Re: Eating all your meals at a restaurant

An excellent thread, but the article is pretty good too.

--
Dave S

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/07077/769799-51.stm

The restaurant years
Dining out's the norm if you're young and single

Sunday, March 18, 2007

By Brittany McCandless, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

They're over their ovens. Knives and cutting boards just don't cut it.

It's a trend as American as Starbucks: Young breadwinners are eating out
more, keeping restaurants in business and leaving their kitchens
untouched -- even if they don't have the dough.

Take Phil Santos, 31, who has barely used the kitchen in his Monroeville
town house. In the three years he's lived there, he hasn't even turned
on his stove.

"It might not work. I have no idea," Mr. Santos said. "It makes sense. I
don't even know if I have a pot -- what would I put on the stove?"

Instead of using the Pampered Chef, the Aerotek account manager turns to
pizzas and Panera Bread. In one particular week, factoring in all three
meals, he ate home exactly twice -- once for lunch, and once for dinner.

"I'm not a big fan of eating alone," said Mr. Santos, who has never been
married. "It gives an excuse to meet up with someone to go out."

Harry Balzer, a food trend analyst in Chicago, isn't surprised. It's not
Mr. Santos' age that makes his actions so typical -- it's his life stage.

Americans eat according to life phases, and there are two times when
eating patterns change the most: when you move out of your parents' home
and when you have your first child.

"You lived with your parents and then you moved away -- you lost your
cook," said Mr. Balzer, vice president of food consulting for the NPD
Group. "The thing you noticed immediately was the lack of food.

"Who will teach you how to cook? It will be a baby."

Those who are between relying on parents and becoming parents are the
heaviest restaurant users in America, and young couples and singles --
both men and women -- are 35 percent more likely to eat a meal bought
from a restaurant than the rest of the population. In fact, all new
restaurants depend on the twenty-something set for success, Mr. Balzer said.

"The older you get, the more difficult it gets to feed yourself --
particularly if you're by yourself," he said.

For Mr. Santos, breakfast is a rarity. When he has it, it's in bar form,
on the go.

For lunch, he typically meets up with a client or co-worker, and then
grabs a bite to eat with friends for dinner. Working from 7 a.m. to 6:30
p.m., he lives on soup and sandwiches. partly out of habit and partly
out of convenience.

Plus, he said, grocery shopping requires too much planning. You have to
go with a list, and you can't go on an empty stomach, he said. These
factors only all fall into place for Mr. Santos about once a month,
during which time he spends about $200 on such food as tuna steaks and
frozen pizzas.

He ends up using the oven to cook the pizzas, but only because they
don't fit in the microwave.

"Even if I did do regular grocery shopping, I haven't even learned to
cook," he said.

Obviously, the way around this is eating anything that has already been
cooked -- which is why takeout is taking off, Mr. Balzer said. Research
has shown that, since 1989, restaurants have become more of a place to
get food and eat elsewhere.

Time is the main issue -- cooking is a task, he said. This is why young
working people love casual fast-food dining -- and why restaurants such
as Panera Bread are thriving.

"They're today's hungry-man product," he said.

But while guys go for Chipotle, girls still go for Chex. Young adult
women are the heaviest eaters of cereal for dinner, Mr. Balzer said.
Some even eat it straight from the box, forgoing bowl, spoon and milk.
But this all changes once they become mothers.

"You're not going to say, 'Which would you like for dinner, Lucky Charms
or Cheerios?' " Mr. Balzer said.

Family or not, Americans like eating out. Four out of five consumers
agree that going out to a restaurant is a better way to use their
leisure time than cooking and cleaning up, according to statistics from
the National Restaurant Association. The average cost for food away from
home in 2005 was $1,054 per person.

So how does Mr. Santos, who spends about $150 per week on dining out,
keep up?

"Money goes in, money goes out. I take a look from time to time to make
sure it's all there," he said.

This was not always the case. When he first started working, he said he
spent as little money as possible, often reliving college days by
sharing a pizza with friends. Now that he has worked for the same
company for nine years, he enjoys his job security.

But some young singles are so fixed in their eating habits that they
continue to eat out regularly even when they're unemployed.

Bryan Shipp, 30, of Murrysville, quit his job a year ago and still eats
out almost every day. He used to sell software to medical practitioners
and says he lives on his investments.

"Why save the money? You can always pay for it later when you're not
having fun," he said.

From MTO wraps at his local Sheetz to filet mignon salads at Olive or
Twist, Downtown, he eats everywhere. He especially enjoys Chinese
takeout, which he orders at least once a week, and said he avoids eating
at fast-food restaurants -- except for Max & Erma's, T.G.I. Friday's,
Chili's, Don Pablo's and Outback Steakhouse. "I'm old now," Mr. Shipp
said. "I'm probably going to be fat and disgusting if I start chowing
down now."

Always looking for a new place to eat, Mr. Shipp likes meeting friends
for dinner and finding swanky places to take a potential date.

But rather than wooing a young lady with Atria's and Nakama Japanese
Steakhouse, maybe Mr. Shipp should think more along the lines of
celebrity chefs Bobby Flay and Emeril Lagasse.

"Young men are more likely to cook when they're young and courting," Mr.
Balzer said.

Mr. Shipp said that all he needs to get the girl is a George Foreman
grill and that he enjoys making fish and teriyaki chicken from time to
time. Though he admits, "I've gotten lazy with cooking."

Except on Mondays, that is. That's the one day he forgoes spending $10
for lunch and $20 for dinner, and he often eats Chinese food leftovers
for lunch and fish sticks for dinner.

"Fish stick Mondays" have been a mainstay in Mr. Shipp's cuisine for
years, and he credits its name on its success.

"Now it's not just what you're eating, it's an event," said Mr. Shipp,
who plans to continue fish stick Mondays when he has children.

And if Mr. Balzer's research is accurate, Mr. Shipp will have to plan
for many more frozen-food nights at home if he has a family -- until the
kids leave. Though baby boomers are set in their ways when it comes to
food, Mr. Balzer said, their habits change when they become empty nesters.

"If you're successful, you go back eating out when the kids leave."

Four out of five consumers agree that going out to a restaurant is a
better way to use their leisure time than cooking and cleaning up,
according to statistics from the National Restaurant Association.
A week of dining out

This is what Phil Santos, below, of Monroeville consumed from Feb. 25 to
March 3.

Sunday
Lunch: Iron Bridge, brunch, $12
Dinner: Bravo!, Chicken Griglia, $13

Monday
Lunch: Ugly Dog Saloon, Italian sub, $9
Dinner: Bar Louie, fish sandwich, $14

Tuesday
Lunch: Harmony Inn, cheeseburger and fries, $9
Dinner: (ate in), tuna salad sandwich, $6

Wednesday
Lunch: Panera Bread, sandwich and soup, $9
Dinner: Unique Pizza, turkey sub, $10

Thursday
Lunch: Max & Erma's, sandwich and soup, $12
Dinner: Damon's, steak salad, $12

Friday
Lunch: Shanghai Tokyo, General Tso's chicken, $10
Dinner: Red Star, lemon chicken pasta, $15

Saturday
Lunch: (ate in) tuna fillets and rice, $6
Dinner: Unique Pizza, White Chicken Pizza, $13

Total
Lunch: $67
Dinner: $83
WEEK'S TOTAL: $150



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