Food For Thought: Are New Yorkers Eating Dinner Earlier Than They Used To?

It appears that “The City That Never Sleeps” has turned into “The City That Never Eats Dinner Late”. A story by New York Post columnist Steve Cuozzo points toward a trend in recent years- specifically, since covid lockdowns forced us to change our eating habits- that New Yorkers are making earlier dinner reservations at many restaurants. Whereas the trendy diner of just five years ago sat down to eat dinner at seven, eight, or even nine o’clock, many restauranteurs say more people are now making dinner reservations as early as five o’clock.  WOR street reporter Natalie Migliore stood in front of a few mid-town restaurants for 710 WOR’s Len Berman and Michael Riedel in the Morning program to ask commuters when they make their dinner plans.

Migliore found one woman on the streets who told Riedel and Larry Mendte, who is sitting in for Berman, that the earlier dinner times are a sign people are living healthier post-covid. “The pandemic probably threw people on a health kick, because people realize what’s important; then they eat dinner at that time. I’m still sort of living my best life, so I’m not too worried about that, but when I was working out in the gym, I would not eat anything past seven, absolutely.”

Another woman on the streets succinctly told Migliore that “People eat when they eat; we’re all creatures of habit. If we used to eat at a certain time, it doesn’t matter what happened. We’re gonna eat.” However, a growing trend in the restaurant industry has seen many establishments move Happy Hour up from 5-7pm to 4-6pm, which would imply that people are developing earlier habits.

Migliore found another woman who thinks it’s a combination of new life experiences for the post-covid world combined with new priorities for a younger generation of diners. "I think it just changed how the workplace operates and, you know, how people prioritize things in life. I think that’s more important now as opposed to what time we go out and eat but, hey, maybe it’s changed things for the younger generation.”

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