The Los Angeles Times had a disturbing story this week about happy hours becoming a little too happy for business. It's not that restaurants don't want bustling happy hours, it's that more and more of them are experiencing the "fire drill."
The fire drill is when a restaurant is slammed until happy hour ends and then everybody leaves en masse as if a silent fire drill was hurrying people out the door. A couple of minutes before 6 the place will be rocking, but by 6:15 there will only be a few stragglers.
Restaurants push happy hours to get people to have a few drinks in the bar area and then move into
the dining section later on. Generally, restaurants that experience
fire drills are ones with sub-par food and/or extremely overpriced
non-happy hour drinks. (A former co-worker of mine invented the term fire drill to describe what happened at a certain restaurant on the Plaza that fits both of these criteria and still clears out when happy hour is over.)
The
problem is that restaurants with good food and not-overly priced drinks
are now experiencing the fire drill or, as a beverage director in the
Times article puts it, "We don't see a change in what people are
drinking as much as seeing a
change in the time they are drinking."
Today, though, The Wall Street Journal has an article that may provide the solution for the fire drill. According to restaurant experts, restaurants need to revamp menus towards cheap comfort food across the board. High-end places need to start offering meatloaf, pot-roasts or something similar and cheap Mexican places should put more emphasis on burritos with lots of cheese and other comforting ingredients. Fried chicken is also a good choice right now.
It's also important not to run off any customers, so even though restaurants may not be happy with the people leaving as the clock strikes 6, it's still important to smile and say thank you. -- By Owen Morris
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