Setting tables for one: serving solo diners

Nation's Restaurant News, August 28, 1995 by Ron Ruggles

Popular music may bemoan the fact that one is the loneliest number that you'll ever see, but fine-dining restaurateurs are seeing more diners in exactly that number.

Solo diners, while not yet a large share of fine dining, are showing strong demographic potential with heightened business travel and a maturing, increasingly single population. And restaurateurs are developing amenities for, and a greater understanding of, that single-minded dining population.

"Can the restaurant industry afford to ignore this market of millions of people who are just waiting for an invitation to spend money?" asks Marya Charles Alexander, the Los Angeles-area author of "Solo Diners: The Untapped Mega-Market of the 1990s."

From special counters for solo diners to community and networking tables -- or the equivalent of the European table d'hote -- fine-dining restaurants are beginning to accommodate the solo market.

"It's certainly a market, but not one that we intentionally target," Stephan Pyles, chef-owner of the white-hot Star Canyon yearling in Dallas. When he designed the restaurant, though, he included a 12-seat counter-service area that faces the kitchen and accommodates solo diners easily.

"That's the perfect opportunity for singles to not feel like they are dining alone," he says. "It also allows for the interaction with the cooks if they want and provides a certain entertainment value."

Pyles says his restaurant does six to eight solo covers a night. "We've seen an increase in the year that we've been open, because I think the word's out that we have that kind of space," he says. "If someone's in town and can only have one meal, they want to go somewhere where they will feel comfortable.

"And we are aware of them and treat them as well as possible," Pyles adds. "It's something I certainly learned from traveling alone so much. More than anything, it's a certain attitude. The more expensive the restaurant, the more specialized, the less prone it is to take care of singles for some reason. It's a matter of personnel training with the wait staff, to get them to provide a little bit friendlier service."

Marck Girard, maitre d' at Restaurant Jean-Louis in Greenwich, Conn., said solo diners are infrequent -- always at least once a week -- but the French restaurant makes every effort to make them feel comfortable.

"We always give them a nice table," he says, "and try to spend more time with them to make sure they feel more at ease."

He recalls two years ago when a Texas lawyer was working with a Connecticut firm. "He came the first time alone," Girard recalls. "He was looking for the closest restaurant to his hotel. He stopped by one night, then for several after that. Then he started to make reservations for the entire week, and we became good friends. Months later he was bringing in business guests as well."

Building goodwill with the business traveler taps into a huge market.

The U.S. Travel Data Center reports that in 1994 Americans made 28 million business trips. The average trip lasts four days, and 70 percent of business travelers make their trips alone.

"This is a huge market for restaurateurs," author Alexander explains. "In addition, the number of people who travel on business and have to extend their trips over the weekend to get better rates also rely on Saturday night stays and hunger for alternatives to mini-bar pickings and room service. Anyone can imagine being stuck alone in a strange city on Date Night!"

In addition to business travelers, the United States also is seeing an increase in the number of single households. In 1993 about 23.6 million Americans lived alone, an increase of 15 percent from the 1985 figure, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. Of all those one-person households, about 58 percent of them are 18 to 34 -- not usually a fine-dining group, but one that's adventuresome and with discretionary income.

The burgeoning mature market, which will soon encompass the Baby Boomers, also has growth potential, Alexander says. "They have long been used to taking very good care of themselves, including dining out," she says. "Boomers are going to be lonelier than earlier generations, because of divorce, isolated from children. These are people who are looking for excuses to dine out. This particular group wants options."

To provide those options, Alexander encourages restaurateurs, particularly those that have small places with little space, to contain an ongoing version of a community table.

"Make it a house policy," she says, "for anyone who walks in the door solo or calls for a reservation to be asked this question: 'Would you enjoy being seated with another lone diner?' Mind you, this should be couched as an option. You are giving two wonderful messages:

"No. 1, 'You are very welcome at our establishment,' and, No. 2, 'We think so much of you that we know you like options.' "Perhaps they would like company over a good meal," Alexander continues. "Particularly in a fine restaurant, where the 'oooh' and 'aaah' factor is high, it's wonderful to share that with someone else. You must educate your staff to be completely on top of the fact that two checks must be issued. This must be clear, so there are no problems."