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Breakfast is an essential part of our day; some researchers even believe it is vital to have a healthy and functioning body. My own, existing business over here in Spain serves only breakfast, even at lunch time. We have decided for this kind of business model, but most entrepreneurs don’t. So why is it that most restaurants only serve breakfast for limited hours? Shouldn’t we eat breakfast all day long, is it so important?
The answer for most restaurant entrepreneurs is that it is incredibly inefficient for a restaurant to serve breakfast all day. Each restaurant has limited space for the food they can serve. A restaurant is able to make more profit by serving different meals, meeting different client needs throughout the day.
Restaurants have to anticipate what ALL customers want, not just a handful. As the day moves on, breakfast becomes less of a want from the customers, and most people gravitate towards the lunch and dinner menus. As a restaurant owner, they must decide what kind of dining experience they want to give customers. They must take stock of what they can serve, and base their breakfast, lunch, and dinner menus on that.
Storage in the kitchen
Restaurants are known to have walk-in coolers and fridges; however, that does not mean they have unlimited space. Each chef and owner have to decide the volume of sales they will get and depending on that. They will need to order the appropriate amount of food for each meal. As the day goes on, people gravitate toward lunch foods, making breakfast items less in demand.
If a chef fills up an entire fridge full of breakfast items and starts serving lunch, they instantly become less profitable and less efficient. An owner or chef needs to predict how many customers they receive. As well as how much of each meal they will serve, and not only will they base the breakfast times on those predictions, they will base how much food they will order for every meal.
Customer needs
Depending on where you go as a customer, you will expect different things. A fast food place may have enough room and supplies to serve breakfast all day, and that sets your expectations. However, if you go to a smaller diner, you may expect to have breakfast at 9 am and lunch at 1 pm. Part of being a chef at a restaurant is knowing what the customers want, and what kind of expectation your restaurant sets.
If a place advertises breakfast all day, it is setting an expectation before a customer ever walks through the doors. They will base meal times on these expectations. Every customer has different needs, and it can be hard to supply all of those different needs. A restaurant will try to make it fair by offering the most extended amount of time for each meal to be served.
Glass of apricot and carrot juice on colourful turquoise blue painted wooden boards
Who can serve breakfast all day?
Any restaurant can serve breakfast all day, but sometimes it does not make sense. If a small business has an extensive dinner following, they may want to be open just for lunch and dinner. However, if a restaurant is known for being a great brunch spot, they may want to open a breakfast joint that closes around 2.
A lot of bigger fast food places are able to do breakfast all day because they not only advertise for it, but they have enough space to hold a lot of food for a lot of different people. With so many drive-through customers, a fast-food restaurant can keep a little bit more because they use it quicker than a dine-in restaurant.
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A limited type of shop will also be able to serve breakfast all day. For instance, if a coffee shop provides any type of food, they may be able to serve breakfast all day, depending on the amount of stock they keep in the fridge.
When does breakfast end for restaurants?
Each restaurant is different and will hold different times for each meal. The hours will be stated on the menus or on the restaurant website. There are times when a restaurant will host a special event that may change the hours of these times.
Typically, a restaurant will serve breakfast from whenever they open until 11, and from then, it turns into lunch service. Now everything depends on what the restaurant is known for and how long their day time hours are. Each restaurant is different.
Dinner service usually starts around 4 pm and is served until the restaurant is closed for the night. If it is a smaller place like a coffee shop, they may have different hours because their hours are longer, but food choices are limited.
The broader a menu is, the smaller the window will be for each meal. This is to make a restaurant more profitable and efficient. If a chef has to run around trying to serve one breakfast during a lunch rush, it instantly becomes inefficient and more of a hassle than taking breakfast off of a menu.
Pros and cons of serving breakfast all-day
Now you know all of the reasons a restaurant may or may not choose to stop serving breakfast all day, but there are some pros and cons to serving breakfast all day. There are many reasons an owner or chef may decide to choose breakfast all day:
• Sales- Breakfast all day is a great advertisement and can boost sales and profits.
• Brand awareness- You may not be aware, but even restaurants have their own brands, serving breakfast all day may give you a better brand perception than you had before. Why? Because your menu will cater to everyone, not just a select few.
• Speed- Usually, customers who come in for breakfast want to get in and out quickly. They don’t need to stay for long periods of time if they have somewhere else to be like work. If you are a 24-hour diner, this could bring in quick sales overnight you would not normally get.
Those are only a few of the benefits a restaurant can get by providing breakfast all day, but here is a list of negative impacts they can receive from breakfast all day.
• Chaos- Too many menu items could lead to kitchen confusion. Chefs and cooks will be all over the place, trying to cook dinner and breakfast items at once.
• Time- If you are too unorganized, serving breakfast all day could lead to longer wait times for customers. This may drive to unhappy guests and negatively impact sales.
• Storage- As stated earlier, if there are too many breakfast items, you may run out of other specials faster or other meals.
All of these are perfect examples of why restaurants choose to have designated times for breakfast. In some cases, restaurants may find they have enough storage and kitchen space to have breakfast all day menu option. If they can do that without any negative impacts, it could boost sales!
Conclusion
Each restaurant will have its own meal times, and the reasons they can or cannot serve breakfast all day. For most small business owners with a limited amount of space and operational hours, it makes sense to serve three meals a day with specific times. If a restaurant sets the expectations, they will have to follow through with those expectations.
All of the hours for the menus will be dependent on location and what the restaurant focuses on. Each owner will have a different identity for the restaurant. Creating a specific menu, catering to particular needs is an excellent way for a place to remain efficient and profitable.
