All-Day Customers

Keep guests around all day by providing a place for coffee, breakfast, happy hour, and more.

TREND 5

All-day Customers

RESTAURANTS BECOME IRRESISTIBLE WHEN THEY OFFER SOMETHING FOR EVERY PART OF THE DAY

Consumers are ready to go back out after a year of being denied one of their favorite pastimes. All-day dining venues invite guests to spend the entire day at the restaurant if they so choose. Drop in for breakfast, return for afternoon coffee or tea, and meet a friend for happy hour drinks. The door is always open.

All-day dining works by offering a menu that typically transitions through each daypart, with the restaurant remaining open in between standard breakfast, lunch, and dinner service times. For example, from 6 a.m. to 8 a.m., an operator may serve a short menu of coffee, donuts, and avocado toast. From 8 a.m. to 3 p.m., the space transitions to heartier brunch fare. Happy hour kicks in from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m., offering drink and food specials. Dinner is then available from 6 p.m. to 10 p.m., just prior to an optional late-night menu.

In the last five years, food halls have proven to be excellent venues for those who enjoy all-day dining, contributing to, and in some cases, inspiring, the all-day dining trend. They typically house 5 to 15 separate dining establishments offering everything from coffee to ramen to pizza and tacos. In 2020, however, many food halls were temporarily closed, driving consumers toward more traditional restaurants—a trend that continues today.

The alcohol variety with the largest growth in popularity has been hard seltzer, growing 3871.6%.

All-day dining options are ideal for areas that cater to remote workers, college students, and shift workers. Today’s consumer enjoys unlimited snacking hours and sets their own eating schedule. Coffee with a web conference at 10 a.m., a smoothie after the gym around 2 p.m., and lemonades alongside a basket of sliders and fries with friends after a late-night out at the club. The more ways operators can cater to this new normal, the happier guests will be.

In 2021, 24% of snacks were sourced from restaurants, an increase from 13% in 2020.

Give Lemonade the Dalgona Treatment

Like the popular whipped coffee drink made from instant coffee powder, sugar, and hot water, try experimenting with a lemonade version that tastes like a creamsicle. Take lemonade mix and blend it with whipped cream, using the resulting fluff as a topper for a glass of lemonade.

OPERATOR SPOTLIGHT
At Austin’s Bouldin Creek Café, an extensive vegetarian-friendly menu is served from 8 a.m. to 10 p.m. every day. Breakfast, which is available all day, includes coffees, omelets, breakfast plates, and tacos. Lunch and dinner selections join breakfast at 10 a.m. and feature appetizers, salads, entrées, sandwiches, and decadent desserts like the stuffed oatmeal cookie sandwich.

_{^{Sources: Datassential, SNAP; Spring 2021 Eating Occasions, The Hartman Group.}}