Sales by hour: the shape of your trading day

Sales by hour is the simplest report that shows the shape of a restaurant's trading day. It takes the day's takings and splits them into hours: how much was rung between noon and one, between one and two, and so on until close. Laid out across a week, it shows when the venue is busy, when it is quiet, and how trade builds and fades through each service. It is one of the most useful pictures a manager can have, and one of the least used.

Most venues know their busy times roughly: lunch peaks around one, dinner around eight. What they often do not know is how sharp the peaks are, how long the quiet stretches last, how the shape differs from Tuesday to Saturday, and how much of the day's staff, energy and opening hours are spent on hours that bring in very little. Sales by hour answers those questions.

This guide explains how to read sales by hour, how to combine it with covers and sales by category, how to use it for opening hours, staff scheduling and pacing covers, and the two hours of the day that most venues misjudge. It ends with a simple weekly routine for looking at the shape of trade and acting on it.

Sales by hour shows the value of sales rung in each hour of the day. Most tills and point of sale systems can produce it, either for a single day or as an average across several. Laid out as a chart, it forms a curve: low at opening, rising to the lunch peak, falling in the afternoon, rising again to the dinner peak, and falling towards close.

The shape is the point. Two venues with the same daily takings can have very different curves: one with a long, steady trade, another with two sharp peaks and long quiet stretches. They need different rotas, different opening hours and different ways of pacing the kitchen.

Read the curve for each day of the week separately, because weekdays and weekends usually differ.

One caution: sales by hour usually records when a sale was rung or paid, not when the guest arrived. A table that sits down at 19:30 and pays at 21:30 appears in the 21:00 hour if the report uses payment time. That shifts the curve later than the real arrival pattern.

Know which time your report uses. If it uses payment time, remember that the busiest hour for the kitchen and floor came earlier than the busiest hour for takings. Covers by hour, from bookings and arrivals, show the arrival pattern more directly.

Covers by hour shows how many guests arrived or were seated in each hour. It complements sales by hour, because staffing and the kitchen's workload depend on the number of guests more than on how much they spend.

Put the two side by side. An hour with many covers and modest sales may be a lunch hour with lower spend per cover; an hour with fewer covers and high sales may be a dinner hour with larger tables and wine. Our guide to the covers report, read on a Monday morning covers the covers side.

Sales by category, split by hour, shows what guests buy at different times: coffee and pastries in the morning, mains at lunch, drinks in the late afternoon, full meals and wine at dinner, drinks again late at night. It reveals the character of each part of the day.

That helps with decisions about menus and staffing. A late afternoon that is mostly drinks may need a bartender more than a full kitchen team. A breakfast that is mostly coffee may not justify a full menu. A late evening that is mostly dessert and drinks may suit a shorter menu.

Look at the curve for each day of the week, averaged over several weeks so one unusual day does not distort it. Note when each service starts to build, when it peaks, how high the peak is and how quickly it falls.

Compare the days. A Tuesday dinner might build slowly from 19:00 and peak modestly at 20:00. A Saturday might build from 18:30, stay high from 19:30 to 21:30 and fall slowly. A Sunday might have a long lunch and a short dinner. Each needs its own plan.

Write down the shape of each day in a sentence. It becomes the basis for the rota, the opening hours and the kitchen's pacing.

Venues that open for breakfast or trade late at night have curves of their own. Breakfast often peaks early and sharply, with commuters, and then again more gently with a slower weekend crowd. Late-night trade is usually drinks-led and depends heavily on the day of the week. Read these parts of the day as separate services, with their own rota and their own menu, rather than as the edges of lunch and dinner. That makes it far easier to judge whether each one earns its keep.

The first hour most venues misjudge is the first hour of each service. Teams are often on duty, the kitchen is set up and the lights and heating are on well before trade arrives. Sales by hour often shows that the first hour after opening brings in very little, especially on weekdays.

That does not always mean opening later; some guests rely on an early table, and a quiet first hour is when preparation happens. But it often means fewer people on duty for that hour, a staggered start for the team, or an offer that gives guests a reason to come early, such as an early evening menu.

Look at the first hour of each service in the report, compare its sales with the cost of the people and energy it uses, and decide deliberately.

The second hour is the last hour before closing. On busy nights it can be valuable, with late tables and drinks. On quiet nights it often brings in very little while a full team waits for the last guests to leave. Venues tend to keep the same closing time and team every night, whatever the trade.

Sales by hour shows how much the last hour earns on each day. If a Tuesday's last hour regularly brings in a small amount, consider closing the kitchen a little earlier that night, releasing part of the team earlier, or offering a short late menu that needs fewer cooks.

As with the first hour, the decision is not only financial. A venue known for late service may want to keep it. But the decision should be made knowing what the hour earns.

Between lunch and dinner, many venues trade very little for several hours while the dining room stays open, the lights stay on and a team stays on duty. The report shows how deep and long the lull really is, day by day. For some venues it is a short dip; for others it is four quiet hours.

There are several honest answers. Some venues close between services and reopen for dinner. Some keep a short menu and a smaller team. Some build an afternoon offer, such as coffee and cake or an early drinks menu, aimed at guests who are around at that time. The right choice depends on the location and who walks past.

