🔗 Share this article Shared Restaurant Seating: Why 90% of Generation Z Like Them Term: Shared seating arrangements. Appearance: Long, awkward and making a comeback. The Return of Communal Eating? Oh no. The Sole Appropriate Location for Long Benches is the Cafeteria Who would voluntarily eat with strangers as an adult with free will? Gen Z, apparently. According to data from the dining booking company Resy, "90% of gen Z diners say they enjoy shared seating, versus just 60% of older generations". I’ve Never Felt More Out of Touch. Before Complaining About the Youth of Today Communal eating in patriotic “British Restaurants” was a major trend during the WWII, in fact – there were about two thousand five hundred of them, backed by Winston Churchill. I Suppose It Made Sense When Food Was Scarce, What's the Appeal Today? It’s an alien concept for you, I know, but shared dining can be fun! As Pablo Rivero notes: "Dinner becomes a collective event," and "You never know who you’ll be seated next to; that’s the fun of it!" The “Fun” of Having Dinner Interrupted by Someone Explaining Loudly About Their Therapy Says They’re “a Highly Sensitive Empath” Or being squeezed next to a Hyrox bore eating chicken to fuel his "workout routines"? Or a social media user filming you accidentally of their reel as they massacre a salad? You have to remember: young adults – the most digitally connected group, who grew up during COVID, and many of whom entered an almost exclusively digital workplace – enjoy organized group events. It’s the same impulse driving the popularity of youth running groups, hiking outings and crafting nights: they’re seeking real-world interactions. I’d Rather Eat in One of Those One-Person Ramen Booths They Have in Tokyo. You might not fancy it, but lots of young people are lonely (Nearly half of them, according to an Oxfam study released this summer). A recent American study , one-third of men aged between 18 and 23 reported they had no contact outside their household in the previous seven days. Isn’t it a good thing they’re getting out and breaking bread with strangers? Perhaps. Studies Indicate People Who Eat Socially Report Greater Happiness Conversing with new people is beneficial, too: it gives us a greater sense of belonging. Additionally the Resy data highlights an additional benefit: 14% of survey respondents said they’d landed a date at a communal dining experience. Since young people are leaving dating apps, this gives them a shot at a spontaneous "meat-cute". I Hate That Pun Almost as Much as I Dislike Shared Seating. My work here is done. Appropriate comment: "Young adults believe shared meals are a total success." Inappropriate remark: "It’s all fun and games until someone drops a katsu prawn on your Y2K baggy jeans."