This Is the Right Time to Eat Dinner—And Chances Are, You’re *Way* Off. Here’s Why That’s a Big Problem
What time do you eat dinner? Early or late? Between work and kids and everything else going on in your life, it might just be whenever you can squeeze it into your schedule, no matter what time it is. Well, you might want to rethink that. A recent YouGov poll found that 71% of respondents typically eat dinner at 6 p.m. or later. And for years, a 5 p.m. dinner has been shorthand for early-bird specials, senior discounts and a restaurant so empty you basically had the place to yourself . It was the meal you teased your parents and grandparents about, not something you engaged in yourself. But scroll TikTok right now and you’ll find young professionals proudly logging off work and sitting down to eat while the sun’s still up, posting it under #EarlyDinner. Recent OpenTable data backs up what your feed is telling you: 53% of Gen Zers and 51% of Millennials say they’re especially interested in earlier reservations, and in New York City, 5 p.m. bookings have jumped 20%. A Ch...