How to Easily Manage the Slowest and Busiest Months for Restaurants

Much like nature, restaurants experience changes in activity according to the season. There are periods when you notice the orders slow down and months when you have to ask your employees to work overtime to serve all customers.

If you want to ensure your business has a steady stream of income, you need to learn to adapt. In this article, you will find out the most common slow and busy months and how to manage them to maintain a constant profit.

What Are the Slowest Days and Months for a Restaurant

The easiest way to identify the periods when you sell less is to use a restaurant analytics tool, like the Reports module from GloriaFood. But, for it to be accurate, your restaurant must be at least a year old.

Read more: How to Successfully Use Restaurant Analytics to Increase Revenue

If you are at the start, these are the times when you should expect to see less activity:

• During the winter season: because the weather isn’t exactly friendly, people prefer the comfort of their own homes rather than adventuring outside in the cold;
• On holidays: people traditionally spend their holidays at home, with their loved ones;
• In the summer in college towns: if your restaurant is located in a town mostly populated by students, your sales will drop in summer, when they are off school;
• Outside of tourist season: if you are in an area often visited by tourists, you will experience a significant drop in sales during the off-season.

How to Increase Orders in the Slowest Months for Restaurants

If you don’t have enough orders in the usually slow period, you risk not making a profit or else, not even breaking even. Implement these measures to attract more sales in each month of the year:

1. Expand your sales online

Your restaurant may not be as full as you wish because people don’t feel like leaving their homes in the cold, but you can still make money if you start selling your food online.

People still have to eat and, when they don’t feel like cooking, your restaurant can be a great option. You just have to make online ordering a breeze for them. You will need:

• An online ordering system so you can streamline your online orders

• A sales-optimized website where people can place a food order in just a few clicks

2. Add promotions to your menu

To manage the slowest months for restaurants, you need an incentive to persuade people to order. For example, promotions. A mouth-watering food photograph coupled with free delivery, 2+1 free, a meal bundle, or a free item deal is irresistible.

You can easily add promotions in seconds to your restaurant menu with the online ordering system from GloriaFood. You have several tried and tested promotion templates to choose from and they will be added at the top of the menu, where they can’t be missed.

3. Organize events

It can be tricky to tempt people out of their homes during the slowest months for restaurants. A solution is to organize events, so you add something special on top of their food. This way, you offer people a unique experience, not just a simple dinner.

Here are a couple of ideas you can try out:

• Live music night that can turn into a party at the end;
• Sports viewing party for local teams;
• A cooking class to teach people some simple recipes;
• A quiz night with fun themes;
• A wine or beer tasting and pairing.

Read more: 15 Restaurant Event Ideas to Get Customers Through the Door

4. Add new items to your menu

People like to try out new things, so your solution to slow days may be to diversify your menu. With the menu creator from GloriaFood, you can make countless changes to your online menu, free of charge. Don’t forget to also promote your new menu items on social media to get the word out.

Here are a couple of menu items you can try in the slowest months for restaurants:

• Seasonal dishes: there are certain traditional menu items that people like to enjoy during a specific season or holiday. For example, a turkey dinner on Thanksgiving or hearty stews in the winter;
• Viral dishes: follow food trends and try to add them to your menu if they fit your type of cuisine. Lately, everybody is craving a crookie, a combination between a croissant and a cookie;
• Items with unique ingredients: make an unusual ingredient the star of your dish to tempt people to make a reservation.

Read more: How to Promote New Menu Items Without Breaking the Bank

5. Hold competitions

If people don’t visit your place for some time, they tend to forget about you. Try to remain at the top of your clients’ minds by organizing contests. This way, you not only give them a fun activity to participate in but also a chance to win a great prize.

Here are some contests you can organize on social media during the slowest months for restaurants:

• The classic like and share this post to win a meal for two;
• Share a photo of your favorite dish from our menu to win a meal for two;
• Let us know what item you would like to see next on our menu to win a meal for two.

Read more: 20 Restaurant Contest Ideas That Will Delight Your Customers

What Are the Busiest Restaurant Days and Months

It is helpful to know when your restaurant may become overcrowded, so you can schedule employees accordingly and order more inventory. Here are the usually busy months and days for restaurants:

• During the summer months: the warm weather entices people to gather their friends and family and enjoy a nice dinner outside the home;
• Mother’s Day: a day at the restaurant is a traditional gift for mothers all around the world;
• Father’s Day: the same as above, many fathers will choose to celebrate their special day at a restaurant, be it with their family or friends;
• During local festivities: if there is an event, concert, or festival taking place in your town, expect to have an increased number of orders at your restaurant;
• During tourist season: if your restaurant is in an area that is often visited by tourists, expect a rise in orders when the main attractions are available. For example, on Scotland’s coast, that is in March, when you can see puffins.

How to Manage the Busiest Months for a Restaurant

The biggest risk during the busiest months for a restaurant is that you won’t be able to offer clients a satisfactory experience because you are overwhelmed. Disgruntled clients may also leave negative reviews that will affect your business.

Follow these tips to prevent potential problems:

1. Implement a table reservation system

Accepting table booking will help you be more organized because you know how many tables you will have in a day. Clients also enjoy being able to make a reservation as they know they will enjoy your food without the risk of waiting for a long time for a table.

Don’t leave clients waiting, add the free table reservation system from GloriaFood on your website now. It will only take you a couple of minutes to allow customers to book a table in seconds.

2. Start hiring more staff early

Don’t wait until the last moment to start hiring extra staff for the busiest months at your restaurant. Hiring is a stressful and often lengthy process. You don’t want to add extra work when you are already overwhelmed with a large number of clients.

It would also be helpful to use a scheduling tool for employees. Look at statistics from previous years or days to ensure you schedule enough staff to comfortably take care of all customers, but not too many that they end up just sitting around and driving up your labor costs.

Read more: Restaurant Staff Hiring: How to Recruit & Onboard New Employees

3. Motivate your employees

The busiest months for restaurant can have a big impact on your employees. If they are suddenly given way more work, they may not be as productive and attentive to every customer.

If you want to guarantee a positive experience for your clients, start motivating your staff to give it their all at the job. You can give bonuses for performance, add benefits, and hangouts to aid in relaxation. Don’t forget to also praise them often for a job well done.

Read more: How to Motivate Restaurant Employees and Increase Retention

4. Use an inventory management system

Imagine a full night when you run out of spaghetti, the main ingredient of one of your star dishes. People will want to order it, but you will have to disappoint them and tell them the menu item is not available at the moment. This experience won’t encourage them to come back.

Use an inventory management system that will help keep you on top of all of your ingredients and alert you when you need to order more.

You can also use hardware inventory software in order to address equipment issues, reduce downtime, and ensure that all necessary tools are available when needed, leading to a more efficient and uninterrupted service.

Read more: 7 Effective Restaurant Inventory Management Tips for 2024

Final Words

Working in the food industry is a tough job. You will inevitably have to deal with the slowest and busiest months for restaurants, but you must not let them deter you from running a profitable business. Use the tricks provided above to attract a constant stream of new and returning customers.