Resy’s 2024 Retrospective Looks At The Year In Dining & What’s Next

We’re dining out for the vibes, Sunday is the new Saturday, and restaurant lovers have their eye on Nashville, reservation platform Resy reveals in its 2024 Resy Retrospective trend report, released this week. The report highlights top consumer dining trends in 2024 based on a survey of U.S. diners¹ and Resy reservation data, along with predictions for 2025 from the Resy editorial team.

Get a sneak peek at the 2024 trends below and check out the full report here:  

1. Here for the Vibes: According to a recent survey of 1,000 Americans who dine out, 1 in 4 survey respondents said a restaurant’s “overall vibe” was the top factor for them when choosing a restaurant. Some diners are going for vibes only, with 23% of respondents going to cocktail or wine bars “just for the vibes,” even though they drink very little. 

2. Dining Out - Dating Apps: People continue to crave in-person connection, and restaurants are a prime place for connecting: 69% of respondents say they’ve made new connections at a restaurant and 1 in 5 have even exchanged numbers.  

3. Solo Dining = Self Care: Resy data² shows solo dining continues to rise in top dining cities across the US: Miami is up 14%, Chicago is up 12%, and NYC is up 6%. 

4. Dinner and Yap: 2024 gave us “yappers,” Gen Z’s favorite new term for that friend who likes to chat... a lot. According to the 81% of survey respondents1 who consider themselves “yappers” (at least sometimes), four characteristics stood out as qualities that make a restaurant ideal for yapping: staff with good vibes (66%), a good happy hour deal (64%), an atmosphere that isn’t too loud (61%), and booth seating (60%). 

5. From Music City to Restaurant City: Nashville, Tennessee was named the most underrated food city in the US. 

6. Will Travel for Restaurants: 67% of respondents said they’re likely to travel to a new US city to check out the dining scene, proving how cities’ culinary chops have become a driving force for diners’ travel decisions. 

7. Making Sunday the New Saturday: Resy data³ shows that setting a Notify for a Sunday offers the best chance of securing a table, as the day of the week that sees the highest percentage of Notifies that convert to reservations. Your Notify is 19% more likely to convert on a Sunday than on a Saturday. 

8. Regular Status Reigns: There’s no joy for a restaurant-lover quite like becoming a regular – and restaurants depend on regulars to help keep their business afloat. According to Resy data, these are the most re-booked restaurants⁴ in five popular dining cities: 

New York City: Balthazar, Cafe Chelsea, L’Artusi, Pastis, Thai Diner 

Los Angeles: Avra Beverly Hills, Great White Melrose, Great White Venice, Jon & Vinny’s Brentwood, Mother Wolf  

Washington, D.C.: L’Ardente, Le Diplomate, Pastis DC

Chicago: Armitage Alehouse, Bavette’s, Gilt Bar, Monteverde Restaurant & Pastificio, Trivoli Tavern  

Miami: Carbone Miami, COTE Miami, Joe’s Stone Crab, Mandolin Aegean Bistro Miami, Pastis Wynwood

      9. Diners Keep Dining: Resy enabled over 350 million diners seated between October 1, 2023 and September 30, 2024, grew to 50 million users, and saw the 650 millionth reservation booked⁵ since its start 10 years ago.

¹ This scientific random sample of 1000 US adults (age 18 and older) was surveyed between October 11, 2024 and October 16, 2024 by DKC Analytics. All respondents dine out frequently or at least some of the time, as confirmed by user self-confirmation. DKC Analytics conducted and analyzed this survey with a sample procured using the Pollfish survey delivery platform, which delivers online surveys globally through mobile apps and the mobile web along with the desktop web. No post-stratification has been applied to the results. 

² Based on Resy data comparing the periods of January 1, 2023 – October 1, 2023 and January 1, 2024 – October 1, 2024. 

³ Based on the percentage of Notifies set for a given restaurant that converted into a reservation between January 1, 2024 and October 1, 2024. 

⁴ Based on restaurants with the highest number of unique users who made reservations at the same restaurant more than once between January 1, 2024 and October 1, 2024. 

⁵ As of October 31, 2024.