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In the fall, do restaurant owners favor "falling back" to standard time, or would they prefer the daylight saving time format? —Doug S., St. Louis
The ending of daylight saving time in the fall means that the sun rises earlier and the evenings get darker quicker. In the past five years, 19 states have enacted legislation or passed resolutions to provide for year-round daylight saving time, despite it disturbing people's sleep and work schedules, according to this 2020 study. But does it change people’s dining habits or affect restaurant sales in any way?
We contend that brighter evenings motivate people to get outside, do yard work, go shopping, and dine in restaurants. While dining times might shift as daylight saving time comes and goes, we suspect that restaurant sales are unaffected, despite this article in Restaurant Business suggesting that a shift to permanent daylight saving time “has the potential to keep families grilling in lieu of eating in a restaurant.” And though we couldn’t locate any specific data to prove or disprove either contention, we did ask a few local restaurateurs their opinions on the matter.
Kevin Nashan, Sidney Street Cafe, Peacemaker Lobster & Crab: “Doesn’t affect our sales either way.”
Chris LaRocca, Crushed Red, Culinary Architects: “I think there’s a disconnect for about a week, while we all adjust to eating at a slightly different time, but I don’t feel people tend to eat or drink any more or less just because it’s dark out.”
Brant Baldanza, OG Hospitality Group: “The only advantage we see is staff claiming they had no idea of the time change and show up an hour early for their shift, but then they show up an hour late at the spring time change. It's happened at least once every year for the last 15 years but happened more often before smartphones. Business-wise, at Corner Pub, we see an earlier rush in the winter but don’t lose any business: We just shift from a 5–8 p.m. rush to a 6–9 p.m. rush. At Shack, we lose business for the first couple weekend mornings as people adjust to the hour lost, and then it comes back.”
Charlie Downs, Cyrano’s, Sugarfire Smoke House, Sugarfire Pie, Chicken Out, Hi-Pointe Drive-In, A Little Hi, operator of The Boathouse in Forest Park: “At most of our concepts, more daylight means more people, which definitely helps sales.”
Blaise Pastoret, Lodging Hospitality Management: “For us, darkness helps bring people to a cozy spot like The Cheshire, and by January and February, people are venturing out looking for things to do, which helps with first-quarter sales.”
Will Smith, City Foundry STL: “I feel it has as much to do with weather as it does daylight. In the summer, peak dinner hours are moved back. It feels nice outside, and with the added sunshine, it feels earlier, and St. Louisans enjoy dining outside on a nice warm day. In the fall, when the air is crisp, it gets darker sooner, and guests start to patronize earlier in the evening. When the time changes and the temperature drops, guests are less likely to visit on impulse. When it is 20 degrees outside, there’s less of that; people are less likely to leave the house or stop in after work. We tend to go from point A to point B. In the winter months, there are many variables to consider, and the tendency is to think that sales are impacted, until you talk to Kaylen Wissinger [Poptimism] and Sue and Mark Shackelford [Kalbi Taco Shack], who say their business is not affected by time changes.”
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