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silly question, but why are lunchs way better value than dinners at restaurants?

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chickdigger802

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I don't think the portions are that different, but quite often the lunch menu is hella better deal or just fits what i want better out of a meal (slightly smaller entree but comes with a soup or salad or other stuff).

Never worked at a restaurant before but i'm assuming more competition at lunch hours leads to more competitive pricing?
 
Quite a few factors, although it can range from place to place:

1) Staff costs are less, the fancy head chef ain't cooking lunch and neither are the best waiters/bartenders serving then
2) Smaller portions (this one is pretty straightforward)
3) People eat lunch quick so they aren't as much of a drain on resources of the restaurant
4) Typically smaller menu, minimizes waste and you can optimize your food production

I'm sure there are more reasons.
 
It's hotter during the day so the oven / stove requires less energy to heat up. Also servers are more alert and agile (opposite to tired) so they usually tend to be happier and more polite, earning more tips so the restaurant has to pay them less pay. Good guy restaurants pass the savings to the customers.
 
plexcide said:
It's hotter during the day so the oven / stove requires less energy to heat up. Also servers are more alert and agile (opposite to tired) so they usually tend to be happier and more polite, earning more tips so the restaurant has to pay them less pay. Good guy restaurants pass the savings to the customers.
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Haha what?
 
plexcide said:
In Finland the sun only shines 2 to 3 hours a day during winter and 3-4 hours during summer so our lunch periods are fairly short.
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You guys keep your ovens outside?

EDIT: As for the original question, a lot of it is time and portions - people eating lunch tend to stay for shorter periods of time and thus the restaurant can seat more people within a given timeframe, so they can charge less. Portion sizes are typically smaller, so they are using less food, and thus can charge less.
 
People are more likely to come back for lunch. Lunch isn't something that you normally make at home, you eat it out. So the place wants you as a repeat.

They want you back for dinner, but they do not expect you. Most people don't eat out normally.
 
People need to eat lunch quickly, so I would imagine that you get a lot of turnover during the lunch hour. Lower prices and good deals will get people to flood your restaurant as opposed to just hitting McDonald's instead.

Also, a lot of places hope that customers who check them out for lunch due to a good deal will say to themselves "hey, this place is pretty good. I should bring the family here for dinner."
 
The biggest reason is that most lunch-goers go out often and are much more price-conscious because of it. When you go to lunch every day at lunch hour you can't spend $20 each time, and restaurants want these repeat customers.

Also lunches are slower.
 
Some good responses above, but dunno if mentioned: Alcohol sales at night bring people in. Restaurants can afford to have more options on the menu with a smaller profit margin because of alcohol sales. People also often bring lunch from home/go home for lunch.
 
Zuhzuhzombie!! said:
Some good responses above, but dunno if mentioned: Alcohol sales at night bring people in. Restaurants can afford to have more options on the menu with a smaller profit margin because of alcohol sales. People also often bring lunch from home/go home for lunch.
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This doesn't make sense. The dinner menu has the higher margin in addition to the alcohol sales.
 
At lunch you are competing with fast food restaurants for the working crowd to do every day. Eating expensive at lunch adds up. Dinner something most people do every once and a while and not daily.
 
Fewer people out for lunch, so lower prices to attract them in.
More people out for dinner, so higher prices to make more money.
 
chickdigger802 said:
I don't think the portions are that different, but quite often the lunch menu is hella better deal or just fits what i want better out of a meal (slightly smaller entree but comes with a soup or salad or other stuff).

Never worked at a restaurant before but i'm assuming more competition at lunch hours leads to more competitive pricing?
Click to expand...

Less people show up for lunch.
 
Petrie said:
This doesn't make sense. The dinner menu has the higher margin in addition to the alcohol sales.
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Dinner menus are generally where you see more "luxurious" meals with more expensive or higher quality ingredients. Thus, less profit margin.

Lunch menus, even at top dollar restaurants, generally consist of salads, pastas, burgers, grilled chicken, etc.
 
Zuhzuhzombie!! said:
Dinner menus are generally where you see more "luxurious" meals with more expensive or higher quality ingredients. Thus, less profit margin.

Lunch menus, even at top dollar restaurants, generally consist of salads, pastas, burgers, grilled chicken, etc.
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You're flat out wrong there. Those dinner options have the far better margin.
 
People spend more at evenings, it's that simple.

In Japan, the value is even more obvious. You can go to a lunch spot for a highly reputable restaurant and cop a set meal for under 2000 yen and expect to spend over 10,000 for there at dinner. One of my Japanese friends explained that businesses usually pay the bill for these places at dinner times for client dinners and that's why it is there.
 
It's simple, It all has to do with expextations. It's the same reason breakfast is cheaper. People do not expect to pay as much for breakfast and lunch and they'll avoid anywhere that tries to charge as much.
 
Petrie said:
You're flat out wrong there. Those dinner options have the far better margin.
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No they don't, and the simple fact that it's a problem is seriously hurting the restaurant industry. Restaurants rely heavily on alcohol sales for their dinner menu because of the drop in the profit margin. Simple fact. You're not going to tell me that there is an increase in profit when a restaurant switches from serving sirloin during lunch to antelope at night.

