Why Dining Decisions Are Defaults

Dining decisions are primarily driven by frequency and habit rather than deliberate choice, according to dining behavior data from Zest, an AI-powered dining discovery app, that revealed a gap between where people want to eat and what they actually do eat.

“Most dining decisions aren't really decisions, they're defaults and defaults are invisible in review data because nobody reviews their routine,” explained Zest cofounder and CEO Mario Gomez-Hall. “You only see them when you look at where people actually go. 

The Gap Between Aspiration and Habit

Data shows the places people save show what they aspire to eat, while their visits show how they actually eat. For example, sushi, Italian, and Mexican are gaining shares of saves, while coffee shops, bars, and bakeries dominate real-world visits. Coffee alone accounts for approximately  a quarter of all visits, with more than half coming from repeat customers.

“It's all about frequency, " Gomez-Hall noted. “A coffee shop can be an everyday habit, but a sushi bar is more likely a date night or birthday treat. Coffee is cheap, daily, and attached to routines that already exist (the commute, the work session, the walk), so it stacks visits no other category can touch.”

At the halfway point, the shape of the data fits a value-conscious year. Fast food is a top-three category by visits and nearly half of its volume is repeat customers. Sandwich shops and delis are both close to 50 percent. The high-loyalty end of the data is almost entirely cheap and fast, he added. 

“People are routinizing the cheap stuff and saving up the expensive stuff for occasions.The defaults are being set by price and proximity, not by ambition. Today, a saved list is more like what someone wants their eating life to look like, and the visits are what fits the week they actually have.”

A number of trends have been revealed in the data including people becoming more adventurous about where they want to dine, how they view their daily coffee habit and, the return of bars for socializing. 

“Sushi, Italian, Japanese and burgers are the fastest-growing favorites this year, even after you control for us adding more folks onto the app, while actual visits stay anchored in coffee, bars and fast food,” Gomez-Hall said. “Coffee is losing share of favorites while dominating visits, down about 3.6 points from last year. Nobody names their coffee shop as a favorite. They just go every day. Bars are the single biggest gainer in share of favorites. People are saving their evenings now. Seattle is the fun one there: it's the only major market where bars outrank coffee shops by visits.”

Frequency and Consistency

Repeat visits are driven less about cuisine than about format, according to the data. salad shops, vegan spots, juice and acai places, delis, bagel shops, fast food and coffee top the list. (This data is compiled from before the Cyclospora outbreak.)  Salad shops have the highest repeat rate of any category measured, right around half, while vegan spots have some of the highest loyalty share.

“Every one of those is counter service, under about fifteen minutes, a short menu, and mostly daytime,” he said. “What none of those categories have is a reservation, a wine list, or a two-hour table. Consistency beats peak quality here. A place you can count on at 12:30 on a Wednesday beats a place that's spectacular twice a year.”

What Defines a Hidden Gem

Hidden gem restaurants have a signature of a high repeat rate on a small base, the data suggests. 

“Not many people have found it, but almost everyone who goes goes again,” Gomez-Hall said. “That ratio is the tell, and it's the thing a star rating can't show you, because a 4.6/5 from 40 strangers and a 4.6/5 from 40 regulars are completely different businesses.”

Operationally, the ones that hold up tend to be tight: a short menu they've run for years, an owner in the room, and hours built around when their neighborhood actually eats, he added. 

“They usually aren't spending on marketing, which is exactly why review platforms miss them. Nobody's optimizing their listing. The visits are the only evidence.”