How to make a quiet Monday or Tuesday pay

To make a quiet Monday or Tuesday pay, start by deciding whether it should open at all: compare what the day takes with what opening costs you that day, not with your rent, which you pay either way. If it earns its keep, trim it to the hours that actually trade, then give people a reason to come that only exists on that day, and tell the customers who already like you first.

What does not work is the same menu, the same hours and a discount, waiting for a different result.

Should you open on a quiet day at all?

Do the sum honestly, because the answer is not always yes.

Take a Monday that brings in €650 after VAT. Food costs you about €200, two staff for the day €320, and the extra energy €50. That leaves €80. Your rent, insurance and loans are paid whether you open or not, so that €80 is a contribution towards them, not a loss.

Small, but it is not nothing. There are also things the sum does not show. A place that is sometimes shut loses some of its regulars' habit, and a Monday is often when the trade and the neighbours come in. On the other side, a closed day is a day off for a small team in a hard trade, and a tired kitchen costs you more on Saturday than Monday ever earned.

If the day leaves nothing, or takes away from the busy days, close it, or open only part of it. If it leaves something, the rest of this guide is about making it leave more.

Trim it to the hours that trade

Most quiet days are not quiet all day. They are quiet from three to six, or after nine, or for the whole evening while lunch holds up.

Look at a few weeks of sales by hour rather than trusting memory, because most owners name the wrong window. Then shape the day around what trades: lunch-only on Monday, a later start on Tuesday, last orders earlier. Fewer hours with the same takings is a better day. On Mosey your analytics measure your quiet hours from your own trade, which is the place to start.

Give the day a reason that only exists that day

People do not choose a Tuesday. They choose a thing that happens on Tuesday.

The ideas that work are fixtures, the same every week, so they become a habit:

• A set-price night. Two courses at a fixed price, priced from your costs. Our guide to pricing a set menu shows how.
• A dish night. Steak, pasta, curry, a roast: one thing done well at a fair price, with a short menu around it.
• A locals' or neighbours' night, aimed at the people within walking distance.
• A quiz or music night for a bar or pub that does food.
• A supper club or tasting sold as tickets, so the night is paid for before you shop. See how to run a supper club.
• A cupping, demonstration or class for a café with an empty room after four.

Pick one and keep it going. A fixture takes a few weeks to be noticed, and dropping it after the second quiet night throws away the work of the first two.

Discount the hours, not the whole day

A discount is a tool for an hour, not a day. Across a whole day it mostly goes to people who would have come anyway.

Put it on the genuinely quiet window and on dishes that still leave a margin, ideally ones that use what you already have prepped. On Mosey there are three ways to do that:

• Deal Hours, a price drop on the items, days and hours you choose, in the venue, for collection or for delivery. It is free to run.
• A capped promotion, such as a set menu sold in advance for the days you choose, limited to a number you can cook. It carries 4.5% commission, and the money arrives before the customer does.
• An early-bird offer badged on your earliest booking slots, if you take reservations. No money moves through Mosey, so there is no commission.

Specific beats generous. A glass of wine with the pasta on a Tuesday is easier to say, easier to remember and cheaper to give than a percentage off the bill.

Tell the people who already like you

The cheapest audience you will ever reach is the one that already knows you: your regulars, your loyalty members and the customers who used to come weekly and have drifted. They are also the ones most likely to come on a Tuesday, because they do not need persuading about the food.

Tell them once, properly, with something specific: the night, the dish, the price. On Mosey your customer list shows who has gone quiet against their own usual pattern, and you can send an offer to the ones who have agreed to hear from you. Our guide to winning back quiet customers goes through it.

Paying to reach strangers comes after that. A Boost on Mosey notifies people nearby, shows you the audience and the exact price before you pay, and charges only for notifications that actually send. Point it at a dish, not at your name.

Use the quiet day for the work

Part of making a slow day pay is not spending it waiting. Use the hours for the prep that makes Friday easier, for training a new member of staff away from the rush, for testing next month's specials on the regulars, and for the deep clean nobody has time for at the weekend.

Roster to the trade you expect, not the trade you hope for. A quiet day with one person too many is a quiet day that loses money, however good the idea.

Give it six weeks, then judge it

Before you start, write down what success looks like: twenty more covers on a Tuesday, a higher spend per head, a Monday that leaves more than it costs. Then compare six weeks of the new day with the six weeks before.

If the quiet day is busier and the busy days are no quieter, keep it. If people have moved from Friday to the cheaper Tuesday, tighten the offer. If nothing moved, either the reason was not strong enough or nobody heard about it, and both are cheap to fix.

Pick your quietest day and give it one fixture this month. Claim your business free or See pricing.