Unless you're talking strictly Applebee's, which relies on pre cooked processed foods and franchise rules, you don't know what you're talking about, but even then, Applebee's is as much of a restaurant as McDonalds.
 
plexcide said:
In Finland the sun only shines 2 to 3 hours a day during winter and 3-4 hours during summer so our lunch periods are fairly short.
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Really? I thought when you got that high up the summer sun basically stays out almost the entire 24 hour cycle? Alaska is at the same latitude line as Finland and gets 19 hours of sunlight in the summer, some spots even get a full 24 hours on the Solstice day.

Did you mistype how much sunlight you experience in the summer?
 
Zuhzuhzombie!! said:
No they don't, and the simple fact that it's a problem is seriously hurting the restaurant industry. Restaurants rely heavily on alcohol sales for their dinner menu because of the drop in the profit margin. Simple fact. You're not going to tell me that there is an increase in profit when a restaurant switches from serving sirloin during lunch to antelope at night.

Unless you're talking strictly Applebee's, which relies on pre cooked processed foods and franchise rules, you don't know what you're talking about, but even then, Applebee's is as much of a restaurant as McDonalds.
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The problem is that both margins are extremely low. The dinner margin is still greater.

I've spent most of my life working in mid-high class restaurants as both management as well as being close with owners. Often there is no margin whatsoever on those cheaper lunch options. They are loss-leaders and the margin comes from adding things on. They rely on those alcohol sales at night because neither menu is making a huge margin.

The extremely high class 5 star place serving antelope though, they likely don't even serve lunch.

Also most people here are likely talking about non-5 star chain type restaurants. There's a reason there are so many of them, and that's because a majority of people go to them.
 
So was I until I became an engineer after getting screwed*. Food nerd fight!


*Built a restaurant, built a kitchen, designed a fairly profitable menu that also catered to the dumb hicks in my home town. Then the silent partner started opening his yap about wanting that Cracker Barrel crowd and everything from even the veggies on the side came prepacked off the Sysco truck. Yet they still charged a la carte. Hired nothing but 16 year olds to cook, grill, serve, and operate the POS.

It's closed now. Lasted about three years.
 
Zuhzuhzombie!! said:
So was I until I became an engineer after getting screwed*. Food nerd fight!


*Built a restaurant, built a kitchen, designed a fairly profitable menu that also catered to the dumb hicks in my home town. Then the silent partner started opening his yap about wanting that Cracker Barrel crowd and everything from even the veggies on the side came prepacked off the Sysco truck. Yet they still charged a la carte. Hired nothing but 16 year olds to cook, grill, serve, and operate the POS.

It's closed now. Lasted about three years.
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That doesn't sound fun.

We can agree there's very little margin to food either way. I suppose YMMV depending on the restaurant/area/etc.
 
plexcide said:
It's hotter during the day so the oven / stove requires less energy to heat up. Also servers are more alert and agile (opposite to tired) so they usually tend to be happier and more polite, earning more tips so the restaurant has to pay them less pay. Good guy restaurants pass the savings to the customers.
Click to expand...
dead
 
plexcide said:
It's hotter during the day so the oven / stove requires less energy to heat up. Also servers are more alert and agile (opposite to tired) so they usually tend to be happier and more polite, earning more tips so the restaurant has to pay them less pay. Good guy restaurants pass the savings to the customers.
Click to expand...

I was going to say restaurants set prices in order to maximize profitability based on supply and demand. Which is also why some restaurants offer substantially the same food as dinner for lower prices, while others (rightly) don't even open for lunch.

But I like your answer better.
 
I was always under the impression that people go out for dinner much more often than they do for lunch, which means the restaurant gets the most business during dinnertime, and is relatively quiet during lunch.

The better deals at lunchtime are to encourage people to eat out for lunch more to help offset this effect.
 
plexcide said:
It's hotter during the day so the oven / stove requires less energy to heat up. Also servers are more alert and agile (opposite to tired) so they usually tend to be happier and more polite, earning more tips so the restaurant has to pay them less pay. Good guy restaurants pass the savings to the customers.
Click to expand...

your deductive reasoning is impressive, but I can't believe any of this.
 
most restaurants do their business at night. lunch is a bonus and the cheap prices will motivate customers to come back for dinner later.
 
One of my favorite restaurants is Fogo De Chao, a Brazilian style churrascaria.

Lunch there is $30 - $40.

The exact same meal is $60 at dinner.
 
Lunch time brings in more elderly customers, who are known to complain about small mistakes. Also, food costs less during the day because of tidal changes.
 
I know that, for the places around me at least, they try to lure business guys on lunch breaks with tons of specials and virgin drinks. Sometimes we get samplers or coupons to go randomly right around 10/11AM

At Red Lobster, you can get a pretty sizeable meal for $7 before coupons, and its about the same size as a dinner meal.
 
The Abominable Snowman said:
I know that, for the places around me at least, they try to lure business guys on lunch breaks with tons of specials and virgin drinks. Sometimes we get samplers or coupons to go randomly right around 10/11AM

At Red Lobster, you can get a pretty sizeable meal for $7 before coupons, and its about the same size as a dinner meal.
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The meat part is actually a lot smaller on those meals. Generally half the portion size.

The sides are the same size as dinner.
 
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