How Restaurants Can Adapt To Daylight Saving Time With A Simple Tip

Those semiannual transitions between daylight saving time and standard time can be disorienting, leaving us an hour more tired in one direction or the other. In addition to making us bleary-eyed sooner — or later — in the day than our bodies are used to, these time changes have an impact on the restaurant industry, as customers' body clocks adjust in terms of eating times as well as when they sleep. Whether you operate a standalone restaurant or are at the helm of a chain or franchise — which aren't the same thing — daylight saving time can definitely shake up your business.

For insight on how restaurants can successfully adapt to these time change disruptions, Food Republic spoke with Amanda Belarmino, associate professor of hospitality management at UNLV's William F. Harrah College of Hospitality. She shared that restaurant owners should let the movement of the sun guide them as they create employee schedules and determine seasonal hours in the face of daylight saving.

"Restaurants find that dining patterns typically change during the transition to daylight saving time," Belarmino explained. "But that's not all. Consumers naturally prefer to eat when it is dark outside, and restaurants often find that their guests are eating earlier in the winter and later in the summer." This can wreak havoc in terms of scheduling. But there's an easy way to stay in stride. "One simple adjustment that can be made is to change your staffing levels to adjust to the time of the sunset," she recommended. "Consider having your staff start earlier in the winter and later in the summer."

Restaurant owners can also offer promotions that take advantage of the time change and combat its inherent difficulties. Around the spring time change, for instance, when diners tend to start heading out later in the day to get their dinner, early bird specials playing on the "spring forward" theme can attract them to come get their evening meals a bit sooner. (Earlier hours are the best reservation seating times, after all.) This not only helps bring in business during slower periods but can aid in reducing restaurant congestion at peak dinner hours.

During fall and winter months, when patrons are more apt to head home and get out of the cold once it's dark, themed events and promotions can help entice them to stay out a bit later to give you their business. Fun boozy promos, for instance, featuring fall and winter cocktail creations, can help drive extra later-evening traffic. Competitive events like turkey trivia nights, with seasonal dinner fare and prizes, can create a fun, late-night atmosphere following the November time change.

Adjusting events and promotions your restaurant already hosts is also a good move. "An opportunity to boost business is to consider moving your happy hour times," Amanda Belarmino suggested. "Make them go later in the summer and have a reverse happy hour in the winter, as many restaurants find that their dining room empties out earlier in the winter."

Restaurateurs can further make physical adjustments in their facilities to help minimize time change-related business disruptions. For example, placing fire pit tables and outdoor heaters in exterior dining spaces, along with inviting outdoor lighting, can help keep these sections of the restaurant operating amid chillier weather and earlier nightfall.