Why ‘homebody’ Gen Zers are staying at home — and it’s not inflation

When asked to go big or go home, Gen Z tends to choose the latter.

“I’d say I’m kind of home now,” Karson Krouse, a 24-year-old wildland firefighter in Washington state, told Bon Appét. “There are strange things that came out of the pandemic. I go out a lot less. It would have to be really special occasions – a birthday or bachelorette party

A recent study found that an increasing number of American adults are spending time at home, roughly 10% more time than the same groups in 2003. According to study author Patrick Sharkey, a professor at Princeton, it is not not only work has migrated into the home, but also activities related to education, relationships and, you guessed it, eating and drinking.

“It’s a dramatic change in our daily lives,” Sharkey previously told the New York Times. “Almost every part of our lives is more likely to happen at home.”

And the 20-somethings who returned to legal drinking age during the lockdowns of the COVID-19 pandemic — dubbed the “household generation” and who apparently don’t know what “happy hour” is — are used to a night of relaxed on saturday. INinstead of OUTSIDE.

Instead of overcrowded dives or clubs, they’re hosting quiet gatherings in their backyards or dinner parties in their living rooms.

Now, bars have become a source of social anxiety, forcing them to navigate socializing with new people and social cues, rather than being a place to relax.

Montana-based TaChanté Cole, 25, grew up in a small town with a population of 1,500, making interactions with massive groups of strangers in social settings even more nerve-wracking, especially after the pandemic.

“By the time things were opening up again, I wasn’t comfortable going out and needing to socialize with people,” the esthetician told Bon Appétit, adding that her upbringing created “a bit of a barrier” in learning how to interact. . with new people.

According to Mara Stolzenbach, director of strategy at Gen Z research firm dcdx, the diverse goals of bar patrons further fuel the COVID-created feelings of “uncomfortableness and uncertainty.”

They may be there to see friends, hang out with singles or drink alone—the possibilities are endless—and Gen Z, Bon Appétit reports, is afraid of potentially misinterpreting social signals.

Earlier this year, Axios noted a remarkable 148% increase in searches for “dinner party” on Evite, as the so-called single generation fuels a dinner boom that also drives down the cost of socializing, Fox News reported .

However, some bars are trying to recreate the same down-home comfort that Gen Z is so familiar with.

At Alabama wine bar The Carriage, co-owner Caleb Banks designed the bar to feel like walking into a friend’s living room, much like a dinner party he’s hosting. Carpets are spread across the floor and patrons can kick back on plush sofas while sipping their drinks.

The bar, which prints its menus on plain white printer paper, even offers a “living room pour” — a heavy, 9-ounce serving of wine, nearly double the typical 5 ounces — that Banks says he would . give it to a friend

Banks tells Bon Appét that some guests get a little too comfortable, making it difficult for the staff to keep an eye on them.

“Almost to our detriment, they feel like it’s their place and not a bar,” Banks said, adding that people will also find “comfort” in a bartender who knows “what’s good” on the menu when customers are “tired”. of making decisions.”

With the technology at their fingertips to socialize digitally and anxiety on the rise among Gen Zers, it can seem like an insurmountable feat to lure Zoomers out of their homes for a night out.

But experts say there’s always community for food and drink.

“People are relying on food and drink as a way out. That’s what the promise of this is,” dcdx CEO Andrew Roth told Bon Appétit. “We accept, as a generation, that things like dinners and these spaces are the solution. We’re just not sure how to do it