The Solo Economy

What Five Years of Changed Behavior Means for Food Brands

I was reading through some McKinsey data, when an observation stopped me in my tracks: US consumers now have three more hours of free time per week than they did in 2019.

And they're spending 90% of that extra free time alone.

And this seems to be about more than just working from home or pandemic habits that stuck. What we’re witnessing a fundamental shift in how people structure their lives.

• More time for hobbies, fitness, social media, and shopping. But most of it alone.

• At the same time, less time with friends and family. Anybody else think that’s sad?

The implications for food and beverage brands are significant.

When people have more time but choose to spend it alone, convenience becomes ever more important and a significant part of that convenience is home delivery. Getting food and groceries delivered is now about more than just saving time—its about protecting the cherished solo space.

The Delivery Revolution Isn't Slowing Down

Food delivery now captures 21% of global food service spending, more than doubling from 9% in 2019. A significant percentage of those deliveries is for solo meals.

And this looks like more than a temporary spike, it's more of a permanent reallocation of how people eat, and where they spend their money.

40% of consumers across Germany, the UK, and US used grocery delivery in the past week alone. Over 90% of Chinese and US consumers shopped at online-only retailers in the past month.

Convenience is now more than a nice-to-have. We're seeing the emergence of what I call the "bring-it-to-me" mindset as the new default expectation.

What This Means for Your Brand

First off, the tolerance for friction is disappearing. Speed is becoming table stakes (thank Amazon Prime for this). But speed alone won't win. Consumers are also demanding low cost, reliability, and seamless customer service.

The brands that will thrive are the ones that understand this new solo economy and design experiences around it.

Think about it: If consumers are spending more time alone, how does that change their relationship with food? Are they cooking more? Snacking differently? Seeking comfort in different ways? The answer is yes to all of the above.

As always, the data tells us what's happening, but the opportunity is in understanding why, and what to do about it.

Thought Starters

Based on the data about increased alone time and the "bring-it-to-me" mindset, here are some directions to consider for your brand:

Packaging innovation for solo consumption: Single-serve portions that don't feel sad or wasteful. Premium individual meals that celebrate rather than apologize for eating alone. Think about how Ben & Jerry's pint packaging became an acceptable solo indulgence.

Subscription models that understand solo rhythms: Not just regular delivery, but smart systems that learn individual consumption patterns. When does this person stress-snack? When do they cook elaborate meals for one? When do they order in?

Reframing solo dining: Moving from "table for one" stigma to "me-time meals." Marketing that celebrates self-care through food rather than positioning solo eating as a compromise.

Emotional intelligence in product development: If 90% of free time is solo time, food becomes even more of an emotional touchpoint. Products that acknowledge different solo moods - productivity fuel, comfort food, celebration treats.

How and Where to Start

The brands that successfully navigate this shift will be those that combine deep consumer understanding , then pair it with the agility to act on it. This is where data and AI become critical tools, as practical ways to understand and respond to these evolving behaviors.

For instance, AI can help identify the subtle patterns in solo consumption—when someone shifts from cooking to ordering, what triggers different food moods, or how weather, work schedules, and social media usage correlate with food choices.

The insights are there in your data; the challenge is making sense of them quickly enough to matter.

At 6 Seeds, we've been exploring how food brands can use these technologies to move from reactive to predictive, understanding not just what happened last quarter, but what your solo consumers will want next week.

What patterns are you seeing in your own consumer data? I'd love to hear what's surprising you.