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Going from 6 to 7 days a week

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26.2MilesforPizza

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Currently, we are closed on Monday. We’ve always been that way because when I bought this shop, the old owners were that way.

Right now, I work almost every minute the store is open. We are 2 months away from our one year anniversary, and its the only way that I can have a positive cash flow. I do have good employees and I trust a few of them to run the store while I’m gone. They’ve even done it before on a couple occasions. If I open on Monday nights, I will not be here. Currently, my employees are looking for more hours but my sales don’t justify adding labor on any other days. Opening on Mondays evening would give 3 of them 5 more hours each week; none of which will be OT.

Questions that I have:

In looking at the variable costs, labor and food will be the main concern. It seems that I’ll only need to cover those 15 hours mentioned above and the COGS +minor increases in gas and electric to break even on Monday. What am I overlooking? As long as I cover the variable costs, I don’t need to worry about anything else at the start. Right? I Mean, right now my sales are 0 for the day so nothing is covering the fixed costs anyway.

How will it affect my other daily sales? I think it could increase the other days since there won’t be that lingering question, “What day is this? Is this the day he’s closed?” However, I could also make the argument that my current sales will just be spread out over 7 days instead of 6.

Sorry for the rambling, this is what I’m considering. Anyone else made this switch?
 
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I once read somewhere that about 10% of sales are on a Monday. That was the reason the previous owner was closed.

If you open up, you will probably do less than that % because no one knows you are open. You are having to start over with the marketing.

I would suggest that if you do open, that you offer a “Monday Madness” or some other catchy name along with an aggressive short term offer. Make the offer strong enough to add to the bottom line but also attractive enough for folks to not be able to resist.

Bundling is a great way to do this with pizza and (bread, wings, drinks or salad), you pick it.
Also, if you are able, change your front door to mention you are now open 7 days a week.

Bubba
 
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Going to 7 days from 6 may just be a way to spread your sales wider…It may not carry more to the bottom line…In fact, it may actually cost you some profits…Marketing is a better way to drive sales versus opening more hours…
 
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I too will echo the don’t do it mantra. Monday is typically the worst day for sales as previously stated. Your sales would likely not cover the cost of being open. Typically Mondays are a break even day for me. I rarely have had a Monday that has actually increased the bottom line.
 
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While some will argue that you will just spread 6 days sales over 7 days, I believe that being open Monday in the long run will increase your other days. Being closed on Monday gives potential(and current) customers a reason to purchase from the competition if they happen to want pizza on Monday. Maybe they think the competitions pizza is good and just keep on ordering from there no matter what day of the week it is next time they want pizza. You will find that you’ll start off awfully slow as all of your customers have been taught that you are closed monday. Be sure to boxtop that you are open and be prepared to stay the course. Constantly changing hours and days will pizz off those customers that you get to try you by being open the new hours.
 
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It all depends on your location whether or not it’ll be worth opening. I personally wouldn’t do it because it typically is the slower day of the week and your labor may offset any sales you make. You could advertise a Monday special to drive sales and to make people aware. And if your sales improve like Paul suggests on the other days, it would offset any losses you may have on Monday. Personally, I would keep it the way it is.

Good Luck!!
 
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So, I just went and checked my caller ID for the last 4 weeks. I wanted to see how many Monday calls I am missing right now compared to Tues, Wed, and Thur. It turns out that the phone rings about 48% as often on a Monday as it does on the others.

My biggest fear is something that Paul pointed out. If I make the change, I can’t be switching back and forth unless I want people to really be confused about my hours.
 
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sorry but i am going to join the dont do it camp…i am biased b/c i too close one day a week and i think it was one of the best decisions we have made over the last 30 years…too bad it took us 20 yrs to do it though

good luck but I think you realize that you once you do it you cant go back and who is to say that your guys might change their mind about more hours a couple months later…I have always found that when it comes to employees you usually get burned especially when you try to do them a favor
 
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Is there any competition in the area that is open on Monday. We are open 7 days a week, and as much as the time off is nice, if you are not open you aren’t making money. If you can be profitable, there are 4 more days to help pay the rent and nowadays rent isn’t cheap.

Sometimes our Mondays are pretty good considering alot of businesses take the were gonna be closed on Monday stand and people eat out everyday. During the summer we have Mondays that are better than Tuesday. We are only open for dinner, what about you? Like mentioned, getting the word out could be your culprit.

Good Luck,

Tony
 
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We opened on Sundays. It has been a great move for us. BUT…we went into it realizing we will have to be the ones working them for now. 100% guest satisfaction is absolutely necessary to bring in and KEEP these customers. (isn’t it always) So for now I need to be there to make sure it happens. I need to be there to do what I do in greeting and socializing with these customers. It has definately increased business across the board.

It has been a year and our sales have doubled since we first started. Where the difficulty has been is realizing this old day off must be replaced with a new one. Being patient as sales increased.

I would not recommend doing this in your case. You are overworked as it is. It would be an investment and for a time you probably aren’t going to profit until people know you are open and Monday is really a slower day anyway. Work on when you are already open. Work on cross training and penny pinching.
 
