what's going?

我們是不是普遍越來越常單獨行動，因此我們沒有足夠的連結來邀集人們一起出門，還是怎麼回事？

We are. We are more alone. We are living alone more studies have said more and more single people living by themselves.

研究表明，越來越多的單身人士獨自生活。

We are marrying later.

我們比較晚結婚。

We have longer [time] to get kids. We're not getting kids quite as quickly

我們比較晚有孩子。我們沒有那麼快生孩子。

And we are much more confident and the the millennial generation and the Gen Zs, you can almost call them the Me-llennials or the Gen Me's because they are very confident and not necessarily in need of companionship.

但我們更有自信，而千禧世代和 Z 世代，你可以稱他們為「我」世代，因為他們非常自信，不一定需要陪伴。

And the other huge force is women,

另一個巨大的力量是女性，

women who are much more confident and much more in not in need of being with somebody and feel much more confident. They can embrace that solitude of going out to eat and not feeling like they're oh, "I don't think I can do this."

女性更有自信，更不需要和某人在一起，感覺更有自信。他們可以擁抱出去吃飯的孤獨，而不是感覺到「我不認為我能做到這一點」。

Right, you don't gotta wait till somebody asks you out on a date or something.

是的，你不必等到有人約你出去約會什麼的。

If you want to go a nice restaurant and have a good meal, you can spend that money on yourself. - That's exactly.

如果你想去一家不錯的餐廳，吃一頓美餐，你可以把這些錢花在自己身上。 - 正是如此。

So restaurants are sort of changing to accommodate this trend.

因此，餐廳正在做出一些改變以適應這一趨勢。

I remember when I was in Japan last year, they have these like solo restaurants where I mean you sit down, you don't have to talk to a server It's just sort of in a cubicle.

我記得去年我在日本的時候，他們有這樣的單人餐廳，你坐下來，不必與服務員交談，就像在一個小隔間裡一樣。

That's the most extreme version of it.

這是最極端的版本。

But what are restaurants doing here?

但餐廳正在做什麼改變呢？

Well, I think a good restaurant embraces the reason why the person is there.

我認為，一家好的餐廳應該與顧客光臨的原因相吻合。

There are people that are there to decompress. They don't want to be involved with other people.

有些人在那裡是為了減壓，他們不想與其他人打交道。

They don't want to be sitting at a bar, they don't want to sit at a communal table.

他們不想坐在酒吧裡，他們不想坐在公共餐桌旁。

They just want to be by themselves and you have to kind of read the moment. - Yeah.

他們只想一個人待著，你就得把握時機。- 是的。

Others are looking for yes, I'll sit at the bar because I just want to have that connectivity, maybe they'll sit at a communal table.

其他人可能是「對，我會坐在酒吧是因為我想跟他人有連結」，那他們也許會共桌。

Restaurants, we forget sometimes [that] restaurants sell seats.

我們有時會忘記餐廳出售的是座位。

They don't sell tables, they sell seats.

他們不是賣桌子，而是座位。

Effectively, they're a real estate company, they're renting seats for a meal period and the average check is that rent and they want to maximize that,

實際上，他們是一家房地產公司，他們在用餐期間租用座位，平均支票是租金，他們希望最大化租金，

so if you can look at it as a seat that you can fill with a single person that benefits you financially and even go as far as saying maybe we're gonna do promotions for people eating at the bar,

因此，如果你可以將其視為一個可以容納一個人的座位，這對你有經濟上的好處，甚至可以說我們可能會為在酒吧就餐的人做促銷活動，

maybe we're gonna have promotions for people eat by themselves at a communal table.

也許我們會進行促銷活動給共桌獨自吃飯的人。

So it's really a chance to kind of say I really love this because I can maximize my volume by getting those seats filled.

所以這其實是一個機會，讓我可以說：「我真的喜歡這樣，因為我可以通過讓座位坐滿來最大化我的收益。」

Are you surprised by that number that the average solo diner spends $84 like that's not cheap.

你對那個數字感到驚訝嗎？平均一個人用餐竟然花費84美元，這可不便宜。

I am surprised. I mean, I'm surprised.

我很驚訝，我確實很驚訝。

Yeah, it's that's a lot.

是啊，金額很高。

That's good That might be worth it for restaurants to lean into that.

這很好，也許值得餐廳在這方面多下功夫。

It is. I always ask my students, I always say, "How many of you take more pictures of your food than your family and friends?"

確實是。我總是問我的學生，我總是說：「你們中有多少人拍的食物照片比家人和朋友拍的照片還多？」

And almost all the hands go up. - I can imagine.

幾乎所有的手都舉了起來。 - 我可以想像。

And I think to myself, either you've got to get better family and friends or maybe are you dating your cheeseburger? I don't know.

我對自己說，要嘛你必須有更好的家人和朋友，要嘛你正在和你的起司漢堡約會？我不知道。

The food is so dang good-looking.

食物真好看。

Maybe your friends are not, I don't know.

也許你的朋友不是。

Maybe. Maybe your friends are not. We're not all Instagram will be ready.

或許。也許你的朋友不是。我們還沒準備好所有 Instagram。

Stephen Zagor. Thank you so much.

Stephen Zagor，謝謝你。

You're welcome.

不客氣。