Food away from home was up 5.1% in January from a year ago and is up 0.5% from January, according to the latest consumer price index. But even as prices rise, consumers seem to still want to go out. So what’s one place you might find people out on a Friday night? The steakhouse — but not for the steak.
Beef prices are up, which might keep some patrons from ordering the steak. Besides that, some people may not eat meat because of dietary preferences. To keep diners coming back, steakhouses have had to make some adjustments to their menus and their venues.
Journalist Alina Dizik wrote a piece for The Wall Street Journal about how steakhouses are adapting to new consumer preferences. “Marketplace” host Kristin Schwab spoke with her about it. Below is an edited transcript of their conversation.
Kristin Schwab: My first thought after reading this was that there are so many places for people to spend their money for a night out. If they’re no longer going to steakhouses for steak, why are they going there?
Alina Dizik: That’s a great question. I really think that people like the vibe of these steakhouses, so they still like to be dressed up and sit in a booth or have this really great martini. So they still enjoy the ambiance of dining out at a steakhouse.
Schwab: Yeah, part of the ambiance, you talk about that — also, health preferences and prices. So what are restaurant owners doing to adapt to these new food choices and also that party atmosphere?
Dizik: So the restaurants that I spoke to said that they’re making it easier for some of the diners to split a steak that may have in the past just been an entre for one person. And they’re also kind of allowing the steakhouses to become almost like lounges as the night progresses. I know that there’s selfie mirrors encouraging people to take selfies, and also there’s just the ability to hang out and order drinks after dinner. They’re really trying to accommodate a wider group of people.
Schwab: One of the women you talk to, she’s not a drinker. And so, it seems like with less people drinking, you can almost kind of replace that sort of night out with a long, luxurious dinner.
Dizik: Yes, some some of the people I talked to, including one woman in Chicago, said that she doesn’t really drink and she doesn’t really eat steak, but she loves to go to the steakhouses for the atmosphere, because it’s always so celebratory and she can linger there with her friends and hang out and still feel like she has had a night out.
Schwab: Now, you’re talking about steakhouses being a celebratory place. The other way I think of them is as a place where men do business. And I’m kind of wondering if the shift away from steak is about more women having a seat at the table and also if it says something about whether the business world’s expectations of men and what they’re supposed to eat at a business dinner have changed.
Dizik: You’re definitely onto something in terms of these being originally places where men do business, and now that’s shifting to make it more hospitable for women. And some of the people I spoke to talked about how there’s more inclusive decor and lunch options that really focus on vegetarian options. And they have for a long time been trying to include women in what they’re offering. But it does seem like a bigger shift for both men and women away from, you know, just steak — and especially for men just the expectation to order the steak.
Schwab: OK, so picture yourself: It’s Friday night, you are getting dressed up, you’re going out with friends, and you’re going to a steakhouse. What’s the mood? What are you ordering at the table?
Dizik: So, if I’m going to a steakhouse with friends, I think I would order what the people in my story are ordering: seafood or salads. I would probably steal a piece of steak from whoever ordered the steak, but I would stay away from ordering it myself.
Schwab: I am that person! Convince somebody else to get what you want so you can have a bite.
Dizik: That’s right. I really feel like I can only have a bite, because if it’s a late dinner, I still want to have a good night’s sleep, and so I feel like that’s easier done with seafood.
