Lunch Is Back! Let’s Capitalize!

It only took three-plus years, but COVID is finally over. How do I know this? I know it because lunch meetings are coming back into vogue.

Restaurants in downtown Chicago and other big cities are seeing sales and customer counts go up in the past few months. Remote working, among other factors, drove restaurant lunch sales down for the past few years, but we may be moving into a positive “perfect storm” for increasing lunchtime sales because employees are returning to their offices.

Companies that allowed employees to work full time from home are now mandating them  back into the office two to five days per week. The share of Fortune 100 companies that require full-time, in-person work has jumped from five percent to 54 percent since 2023, according to Jones Lang LaSalle. 

Employers now understand the value of in-person collaboration, more accountability and, most importantly, the speed of decision making when staff is together. Interestingly, research also suggests that momentum toward the office might be led by Gen Z workers, eager to build relationships and accelerate their careers. 

All of that being said, let’s talk lunch! 

Employers now understand the value of in-person collaboration, more accountability and, most importantly, the speed of decision making when staff is together.

Restaurants that serve lunch need to revitalize their local area marketing campaigns to the companies in their area. Certainly, online newsletters and email campaigns will be helpful,  but this is a situation where it is time to go “old school” by employing some local area marketing strategies. 

One of my clients is famous for their bread, so we baked 500 mini loaves, packed them in a simple basket along with the lunch menu, business cards and a note from the owner of the restaurant. We then had three servers go out and knock on doors, look the potential customer in the eye, hand them the gift baskets, and thank them in advance for coming in for lunch. The results were immediate, and the guest count began to rise within the first few days.  

Want to increase the lunch customer count? Let’s get back to the business lunch specials that get the guests get in and out.

One option is to create a limited menu with great options and all at one price. It makes life very easy for the guests. They can make decisions faster, have more time to talk with each other, and know they will stay within budget  – extremely important in today’s dining world. 

Live interviews are finally coming back, too. There are more networking events happening and out of those comes “let’s have lunch.” Even employers are having a hard time hiring quality staff based strictly on what AI is letting through the gate. More managers are asking for in-person meetings with potential hires, and having that in-person lunch offers the opportunity to determine if the manager feels they can work in the office with this candidate. 

If your restaurant offers a private room, you should be working with your corporate neighbors to utilize that space for larger breakfast and lunch meetings. This is something that should be promoted to every guest who comes into your restaurant as well as through your local marketing strategies. 

Now that lunch is coming back, you may want to look at what else is possible. If more guests are back in the office, not only can we see lunch sales go up, but we should be thinking about happy hour. 

Don’t think traditional happy hour. From what I have seen, employees are returning to the office, but many are still on hybrid schedules. That means that the old happy hours from 4 to 6 p.m. may no longer work. Consider a happy hour starting at 2 p.m. and going to 5 p.m. Also, you may want to focus on food and non-alcoholic cocktails. Don’t be generic; rather, take the time to really understand your demographics and build on that. 

The weather is getting nicer. Folks want to get out and enjoy these beautiful days and, on top of that, there are more people back at work during the day than in the past three years. Don’t wait for your guest count to go up. Let’s get out there, talk to our neighbors face-to-face, invite them in and base your new specials and programs on what they actually want and not what you think they’ll like.