 |
| LED Neon Open Sign image by amazon |
Before you consider your restaurant/bar hours of service, don't forget that you'll need your staff in several hours before the customers arrive to handle cooking prep time, server set up, bartender set up and organization of all employees. You'll also want to make sure your space is warm, well lit and clean so allow up to four hours at least for all this set up to happen in time for customers to arrive. You can always change employee schedules once you determine how much time is actually needed to get everything done and ready in time to open the doors for business.
Breakfast - if you serve breakfast at your business now, you already know that you need to get started early to allow those customers that are up before the birds start chirping a good meal. Most restaurants that serve breakfast are opened very early - usually by 5am. Others that offer breakfast have a late night breakfast so consider midnight to 2 or 3am the best times for this. You'll find that you get customers after the bars close and people that want a late night bite to eat.
Lunch - offer lunch to customers from 11am until at least 3pm. Oftentimes, 11am and noon are the most popular times for customers to get their own lunch break but, their are others that can take a lunch break any time in their businesses so, later works well for these people. If you're offering lunch in your bar or restaurant, be opened for lunch business for the most amount of hours in the day as possible.
Dinner - think of your potential current customers, the neighborhood and your competition for determining your dinner hours of operation. Don't overlook the potential you have to draw in the elderly crowd that dines early so you may want to start your dinner hour with an Early Bird Dinner Hour beginning at 4pm or 5pm if possible. This will be especially helpful in your restaurant or bar if your competition is not offering this early dinner hour for customers. The most popular time of day for dinner or supper seems to be 7pm so get your staff and business ready to be super busy during this time of day. How late should you serve dinner? Why not stay opened late for dinner? Try to offer your menu until 10pm or 11pm and you should see an increase in business especially if other restaurants in your area close down dinner at 9pm.
Happy Hour - what's the best time for a happy hour? We've found that our liquor control board allows 4 hours of the day to offer this service to customers. We've broken it down to two separate times. 5-7pm and again at 9-11pm. Those customers that work typical 9-5 jobs appreciate the early happy hour that they can share with friends or coworkers after a long day at work. The later happy hour is great for those customers that attend shows and movies, go to dinner later or are looking for bar specials later in the day. Find out what's possible for your area and choose a Happy Hour for your customers with discounts on appetizers, desserts and bar specials.
Open 24 Hours - if you offer all three meals of the day and late night bar food, you may want to consider being open for business 24 hours of the day. This definitely creates the need for more staff, more product and supplies and more utilities being on and used every hour of the day so, it's not an easy task for all restaurants. Also, if you have a liquor license, you'll need to check with your liquor laws for your state - bars typically must give last call at 2am and close the bar by 3am. Don't get in trouble with the liquor control board as you can get huge fines and lose your license and ability to earn additional income from your license forever.
When to Close - this is an important aspect of your successful restaurant. Others near and around you may close after the last call if you have a bar. That's typically 2am for last call and 3am to close the doors. You'll have to decide if you want to stay open that late or not. Will it benefit your business? It's very hard to say for sure, I'm not in your shoes. My business closes around midnight simply because we don't want those people that may have already been out all night drinking and now they want a last call. Alcohol can bring your business loads of trouble with drunken fights, loud noises and basically trouble, all depending upon your neighborhood of course. We've never had issues with the police showing up on our door due to neighbors complaining and we're in a building with apartments and other businesses. Consider closing closer to midnight especially if you're a fine dining restaurant - your customers are long gone and home around midnight and closing earlier could save you money on heat bills, electric and gets your staff off the clock sooner too.
~ If your current hours of operation aren't working, it could serve you very well to consider expanding your hours to give customers what they are looking for.
~ Why not take a survey of your current customers to determine their needs and decide if it could be worth it to expand your hours of operation.
~ Post your new hours a couple weeks to a month before you actually do it to allow people time to realize your plan. Don't forget to get the news on your facebook page, twitter account or place an ad in the newspaper.
~ Hire more staff that will surely be needed to stay opened longer or to start earlier in the day.
~ Restaurant hours of service can always be changed so don't worry too much about making changes.
Best wishes as you determine your own operating hours and what will work for you in your own situation.
Cheers until we meet again. Find more tips on having a successful restaurant here.
No comments:
Post a Comment