Will Coronavirus End The Potluck Dinner?

FRAMINGHAM, MA — If the coronavirus has its way, America could be saying goodbye to the potluck dinner.

Punchbowl, a Framingham-based, online invitation company, says use of its potluck feature is down 24 percent this year from 2019 among people planning Thanksgiving gatherings using its platform. Chief Operating Officer Stephanie Fader said the trend suggests people are planning more online gatherings and, when they do plan in-person events, they are leaving meal prep to the host.

The holiday season is getting underway just as a nationwide surge in coronavirus cases takes hold and states reinstate travel restrictions. A survey by Destination Analysts found 28 percent of Americans plan to travel this holiday season, down from 53 percent a year ago. Last year, 49.3 million travelers hit the roads for the Thanksgiving holiday, according to AAA.

"Across the board, we are seeing smaller guest lists and shorter planning timelines," Fader said. "And while people are gathering, they're doing so in different ways."

In response, Punchbowl launched a feature that allows people to plan virtual Thanksgiving dinners. And, not surprisingly, people opting for in-person gatherings have scaled back guest lists by 27 percent, from an average of 28.3 in 2019 to 20.8 this year.

In addition to smaller guest lists, Fader said Punchbowl was seeing shorter planning times for gatherings. On average, events are being planned 19 days in advance in 2020, down from 24 days in 2019. And 14 percent of events planned on the platform have three days or less of advance notice, up from 8 percent in 2019.

Empire Residence, a vacation homes management company, is also seeing shorter planning time lines. The company is getting requests for availability of its properties over the Thanksgiving holiday, but actual bookings are happening closer to the date of the trip, Chief Executive Alex Matthews said.

As of Wednesday, Empire Residence had only booked 30 percent of its properties for the Thanksgiving holiday — a number Matthews hopes will rise when the election is over and the political climate settles.

"We are getting a lot of requests on availability for Thanksgiving, but we have been observing that the actual booking happens closer to the date of the trip, because the travelers are waiting a bit more to see how the public health issues in the city they wish to visit will unfold," Matthews said. "Last minute bookings are a reality now, with a week of advance, or even only a few days."

Dave Copeland writes for Patch and can be reached at dave.copeland@patch.com or by calling 617-433-7851. Follow him on Twitter (@CopeWrites) and Facebook (/copewrites).