Is it worth staying open on slow holidays?
Deciding whether to open on historically slow holidays means weighing the risk of losing money on staffing and COGs against missing out on revenue during normally busy days like weekends. Because holiday traffic is unpredictable and often results in barely covering costs, owners struggle to balance the fear of a dead shift against the anxiety of leaving money on the table.
Core Friction Pattern
Analysis of 4 peer accounts across online developer and community forums reveals that “Is it worth staying open on slow holidays?” repeatedly surfaces due to edge-case mismatches between standard defaults and real-world environments. Standard troubleshooting frequently falls short, compelling practitioners to develop custom workarounds.
+8 alternative community-tested workarounds cataloged below.
What people tried
Every workaround mentioned in the threads below. We haven’t tested any of them — and nobody here is claiming they worked.
Found another way around this?
Share your steps and trade-offs so fellow engineers don't have to reinvent the wheel. No account required.
Is it worth staying open on slow holidays?
- 1Offering themed dinner and drink specials to attract couples and empty nestersDid this help you?
- 2Running targeted social media advertisementsDid this help you?
- 3Hiring live entertainment and charging a cover feeDid this help you?
- 4Opening initially but planning to close early if demand is lowDid this help you?
- 5Closing the restaurant entirely for the dayDid this help you?
- 6Opening only for early seatings before kickoffDid this help you?
- 7Setting a prix fixe menu with reservations and a depositDid this help you?
- 8Pivoting to a daytime brunchDid this help you?
- 9Staying closed and taking the night offDid this help you?
In their words
Unedited, grouped by where they were said, most upvoted first within each place, each linked to the thread it came from.
“My place is dinner only. Every Halloween is super slow. Last year, I closed entirely. This year, Halloween lands on a Saturday. Is there any business to be made? I prefer to close if it’s just going to be super slow but closing a Saturday on an already slow month seems like suicide.”source ↗
“We are planning on opening but also afraid it could be a bust with people staying home to watch football.”source ↗
“We're closing. Last year it was a Friday and we barely paid for the staff + COGs (although it covered salary). It'd probably be a tad busier this year, but not enough to make it worth it.”source ↗
“Historically Super Bowl Sunday is the slowest day of the year. I wouldn’t expect Valentine’s Day to change that. But I also expect I could be wrong. So there’s that.”source ↗
Where this came up
People with this problem also raised
- 2Are holiday discounts worth it or do they just train customers to wait?
- 3How to plan a trip around holiday closures
- 13Is a short weekend trip worth the time and money?
- 7Is it worth leaving the airport during a long layover?
- 26Should I keep going with my stagnating business or quit?
- 2Should we cancel our trip if our toddler has a fever?