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Speaking from a customers stand point I would say stay closed. The restaurant world takes a heavy toll on the indies and its owners. You need a regular day off to handle the rest of your needs. Your customers realize this and there are plenty of open places to eat that the lack of your pizza won’t hurt them too much. I agree with those who say work on your marketing and increase sales for the rest of the week. You might just spread sales over 7 days…you might increase with the extra day of income… but at what cost too you and your ability to handle your other life requirements.
 
here is a problem i ran into. your employees are all looking forward to working this day so you now open on mondays. before long everyone needs monday off, labor day, memorial day, this day, that day, and guess who is now working mondays?
 
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jad135:
here is a problem i ran into. your employees are all looking forward to working this day so you now open on mondays. before long everyone needs monday off, labor day, memorial day, this day, that day, and guess who is now working mondays?
Click to expand...
I am going to get a calender and circle in red the days the staff can`t ask off,this includes all of december our busiest month,the day before a holiday etc.
 
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Do it. Even if the sales pick-up is only 10% that is a heck of a lot easier 10% to find than any other I can think of! Your utilities will rise by maybe 3-4%. Food and labor % should stay the same. Phone, insurance, maintainance, payroll processing… etc etc etc will stay the same.

Yes, it may take a while to get the word out… but do a special box topper announcing the change and your core customers will figure it out soon enough.
 
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Do any of you close on Sudays and if so, or not, why? I like the idea of being closed one day but I’m thinking of opening in a downtown setting and I’m not sure I’d like to miss the Monday business.
 
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I agree with being open 7 days vs 6 days. This post is more about 6 vs 7 then the logistics of changing from 6 to 7 or any personnel issues you may face.

Over the past 2 years, Monday has constituted 9.8% of my sales. Tuesday is 10.3% of my sales. Each of those days I’m pretty close to break even depending on how it’s staffed and if I’m working. If we’re closed, I’m a sure thing to lose hundreds of dollars on the day. I’d rather be open and break even on the day then have to open up Tuesday knowing that I’m already in the red on the week.

Break-even is better than negative. That’s just my .02
 
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Hello All, This is my first post. I am looking to purchase a shop in southeastern MA in the next few months. I’ve read the first 75 pages of this forum and will continue until I reach the end. I’m sure I’ll post some questions in the near future.

But in regards to this question I am looking at a shop that does about 320k a year and at present it is closed Sunday. Even before reading this thread I thought it strange they were closed Sunday rather than Monday. The shop is located 3 blocks from a small college (only 1,000 students) and a small amount of businesses in the area so there isn’t a ton of business people swarming around looking for a lunch place. I would think the college kids would be more interested in food on Sunday than Monday? Am I wrong?

Thanks in advance. I’ve learned a ton from my reading here.

Jay
 
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Hi Jay,

I don’t know if this helps or not but a pizza expert in Sweden, @Mike Arvblom says that Sunday in Sweden is the biggest pizza day there is, reason being that most people are hung over on Sunday! I would think that would be something Sweden and college towns might have in common. 😉
 
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Hi Jay,

Good luck with this new venture! A few things to think about…

Is this store closed on Sunday for any religious or cultural reasons. I know there are some communities that I have looked at where NOTHING is open on Sunday because the the business would be rejected by and large the other 6 days of the week by a majority of the residents of the city. These are few and far between, but just make sure you understand WHY the business is currently closed on Sunday.

Assuming it is just because the previous owner needed a day off, I would think that your instincts are correct that taking Monday off instead of Sunday would prove more effective. Again, every market is different, but for most, Sunday’s certainly have better potential than Monday. If you still want to take a day off, I would think Monday or even Tuesday would make much more sense.

So, then the question becomes, do you need or want to take a day off at all? Many times, the people who order from you are going to order from you XX number of times per week and if they don’t catch you on Monday, they will catch you on Tuesday or Wednesday or another day. I would not look at this decision and say “well we are doing 10% of our sales on Monday, so we would lose or gain 10% in sales by being open”, because again if people aren’t able to order on Monday, they are more likely to give you a call Tuesday. You may lose some sales by closing but it usually isn’t the raw number that you see. And as other posters pointed out taking a day off makes you stronger the rest of the week,mentally, physically, time spent on marketing, your staff gets the mental and physical recharging. I currently started my second store about 7 months ago - the first one did not make it fifteen years ago. This was one of the top two or three lessons I took from that first experience, you have to have time to re-charge and work ON the business next just IN the business. This second time around, I AM open 7 days a week, but I am focused only on getting a strong and successful dinner store (4-10) going before I take on lunch or late night and start stretching myself too thin. Leave time in your schedule to re-charge and work on the business, this is so important!!!

I think this is a good question to be asking, but I would get in the store, run it as is (keep existing schedule) for a couple months and then make a decision. You will get a much better feel for things after that. Some ways you can “test” the appetite for Sunday business…go in on Sundays and just turn on sign and open for carry-out and see who comes in. If people come in, just explain “I am new owner doing some cleaning, thought I would take any orders that came in while I am here”, I would see if you can get a count of calls that come in on Sunday via your POS, caller ID box, phone system, etc. If you have none of these things, sit in the store and count calls for a couple of weeks. It is less than scientific, but it might help to start guiding your thinking.

Hope something here helps! Good luck!
 
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