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OpenTable Serves Up 2025 Dining Predictions

PRNewswire 19-Nov-2024 9:45 AM

Plus, OpenTable Debuts its Top 100 Restaurants in America for 2024 Featuring Diner-Obsessed Spots

SAN FRANCISCO, Nov. 19, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- OpenTable, a global leader in restaurant technology, reveals the trends and consumer behavior that reshaped the culinary landscape, with out-of-the-box dining habits gaining momentum through 2025. Another standout trend among OpenTable's new consumer research is optimism for dining out next year, with 54% of respondents planning to dine out more next year than they did this year. Younger generations are leading this movement, with 71% of Gen Zers and 68% of Millennials planning to increase their dining frequency in 2025.1

Three trends permeated the dining scene in 2024 (January 1–September 30) and are expected to continue through 2025:

  • Is Wednesday the new Friday? – Mid-week dining emerged as a new trend, with Wednesdays seeing an 11% increase in dining year-over-year (YoY) – the largest increase of any other day.2 Looking to 2025, 43% of Americans from OpenTable's research said they plan to dine out on Wednesday if they were to dine out during the week. Why? 41% say to break up the week.1
  • Come one, come all – While solo dining is up 10% YoY, group dining is also having a moment: parties of 6+ are up 8% YoY.2 Consumer research backs the trend's staying power, 55% plan to group dine over the holidays and a further 43% plan to do it more frequently in 2025.1
  • Diners are challenging the status quo – Diners are being drawn to dining experiences from multi-course tasting menus to cooking classes to Omakase and everything in between: OpenTable Experiences bookings are up 27% YoY2 and 42% of Americans are more interested in experiential dining next year vs. this year.1 Diners are also looking to up the ante in other ways: 61% plan to try new restaurants in 2025 rather than stick to the same.1

"We're seeing a new age of dining out that is more adventurous than years past, evidenced by diners embracing midweek dining, dining solo or with large groups, or upping the ante with a dining experience," said Debby Soo, CEO of OpenTable. "And with more than half of diners planning to dine out more in 2025 than 2024, this is great news for restaurants all around."

"We're consistently seeing more large parties at our restaurants – while we do see a lot of special occasions, we're also seeing 'just because' group dining," said Kevin Boehm, Co-CEO and Co-Founder of Boka Restaurant Group and OpenTable Advisory Board Member. "We love this because we know magic happens when people come together over a meal and hope to see this build momentum into 2025."

Diner-Obsessed: OpenTable's Top 100 Restaurants for 2024

To help diners put these trends to the test, OpenTable unveils its Top 100 Restaurants in America for 2024, highlighting the most sought-after dining destinations from the past year from coast to coast. The list is compiled by analyzing more than 14 million diner reviews, along with diner ratings, reservation demand, percentage of five-star reviews among other factors, and features a diverse list of restaurants perfect for any occasion.3  

Trends across this year's list include:

  • Chicago sees the largest share of restaurants: 53 cities are represented in this year's list, with Chicago home to 10% of this year's list including Rose Mary and Boka. Up next is Austin, featuring seven spots including Uchi Austin and Red Ash Italia.
  • Diners loved OpenTable Icons: OpenTable Icons, a new 2024 destination and designation for the best of the best restaurants, are featured prominently on the list, with 20+ restaurants earning spots, including Bestia in Los Angeles and Four Kings in San Francisco.

"This year's Top 100 list reflects the breadth of restaurants on OpenTable – we're very proud to see local hotspots like Akahoshi Ramen, alongside MICHELIN-starred spots like Addison By William Bradley and institutions like Old Ebbitt Grill and House of Prime Rib," said Soo. "I couldn't be prouder of every restaurant that made this list for their incredible efforts to deliver hospitality to their guests at every turn. For diners, there's something for everyone on this list – it's an amazing hit list for locals and travelers too."

The Top 100 Restaurants in America for 2024 are (in alphabetical order by state/territory):

Arizona

California

Colorado

District of Columbia

Florida

Georgia

Illinois

Indiana

Louisiana

Massachusetts

Maine

North Carolina

  • O-Ku - Charlotte, NC

New Jersey

New Mexico

Nevada

New York

Ohio

Oregon

Pennsylvania

Puerto Rico

Rhode Island

South Carolina

Tennessee

Texas

Utah

Virginia

Washington

For additional inspiration, explore OpenTable's guides to the best special occasion restaurants and visit the OpenTable app.

1 Consumer Research Methodology 
An online survey was conducted by PureSpectrum among 1503 US consumers. Within this sample, major cities have been weighed for direct comparison. The research fieldwork took place between 25 October - 4th November, 2024.

2 OpenTable Data
OpenTable looked at online reservations for all restaurants active on the OpenTable platform from January 1 – September 30, 2024 and compared it to the same date range in 2023.

3  The Top 100 Restaurants Methodology
OpenTable's Top 100 Restaurants in America for 2024 list is generated from over 14 million verified OpenTable diner reviews and dining metrics from October 1, 2023 to September 30, 2024. Restaurants with a minimum threshold of diner reviews were considered and evaluated by a compilation of unique data points, including diner ratings, the percentage of five star reviews, the number of alerts set, the percentage of reservations made in advance, percentage of capacity and direct searches. Metrics were weighted to comprise an overall score, used to rank the list. The resulting list appears A-Z, not in ranked order.

About OpenTable

OpenTable, a global leader in restaurant tech and part of Booking Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG), helps more than 60,000 restaurants worldwide fill 1.7 billion seats a year. OpenTable's world-class technology empowers restaurants to focus on what matters most – their team, their guests, and their bottom line – while enabling diners to discover and book the perfect restaurant for every occasion.

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SOURCE OpenTable, Inc.