UK | The restaurant experience has been reclaimed, and it’s happening at the kitchen table.
New research from Waitrose found that nearly two-thirds of the UK has been dining out less often than six months ago, as rising prices make restaurant meals harder to justify.
Seventy-four percent of those cutting back cited rising prices as part of the reason, with the average restaurant meal now costing diners GBP 15 to GBP 25 a head, compared with GBP 10 to GBP 15 for a takeaway excluding drinks.
Shoppers want restaurant-quality ingredients and meals they can enjoy at home, without the restaurant-sized bill. The result is a new kind of treat: better ingredients, more considered meals and the feeling of dining out, without having to leave the comfort of your own home.
Dining Drama: Why We’re All Suffering From Plate Envy
The home gives people something a restaurant can't: complete freedom over what goes on the plate. More than half (55 percent) say they sometimes mix cuisines within the same meal that they wouldn't usually order together in a restaurant.
It might be frowned upon to pair a curry with a side of carbonara, but at home, anything goes. Gen Z are leading the charge, with 38 percent of 18- 24-year-olds regularly mixing completely different cuisines within the same meal - and one fifth (20 percent) order multiple takeaways when they can't settle on one cuisine.
This is part of a wider cross-cuisine mash-up trend gaining traction on TikTok through hashtags such as #takeawayroulette, highlighting a generation increasingly willing to throw the rulebook out the window about what belongs on their plate.
On top of this, nearly two-thirds of the nation (63 percent) admit to "Plate Envy", the very specific regret of watching someone else's dinner arrive and instantly wishing they'd ordered that instead.
There is a clear generational divide, with 43 percent of Gen Z suffering from frequent food envy, compared to just 7 percent of over-65s - with 18 percent admitting they never wished they had ordered something else.
Sharing has its limits, though, with most people being willing to part with a few bites (28 percent) and no more. For over a third (34 percent), repeated plate-raiding is enough to cause negative relationship impacts, including causing arguments (12 percent) and avoiding eating with that person (13 percent).
Young adults are the most combative, with 19 percent of 18- 24-year-olds warning it would cause arguments and 6 percent of all respondents saying plate pinching is a relationship dealbreaker.
Even celebrities aren’t immune; actor Simon Pegg recently admitted on Waitrose's own Dish podcast that his family have nicknamed him "the food shark", on account of how quickly he polishes off his own plate before turning his attention to everyone else's.
The New Night Out? Staying In
Ask what would actually tempt people to swap a night out for a night in, and the answer isn't really about the food.
Top of the list is simply being able to relax at home (45 percent), ahead of value for money (34 percent), avoiding travel (30 percent) and convenience (28 percent).
For women, that freedom has a distinct edge: a quarter (25 percent) cite being able to eat in their pyjamas, nearly double the number of men who feel the same (14 percent).
Of those who have treated themselves to a takeaway in the past six months, four in five (80 percent) have hit at least one problem, with late deliveries the most common complaint (18 percent). Just one in five (20 percent) report getting through the experience issue-free.
When asked what makes a meal feel "restaurant-quality", nearly half (47 percent) say high-quality meat or seafood is the number one thing they look for; premium ingredients (41 percent) and authentic flavours (40 percent) follow. Restaurant-style presentation makes all the difference for 31 percent, suggesting that a night in still needs to look the part too.
Dining At Home: How We’re Changing The Menu
Half the country (49 percent) has already swapped a takeaway for restaurant-quality food for two, with a further third (32 percent) saying they're open to trying one.
Among Gen Z, that rises to 62 percent embracing the swap, showing we’re a nation of premium meal deal lovers.
Saturday remains the single most popular night to buy one (31 percent), but over a third (36 percent) are just as likely to treat themselves midweek - turning a Tuesday into an occasion that would once have been saved for the weekend. Nearly a quarter (24 percent) say they now treat themselves at home specifically because eating out has become too expensive.
Italian is the nation's favourite cuisine to enjoy at home (46 percent), closely followed by Indian and British (44 percent each) - with Asian and Indian the nation's most popular pairing when combining two cuisines within a single meal.
Italian is also the cuisine people are most likely to recreate when attempting a favourite restaurant meal at home (22 percent), closely followed by Indian (21 percent).
The future of dining out might not be about bringing the restaurant home; it’s about capturing the essential ingredients of a great meal - the flavour, the quality and the occasion - while leaving the logistical hassle behind.
More insights here
