Solo Diners Eat Out Week – February 1-7, 2025

History of Solo Diners Eat Out Week

In the early 19th century, there wasn’t any stigma attached to solo dining. It was seen as something only the rich could do, as they needed to pay for a private room to dine in the restaurant. Communal dining back then was the standard, and people who could afford a more expensive price for privacy would dine solo.

After the American Civil War in 1865, luxury restaurants started coming up in the country, and slowly the stigma related to solo dining began to build. These restaurants removed the communal dining tables and created private seating areas for families and couples. Place settings were reduced to two, and that became the minimum number that restaurants expected when customers came. Dining that always required a companion was normalized.

In 1894, restaurants developed a policy where women eating alone or “lone women” as they called it would not be allowed into a fine dining restaurant. Even if they were a group of women, they would not be allowed in. Only when accompanied by a man, did they have the right to be admitted inside. By the 20th century, many women started protesting publicly against this due to sexism and restaurants finally discarded their lone women policy. This was especially because many women started working and became financially independent. This harsh stigma against women eating alone however started to change by the 1980s as more and more people began dining solo and restaurants had to become more accommodating of them.