Eating out-of-home, yes, but responsibly

December 2025

During the European Food Summit in Amsterdam, new consumer behaviours in restaurants and the aspects they value most were presented.

Restaurants are less frequented, but much better. Industry leaders and professionals from over 20 countries analysed this trend in food service, focusing on new market trends in out-of-home consumption.

It has emerged that Italian consumers, along with British, German, French and Spanish consumers, are driving the so-called “European metamorphosis of the restaurant sector”: the number of restaurant visits is decreasing, while budgets are increasing.

According to data from Circana, the leading consumer behaviour analysis company, between 2019 and 2025, European consumer spending on eating outgrew by +10%, despite the number of visits remaining around 10% below pre-pandemic levels.

European dining culture is changing rapidly, marking an increasingly clear gap between convivial occasions and individual experiences. What was once unusual — eating alone — has now become a lifestyle choice, redefining the habits and places where Europeans do so. Driving this trend are urban lifestyles, hybrid working and the rise of digital-first cafés, which have normalised the concept of “a table for one”. The UK remains the most advanced market in this transformation.

At the same time, restaurants for social occasions are growing and accounted for 31% of visits up to June 2025 (compared to 29.8% in 2021), driven by southern Europe with evening aperitifs and traditional family dishes to share.

This outlines a new model of local, healthy and sustainable gastronomy: consumers reward those who offer quality meals, personalised and balanced menus, and demonstrate an ability to respond to more selective and less recurrent consumption patterns.

This is one of the emerging challenges for operators in the Horeca sector and the central theme at SANA Food.