At the Stephens Annual Investment Conference in November, One Restaurant Group chief executive officer Emanual “Manny” Hilario said Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays have become “dead days” for dining out.
“We’ve had a little bit of a shift on Mondays, Tuesdays, and Wednesdays,” he said.
Many restaurants in city centers, including San Francisco, are experiencing the same shift and this trend isn’t just impacting urban locations. During BJ’s Restaurants third-quarter earnings call in late October, executives noted a pickup in weekday traffic, for instance, while Placer.ai data shows that Dave & Buster’s is also seeing more midweek visits, with Thursdays seeing an 11.3% increase in foot traffic during Q3 compared to the same period last year. Both companies have been investing in midweek promotions, including BJ’s Pizookie Meal Deal available Monday through Friday, and Dave & Buster’s 50% discount on games on Wednesdays.
Promotions aside, other data sources corroborate a move toward midweek dining. A new report from OpenTable, for instance, shows that Wednesdays have experienced an 11% increase in dining year-over-year – the largest increase of any other day. OpenTable’s research shows that 43% of Americans plan to dine out on Wednesdays, with 41% saying they’re doing so to break up the week.
Toast’s quarterly Restaurant Trends Report also points to an increase in reservations on traditionally slower days. Same-store reservations for Monday (+11%), Tuesday (+11%), and Wednesday (+8%), typically slower days for full-service restaurants, were all up in Q3 2024 compared to Q3 2023, while Saturdays dipped by 1%. Toast notes that this trend may suggest customers are avoiding weekend crowds or are grabbing dinner out after a long workday instead of cooking at home. That said, Saturdays remain the busiest days for reservations, accounting for 27%.
Still, Placer.ai compared share of full-service visits by weekday every year since 2019, finding that there has, indeed, been a shift toward non-traditional dining-out days. Mondays made up 10.2% of visits in 2019, for instance, while they made up 10.7% in 2024.
Fridays had the most pronounced shift during this time, with 17.6% of visits in 2019 compared to 17.1% in 2024. Saturdays have also decreased since 2019, from 21.1% in 2019 to 20.8% in 2024, while Wednesday visits grew from 11.1% in 2019 to 11.4% in 2024.
“Placer.ai data reveals a shift in dining preferences by day of the week over the past several years. While Friday through Sunday continues to account for the majority of visits to full-service dining chains, certain weekdays — most notably Wednesday — have grown in their share of weekly visits. This uptick is likely driven by weekday-focused promotions, such as Buffalo Wild Wings’ all-you-can-eat wings on Monday and Wednesday, along with various beverage-related specials,” Placer.ai head of analytical research R.J. Hottovy said.
Of course, this isn’t the only change that has taken hold in the industry since the pandemic upended everything. As reported last year, consumers are also opting to dine out earlier. Yelp reported that the percentage of diners being seated from 4-6 p.m. versus 6 p.m. to midnight jumped from 17% in 2019 to 26% in 2023. This trend continued throughout 2024, with Toast data showing a 3% bump in 4 p.m. reservations and an 8% increase in 5 p.m. reservations, while reservations after 8 p.m. dipped slightly.
“In general, the late-night business changed. Consumers during COVID started going out earlier and restaurants were closing a lot earlier, so it educated the population to be a much earlier dining population,” Hilario said during his November presentation.
OpenTable also shows an uptick in solo dining – up 10% year-over-year – and large groups, with parties of six or more up 8%.
“We’re seeing a new age of dining out that is more adventurous than years’ past, evidenced by diners embracing midweek dining, dining solo or with large groups, or upping the ante with a dining experience,” OpenTable CEO Debby Soo said in a statement. “And with more than half of diners planning to dine out more in 2025 than 2024, this is great news for restaurants all around.”
OpenTable’s survey revealed that 54% of Americans plan to dine out more in 2025 than they did in 2024, including 71% of Gen Z and 68% of Millennials.
Contact Alicia Kelso at [email protected]
