Early Bird and Late Bird Discounts: Filling 6pm and 10pm Slots

A fish restaurant in Bursa Mudanya was turning customers away at 8pm while half its tables sat empty at 6pm on Tuesdays and Wednesdays. After a three-month early-bird and late-bird discount experiment, owner Erkan moved midweek occupancy from 42% to 71%. The 8-10pm rush was untouched.

Choosing the Windows and Percentages

Erkan opened both ends: 15% off for tables seated between 6-7pm who finished ordering by 7:45pm, and 12% off for tables arriving between 10:30-11:30pm. The early window is more aggressive because it has to attract retirees and families; the late window catches couples who would have come anyway, so a softer nudge works.

Discounts apply only Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. Friday through Sunday run at 95%+ occupancy already — there's no reason to bleed margin on those nights. Monday closed.

Cannibalization Risk and How It Was Prevented

The first fear was that an 8pm guest would shift to 7:45pm to grab the 15% and shred the margin. Three guardrails: (1) the early discount requires food to be served by 7:45pm — staying later means paying the difference. (2) A ceiling of 350 TL per person, since big groups don't come that early anyway. (3) Drinks excluded; only food gets the discount, so the high-margin liquid stays untouched.

After three months a cross-query showed average table count between 8-10pm dropped from 18 to 17.8 — statistically meaningless. The early-bird didn't steal from rush; it pulled in an entirely new segment.

Operational Side Effects

The late window stretched kitchen close from 10:30pm to 11pm last orders. Staff picked up 30 extra minutes paid overtime, which had to come out of the win. Net math: 14 extra tables × 480 TL ticket × 85% margin minus 12% discount minus overtime = net +5,200 TL/week.

Both campaigns run in parallel through thMenu's campaign module — the QR menu auto-shows a banner during each window and hides it when the window closes. Customers don't have to ask; staff don't have to remember.

FAQ

Should the discount only run on weekdays? Yes. Weekends have no occupancy to fill, so margin erosion is pointless.

What percentage works for early bird? 12-15% is the sweet spot. Lower has no effect; higher starts stealing from the rush.

Should drinks be included? No. Drinks already carry high margin — discount only food, protect your average ticket.

Found this helpful? Share it.