15 April 25 - MAy 1, 2024 dallasobserver.com DALLAS OBSERVER Classified | MusiC | dish | Culture | unfair Park | Contents Last Call How late Is ‘too late’ to order at a restaurant? BY CARLY MAY GRAVLEY O ne question we’ve all faced when going out to eat is, “How late is too late to show up?” If a restaurant closes at 10 p.m., for example, would it be acceptable to show up 30 minutes before closing and order? What about 10 minutes? What about seconds before they lock the door? At many restaurants, it’s fair game to show up at the last minute and receive full service. Many feel, however, that doing so is inconsiderate to the restaurant’s staff, who can’t finish up their closing tasks and go home until the final customer leaves. Just because you can, some say, doesn’t mean you should. A Strategic Move Some businesses have taken it upon them- selves to answer this question by closing their kitchens early. At that point, no more orders are taken for the rest of the night, and the staff can focus on finishing up with their remaining customers, begin the process of shutting down the restaurant and (hope- fully) go home on time. Alexander Urrunaga, the vice president of branding and development for Local Fa- vorite Restaurants (El Fenix, Snuffer’s, Twisted Root) sees the merits of this strat- egy not just in terms of staff morale, but also from a business perspective. “Labor, food, and beverage costs signifi- cantly impact a restaurant’s bottom line, making it imperative to optimize productiv- ity,” Urrunaga tells the Observer. “Closing kitchens early can be a strategic move to manage costs and ensure resources are uti- lized efficiently.” The opinion of the customer is still his top priority, however. “The business relies on positive guest ex- periences,” Urrunaga says. “Closing kitchens early improves productivity but should never come at the expense of the guest experience.” While closing the kitchen early gives the staff an advantage in finishing their work on time, it can sometimes be confusing for cus- tomers who believe that “open” means “open,” and a restaurant should be taking or- ders until closing time. This sentiment is echoed by Jon Alexis, owner of several Dallas hotspots, including Birdie’s Eastside. He’s trying a new method to balance guest expectations and staff pro- ductivity. “We hate closing Birdie’s Eastside’s kitchen,” says Alexis. “We are trying the op- posite approach. We will be debuting a late- night menu one cook can operate. That way we don’t have to turn guests away.” Not all businesses have such a cut-and- dry approach for handling guests at the end of the day. At restaurants that serve up to the last minute, closing-time etiquette is left up to personal opinion. Not surprisingly, opin- ions vary drastically. Closing In on Closing Time Since the pandemic, going out for a late din- ner is on the decline in general. A 2022 re- port from Datassential revealed that the average restaurant is open for 6.4 fewer hours than in 2019, and fewer than half of restaurants are open past 9 p.m. A survey conducted by Tasting Table in- dicates that this matches changing con- sumer habits. Only 4% of those surveyed selected “late-night” as their preferred time to eat out, leading the publication to name it “the worst time to visit a restaurant.” But the question remains: What are those 4% who prefer to eat late to do when a res- taurant can’t accommodate them? It’s pretty easy to ascertain where restau- rant workers tend to stand on this issue, mostly because they’re extremely vocal about it online. In a thread in the “Tales From Your Server” subreddit called “How late is douchey to show before closing time at a restaurant?” anonymous servers rail against customers who they believe can’t manage their time. “If you do not have time to fully conclude your business before the posted closing time, you showed up too late,” reads one re- sponse. “Maybe you need a watch. Maybe you need better life-planning skills. What you don’t need is to be waited on hand and foot, holding up the staff at your favorite (or the closest) restaurant because you and your party don’t have their lives together.” (This commenter also clarifies that they were speaking on behalf of employees at full-service restaurants and that different principles may apply to fast food.) While a server may think that it’s in bad taste to come in during the last hour, the cus- tomer has no way of knowing that unless it’s posted on the door. As annoying as staying a little later might be, not every customer who crosses your invisible line is a disorganized, out-of-touch monster trying to ruin your night. Customers have also taken to social me- dia to call out restaurant workers who they thought were punishing them for doing nothing wrong. “Sorry for bothering you during your business hours,” TikToker Taylor Peterson sarcastically bemoaned in a vlog following such an experience. She had placed a to-go order more than 40 minutes before the restaurant was sched- uled to close. After being “given shit” by the employee she spoke to on the phone, she showed up 10 minutes later to find that she had been locked out. Peterson had to call the store (from directly outside) and speak to the manager to get her food. The video, uploaded last Thursday, cur- rently has 600,000 views and almost 1,000 comments. Many agreed that her treatment was unreasonable and claimed the employ- ees were lazy and mad at her for making them do their jobs. But others insisted it was her fault for or- dering in the last hour. The Golden Rule While brazen hostility from both customers and servers is never acceptable, there’s still no clear-cut answer for when it’s “too late” to arrive. Sure, it may technically be OK, but factors like the size of your party, what you’re planning to eat and exactly how long you plan to stay could determine whether you get dirty looks from the staff (and, to be honest, deserve it). Industry professionals have differing opinions on where the line is. Joanna Sci- arrino, editor-in-chief of Vine Pair, offered this approach for those of us who like struc- ture in her “Ask Joanna” column: “If you’re going to a restaurant with the intention of having a late dinner, a good rule of thumb is to arrive at least 30 minutes be- fore the kitchen closes,” writes Sciarrino. “Even better would be to make a reservation, so the staff knows you’re coming and can of- fer the best dining experience possible.” The Takeout’s “Salty Waitress” column brings to light a gray area in the discussion. The writer admits that while they’ve experi- enced late shifts where they “[watch] the clock as you eat your mashed potatoes,” they have also had days where they were grateful for the extra tips no matter how late they came in. Their guidance generally veers into “golden rule” territory, which goes for both customers and staff. “Be kind. Tip well,” they write. “If you get rushed or half-assed service, don’t go back.” ▼ BEER FINALLY ... TUPPS BREWERY OPENS ITS NEW SPACE IN MCKINNEY. BY JACK MORAGLIA T UPPS Brewery opened its new 4-acre facility in March in downtown McK- inney’s Historic Mill District. Since then, guests have swarmed to the new venue, which faced numerous delays in the construction process. “The beer was flowing as fast as gravity would have it come out of a tap,” founder Keith Lewis said about opening weekend. “I think there was a lot of pent-up demand, ob- viously, when it took so long to get the thing completed.” We stopped by on a buzzing Saturday when many were flocking to the new loca- tion for an afternoon of brews, food | CITY OF ATE | ▼ Dish Daniel Nijland/Unsplash At Dallas restuarants, how long before closing should you be able to order? >> p16
