FSR July 2023

CHEFS & INGREDIENTS NOW SERVING

Late Night Done Right

BY SAM DANLEY Streamlined menus are key to winning late-night guests, say leaders at Big Whiskey’s and Norms.

CONSUMERS ARE CRAVING MORE LATE-NIGHT EXPERIENCES POST- COVID.

STARBOARD AND PORT

AS THE DAYS GROW LONGER and the sun sets later, consumers begin embrac ing leisurely evenings and seizing oppor tunities for socializing and imbibing at bars and eateries. And with college stu dents picking up foodservice jobs dur ing the summer months, restaurants are leveraging boosted staff levels and extended hours with revamped late night menus, like Big Whiskey’s Ameri can Restaurant & Bar. “After a few years of not meeting up at 10 p.m. during the pandemic, people are

starting to come back to late-night,” says Paul Sundy, co-founder and COO of the Missouri-based franchise which just sur passed 10 locations. “We’ve always used summer to remind people about our pro gram. It’s the perfect time to meet up with friends, especially on the patio.” With its flagship location in Spring field open until midnight Sunday Wednesday and until 1 a.m. Thursday Saturday, late-night is a valuable daypart for Big Whiskey’s, and accounts for around 6-8 percent of the casual-din

ing chain’s total sales. Sundy says the key to crafting a winning program is focus ing on speed and efficiency with a pared down menu that can be executed by a skeleton crew. “We’ve had to be aware of our kitchen staff and think about what we can accomplish in a quick environment with out sacrificing quality,” he says. “You need a late-night menu that cooks can accomplish while they’re still closing up shop. We wanted to go far enough that if a manager wants to get the cooks off

JULY 2023

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