LSN : News : Stat: Americans rekindle their appetite for restaurant dining

Jeep’s far-flung office for wandering workers

Working Far From Home by Jeep, Australia

Australia – Car brand Jeep is encouraging Australians to experience remote working in an off-grid, purpose-built home office.

For its Working Far From Home campaign, the company is hosting a competition in which one winner and their guest will experience a unique take on remote working – staying in a rarely explored coastal location in northwest Tasmania. Jeep will give the winners an opportunity to work for one week from a Spacecube office pod located in this remote part of Australia, alongside access to a demo Jeep vehicle in order to explore locally.

To encourage a more meaningful escape, the brand is also partnering with tourism platform Empty Esky to help remote workers support communities affected by the Australian bushfires. In this way, Jeep is tapping into the reality of remote working for many of its customers, while encouraging adventure and escape from traditional home office environments.

With Bleisure experiences largely at a halt during the inter-Covid period, brands are getting experimental and forging new ways to engage Wandering Workers.

Hotel suites centred on guests’ wellbeing needs

Andaz 5th Avenue, New York

New York – Andaz 5th Avenue, part of the Hyatt hotel group, has unveiled seven Wellness Suites to bolster guests’ mental and physical health.

The suites are designed around three tenets of wellness: Feel, Fuel and Function. Partnering with external wellbeing brands, the suites feature amenities and products designed to support sleep, nutrition, movement and cognitive functionality. Among the in-room services are a Lululemon smart mirror for fitness, an Airweave mattress, meditations curated by Headspace, and a wellness mini-bar offering snacks and drinks to boost immunity and energy.

‘As a hotel company, Hyatt is driven by a purpose of care and we proactively bring that purpose to life,’ says Will Brandon, director of sales and marketing at Andaz 5th Avenue. ‘We like to identify ways to enhance the guest experience, and there’s been a heightened awareness of health and wellbeing accelerated by Covid-19.’

While we previously explored the rise of Hospitality Fitness, hotel brands are now expanding their efforts to serve both mental and physical wellbeing demands.

Breitling’s watch rental promotes luxury circularity

Seattle – Luxury watch brand Breitling’s nascent watch subscription allows consumers to explore its product range, while championing circularity.

The #BreitlingSelect rental service lets subscribers choose three different watches to wear on rotation during a 12-month period. Each watch featured in the subscription service comes from a selection of refurbished Breitling timepieces, reflecting a more sustainable, post-ownership approach to how people can experience luxury goods.

In this way, Breitling is giving people a chance to experiment and try out its timepieces for size and style, with potential to convert renters into longer-term, future customers. It also gives more eco-conscious luxury consumers a chance to enjoy watches in a way that is circular and less wasteful if their style or preferences change.

In our recent interview with Brynn Wallner, founder of watch platform Dimepiece, she discusses how sustainability is front-of-mind for Generation Z luxurians, with pre-owned or rental items becoming a crucial entry point.

#BreitlingSelect by Breitling, Seattle

Stat: Americans rekindle their appetite for restaurant dining

Misfits Market by Garnish Studios

Younger US consumers have consistently felt comfortable eating at restaurants in the inter-Covid period, according to research by Morning Consult.

Its research shows that 46% of US Millennials feel comfortable eating at a restaurant. Across all adults, comfort levels grow where outdoor dining is offered over indoor-only tables – 53% say they feel safe with that option, compared with 41% who feel safe eating inside restaurants.

US adults in suburban regions said they were most comfortable dining outside at present, versus those living in urban or rural areas. These findings indicate an appetite among younger, suburban consumers to dine at restaurants once again, providing fresh opportunities for restaurants to connect with this demographic, in particular through novel yet safe dining experiences.

In the Pandemic Dining Market, we identify some of the ways in which restaurateurs can cater for consumers’ expectations of safety, while reclaiming their role in the public realm.