As the next holiday approaches, your friends who are not in the hospitality business excitedly tell you where they are going on their vacation. As a restaurateur, however, you toss and turn at night thinking about whether you should open your restaurant on the upcoming holiday. What should you consider as you decide?
For our DASH Hospitality Group clients and my Funwoody restaurants, we look at historical data and make our decisions based on a few factors: business, community, and the morale of our teams. Are there events or conventions planned that would spike business during the holiday weekend? Would our staff welcome the chance to work, or would they rather be with their families? Each holiday is a little different for us from a strategic perspective.
Take, for example, July 4th. The Dunwoody community hosts the largest Independence Day parade in the state of Georgia. For the last four years, DASH Hospitality has had a float in the parade. Walking in the parade past 35,000 of our closest friends is great for staff morale and team building. The great thing about the parade is that it ends in Dunwoody Village. We are able to open our restaurants early on the 4th and stay open until 2 p.m. After 2 p.m, members of the Dunwoody community tend to head to the pool or lake.
This year, with July 4th falling on a Friday, one of our busiest days of the week, we will certainly take a hit in sales. But we have decided that it would actually cost us more to open, both financially and in staff morale.
The night before a holiday, however, is a great night for restaurants to promote and build business. Visitors to the area usually want to get out and about, and those entertaining guests from out of town usually want to show off their favorite local spots. We have found the Sunday night before Labor Day, for example, to be a night that people like to dine out. Business usually starts late afternoon and continues into the evening.
The Wednesday night before Thanksgiving has also always been a big night for our restaurants. No one wants to cook. Whether to open on the day of Thanksgiving has always been a hot topic. Many restaurants do open on Thanksgiving, and it is one of their busiest days of the year. At Morty’s, we sell Thanksgiving meals to go. Our guests can pick them up on Wednesday or Thursday before noon. But as I have considered over the years whether to open my restaurants for full service on Thanksgiving, the answer has always been no. We work hard year-round, and I feel this is one of those days that I want to be with my family, so I want the rest of my team to have the day off to be with theirs as well.
I feel the same about opening on Christmas day. I opened one of our restaurants on Christmas day years ago and asked for volunteers who wanted to work. We had plenty of volunteers, but I felt guilty the next day. I do not celebrate Christmas, but just like Thanksgiving, it is one of the days I want everyone on my team to not have to worry about work.
Easter, Mother’s Day, and Christmas Eve, however, are great days for restaurants to be open. Our philosophy with our team on how to treat our guests on these holidays is to start with the kids and the grandparents. Families can be on edge because they are often not used to all being together for extended periods. We focus our attention on the children and the elders, and when we do, everyone leaves happy.
Easter and Mother’s Day brunch buffets are great ways make the shift easier. Buffets keep the kitchen and servers from getting bogged down with special orders for eggs a hundred different ways. Buffets also lead to quicker table turns and help with a higher check average. Food cost and waste are higher with a buffet, but your labor cost will be lower, and your revenue will be great! When deciding what to put on the buffet, make sure you highlight the greatest hits from your everyday menu.
The day after a holiday tends be a slower day for the restaurant business. Guests have spent a lot of money on the holiday and have been on the go, and they tend to be ready to settle back into their routine. If your restaurant needs maintenance, the day following a major holiday is a great day to schedule it. If you do decide to open on any holiday, giving everyone the following day off is a nice gesture.
When making holiday closure decisions, always remember to use data from the past, if you have it, to guide your decisions. The decision to be opened or closed should always make the most financial sense (and cents) for your restaurant.
David Abes owns DASH Hospitality Group, which operates numerous concepts in Dunwoody Village, including Bar{n}, Morty’s Meat & Supply, Message in a Bottle, and Good Vibes Ice Cream Shop. Before founding DASH, David served as Director of Operations for Here To Serve Restaurants for 14 years; Regional Director of Operations for LDV Hospitality; and COO for the Buckhead Life Restaurant Group.
