"Clara Greenstein, a 28-year-old who lives in Queens, New York, can be found several nights a week at her local bar, The Seneca. The spot serves good burgers and drinks for a good price, but the main draw is a pool table. Greenstein entered a tournament about two years ago, and now she's inherited the role of running it. "I get a free hamburger every week and get to basically have office hours for all my friends," she tells me."
""The connectivity between restaurants and guests has in many ways broken down in the technology age," says Ben Leventhal, cofounder of restaurant reservation app Resy, who in 2022 started Blackbird, an app focused on loyalty rewards for restaurants in a handful of US cities, including New York and Los Angeles. "Restaurants love to connect with new regulars, guests love to become regulars.""
Many young adults are shifting away from chasing exclusive or viral dining experiences toward neighborhood bars, restaurants, and cafés that offer familiarity and social connection. Regulars value predictable interactions, friendly staff, communal rituals like pool-tournament nights, and relief from screen habits. Tech companies are attempting to monetize this trend with loyalty and reservation apps that aim to reconnect guests and restaurants. Social-media users describe deliberate patronage and generous tipping as "regularmaxxing" that improved well-being. Just over half of Americans report being a regular at a local restaurant or bar, per OpenTable data, underscoring the prevalence of localized social routines.
Read at Business Insider
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