Unequivocally yes.
I'm old enough to remember when dining out was a comparatively rare occasion and then only on rare occasions. Unless you were out on a date, celebrating an anniversary or other event, you pretty much ate and entertained at home.
At least here in the Northeast, on a typical Friday or Saturday night, the lines are out the door and waits for tables can be up to two hours long. On Friday night, my wife and I waited 90 minutes for a table at Texas Roadhouse. I probably had about a pound of peanuts while waiting! Even during the week, the restaurant business is brisk.
For better or worse, it has now become a rarity to cook at home for city and suburban people and even then, it's usually throwing frozen pizzas or pot pies in the oven, heating up soups or throwing together a quick pasta dish.
My grown sons, Gen-Xers, pretty much live at places like Chipotles, Starbucks, and the various chicken and pizza places that surround their apartments. They fire up the mobile Yelp app to find a place and then they text their friends and show up together.
During the recent snowstorms, their major complaint was that they were stuck at home with "nothing to eat."
Such is the culture of young people today.
When we lived in the burbs, we avoided the restaurants in the city, and always went to a restaurant out here, hidden on a Farm Road and owned by a friend and her husband-so I have never waited more than 30 minutes-at the bar-for a table. I would have left and never returned if I’d been kept waiting longer...
Sounds like a lot of young people in cities are going to starve if something goes boom, if they can’t keep and cook food at home. Eating and entertaining at home is still what people do here, unless it is a date, special occasion or Saturday night and you don’t want to cook. Nearly all the restaurants here serve beer and wine, and at least half have a full service bar, whether it is a place with a wine list and fancier menu or a roadhouse with a jukebox, burgers and a dance floor...
There are lots of hills, creeks, and one-lane roads and bridges here-if there is ice, snow, or a lot of rain, those bridges are either icy or under water-you are not going to get more than a mile of two from your gate, even with a 4x4. Not having food to cook is not an attractive option.