2025 TRENDS THAT GAVE THE RESTAURANT INDUSTRY A RUN FOR ITS MONEY

#1 HOME COOKING

COVID fundamentally rewired how core restaurant diners relate to food at home. What began as necessity quickly became a hobby, then an identity—one supercharged by Instagram Reels and TikTok, where cooking is performative, instructional, and endlessly aspirational. For food-curious Angelenos, home cooking is no longer a compromise; it’s entertainment, self-expression, and community. As skills, confidence, and access to ingredients improved, the perceived gap between dining out and dining in narrowed, reducing “default” restaurant visits and increasing selective dining behavior.

Remedy: Restaurants should lean into offerings that can’t be recreated at home—technique-forward dishes, tableside elements, and storytelling-led experiences that make going out feel essential, not optional.

#2 DELIVERY

Delivery didn’t just expand access to restaurants—it redefined dining itself. During COVID, operators optimized menus for transport, often making food more craveable at home than in-house. Add the gravitational pull of streaming platforms, and the incentive to leave the sofa weakens. Meanwhile, delivery fees cannibalize thin margins, creating a structural dependency that’s hard to unwind.

Remedy: Treat delivery as its own business with a curated, margin-protected menu and a clear-eyed understanding of its role, while channeling marketing toward occasions that motivate guests to return to the dining room.

#3 MORE DIGITAL DATING

Restaurants once served as the central stage for social connection—dates, networking, celebration, and discovery. Today, much of that early interaction happens online, decreasing the need for in-person “third places.” First dates are increasingly casual, low-cost, or at home, eroding the spontaneous bar and dinner traffic restaurants used to count on.

Remedy: Create environments and activations that spark real-world interaction—events, bar programming, shared plates, counter seating—which encourage digital matches to become physical guests.

#4 LESS ALCOHOL CONSUMPTION

Alcohol has quietly gone from profit engine to cultural question mark. Earlier dining hours, wellness culture, dry months, and elevated zero-proof options are reshaping consumption patterns. Even when guests go out, they often drink less, shrinking check averages and upending long-standing bar economics.

Remedy: Build beverage programs that balance profitability with modern preferences—premium NA cocktails, sessionable drinks, and thoughtful pairings that replace “drinking more” with “experiencing better.”

#5 OZEMPIC

GLP-1 drugs like Ozempic have introduced widespread appetite suppression into the marketplace, reducing cravings, portions, and impulse dining. This shift especially challenges restaurants built around abundance, indulgence, and shareable excess.

Remedy: Design menus that are lighter, more flexible, and modular—letting guests order small but still feel taken care of—while rethinking value through quality, not quantity.

#6 PRICES

Rising food costs, labor expenses, and urban rents have pushed restaurants into an impossible bind: absorb the increases or raise prices and risk losing guests who are already dining out less. In cities like LA, even modest price hikes can redirect traffic back home.

Remedy: Protect perceived value through menu engineering, portion-rightsizing, and clear communication—ensuring guests feel the experience justifies the spend.

#7 SHIFT TOWARD SMALLER NEIGHBORHOOD RESTAURANTS

The pivot away from 250-seat clubstaurants toward smaller, intimate neighborhood concepts reflects a more sustainable ethos but also changes diner behavior. Hyper-localization means guests stay close to home, and delivery further reduces citywide exploration.

Remedy: Double down on community-building while creating reasons to travel—chef events, limited-time menus, collaborations, and programming that build buzz beyond the neighborhood.

2025 asked the industry to grow up a little. Guests got more intentional, habits shifted, and nothing worked just because it used to. 2026 belongs to the operators who know who they are, build with care, and make every dollar feel well spent.

Be Well & Eat Well,

The Schooligans