Does a restaurant face any unique challenges on New Year’s Eve? —Jason L. St. Louis
New Year’s Eve is a night that restaurant owners love to hate. The evening is a boon financially, but the dollars are often heard-earned. And while New Year’s Eve doesn’t present any unique challenges, restaurateurs generally agree that the night itself is a challenge. There are several reasons:
Find the best food in St. Louis
Subscribe to the St. Louis Dining In and Dining Out newsletters to stay up-to-date on the local restaurant and culinary scene.
1. Staffing: It’s been our experience that, given the choice, most employees would take off on New Year’s Eve. Since it is such an important night, however, they’re usually given no choice, and attendance is mandatory. The result is a lot of jockeying to be “first out,” which irks their managers (who often don’t want to be working either).
2. Menu Options: New Year’s Eve menu planning is often a no-win issue. Should a restaurant go with its standard menu (easiest and most expeditious), add special entrées (which is expected on such a night), offer a prix fixe menu, or some combination of the above? The “NYE special prix fixe menu” has earned a bad reputation the past several decades (and deservedly so), as the only thing “special” about it was the exorbitant price, resulting in some diners feeling ripped off and consequently steering clear of restaurants on that date. Savvy chefs/owners reacted by offering a more reasonably priced prix fixe dinner, often in tandem with the regular menu.
3. Clientele: New Year’s Eve is one of two nights of the year that restaurant staffers refer to as “rookie nights,” because of the large number of infrequent, inexperienced diners. NYE ranks second only to Valentine’s Day in terms of restaurant neophytes, who tend to be more demanding and ask more questions than seasoned or regular customers. Not that this is a bad thing, but rookie nights tend to bog down the machine, which can result in slow, inefficient service for everyone.
4. Weather: Inclement weather (or even the threat of it) can result in no-shows and canceled reservations. When this occurs on New Year’s Eve, restaurant owners grumble that the lost revenue is just that: Dollars they’ll never get back.
5. Lost/Found Income: Because owners count on NYE to provide a revenue boost at the end of the year, you’ll hear often them grumble every time that it falls on a Friday or Saturday—which are busy nights anyway—resulting in what they refer to as a “lost night.” But when New Year’s Eve falls on a Sunday, as it does in 2023, providing the restaurant is open (or chooses to open), it’s a bonus night, according to Brant Baldanza, managing partner of OG Hospitality Group, which owns The Tavern Kitchen & Bar, among other places. “People are already celebrating the holiday on Friday and Saturday, so when Sunday comes along, it’s gold. Restaurant owners love when New Year’s Eve falls on a Sunday.”
6. Reservation Policy: Diners tend to double- and triple-book reservations on many nights—New Year’s Eve included—so the no-show rate can run high, even after reservations have been confirmed. On the flip side, for the past several years, people have been dining earlier, Baldanza says. “On New Year’s Eve, that translates to us booking both early and later tables,” he says. “People dining earlier is one positive thing to come out of the pandemic.”
Follow George on X, Instagram, his Arch Eats podcast, or send him an “Ask George” email at [email protected]. For more from St. Louis Magazine, subscribe, sign up for the newsletters, or follow us on Facebook, X, and Instagram.