Sales by hour is the best evidence for setting opening hours. It shows which hours earn their keep and which do not. A venue that opens at 11:00 but rarely sells anything before 12:00 might open at noon. One that stays open until midnight on weekdays but sells little after 22:30 might close earlier on those nights.

Change opening hours carefully. Guests value reliability, and a venue that changes its hours often confuses them. Make changes for a season at a time, announce them clearly, and update the website, listings and booking page together.

Consider what the hours do beyond sales. Some quiet hours bring in guests who return at busier times, or support the venue's reputation. Weigh those against the cost.

The curve is the basis for staff scheduling. A rota that follows the curve brings people in as trade builds and releases them as it falls, so there are enough people at the peak and fewer at the quiet edges. A rota that ignores it tends to keep the same number of people on duty all service.

Our guide to staff scheduling against the trading curve covers how to build a rota from the curve, including the early starts and late tails to trim first.

A simple way to connect the curve to the rota is to divide each hour's sales by the number of people on duty in that hour. The figure itself matters less than its shape: if sales per person on duty fall sharply in the first and last hours, those are the hours where the rota is heavier than the trade. If they spike at the peak, the team may be stretched too thin when it matters most.

Work it out for a few typical days rather than every day. It turns a vague feeling that Tuesday is overstaffed into a clear picture of which hours carry the extra cost, and it gives staff scheduling a number to aim at.

The curve also shows how evenly the kitchen's work is spread. A sharp peak, with most sales and covers in a single hour, puts heavy pressure on the kitchen; a broader curve is easier to cook for. Pacing covers, spreading bookings across the service so the kitchen never receives more than it can cook, smooths the peak.

If sales by hour shows a very sharp peak, look at the booking slots and the times offered. Spreading bookings a little earlier or later can make service calmer without losing a single cover. Our guide to pacing covers covers how.

Energy use follows the venue's habits more than its trade. Ovens, extraction, lighting and air conditioning are often switched on at a fixed time each day, whatever the bookings. Sales by hour shows when the venue actually needs them.

Set start-up and shut-down routines that match the curve: equipment on in time for the first real trade, not hours before; sections of the dining room closed and lights off on quiet nights. The savings are modest each day and meaningful over a year.

The shape of trade changes with the seasons. Summer evenings may peak later; winter evenings earlier. Holiday weeks may bring busy lunches to venues that are usually quiet at midday. In the Gulf, Ramadan changes the day completely, with trade concentrated around iftar and late into the night.

Rebuild the curve at the start of each season from recent weeks, rather than relying on last season's shape. Compare each season with the same season last year to see how the pattern is changing.

The curve on any given day is shaped by more than the day of the week. Rain moves lunch trade indoors or keeps it at home; a warm evening fills the terrace early; a match, a concert or a conference nearby can move the peak by an hour or more. When one day's curve looks strange, check what else happened that day before changing anything.

Keep a short note against unusual days in the diary. Over a year, those notes explain most of the odd shapes in the report, and they help when planning for the same events next time.

Sales by hour shows where promotions could help: the quiet first hour, the long afternoon lull, the thin last hour. A promotion aimed at a specific quiet hour, such as an early evening menu or an afternoon tea, can fill it without discounting the busy hours.

After running a promotion, check the curve again. Did the quiet hour fill? Did trade simply move from another hour? Our guide to promotions that fill the right seats covers how to choose one.

A useful way to judge each hour is the revenue it brings compared with the cost of being open: staff on duty, energy, and a share of fixed costs. The general idea of revenue management, selling limited capacity to the right guests at the right time, applies to a restaurant's hours as much as to its tables.

An hour that consistently brings in less than it costs to staff and heat is worth looking at closely. It may still be worth keeping, for reputation or for the guests it brings at other times, but the choice should be conscious.

A short weekly routine keeps the curve in view:

It takes about fifteen minutes, and it turns a report into decisions.

In a group, each venue has its own curve, shaped by its location and guests. A city-centre venue may peak sharply at lunch; a neighbourhood venue may be busier in the evening and at weekends. Comparing curves across venues shows where opening hours, rotas and promotions should differ, and where a group-wide rule, such as the same opening time everywhere, does not fit.

The curve is most useful when the people who work the floor and the kitchen see it. A chart of last week's trade on the noticeboard, with the peaks and quiet hours marked, helps the team understand why the rota looks as it does and why start times are staggered. It also invites useful observations: the chef may know that the 18:00 lull is when the larder is set, or a server may notice that the last hour is mostly regulars.

Explain changes in terms of the curve rather than cost alone, and people are far more likely to accept them.

Here is an illustrative weekday for a venue, read through sales by hour. The figures are examples.

Changes: the lunch team starts at 11:30 in waves; the dinner team starts from 18:00 in waves; on weekdays the kitchen closes at 22:00 and part of the team finishes then; an early evening menu is offered from 18:00. Sales hold steady while hours on duty fall.

In servearound, payment analytics shows revenue by hour, and order analytics shows when checks are rung across the week, so the shape of each day is clear. Reservation analytics shows covers by day and hour, the table report shows when the room fills, and kitchen analytics shows ticket time by day and hour, so you can see whether the kitchen kept up at the peak.

Everything is read on the venue's own clock, for a quick range or one you pick. Booking rules set the service periods and the times offered inside them, so what the curve shows can shape when guests can book. See Analytics.

A report of the value of sales rung in each hour of the day, showing the shape of trade.

Four is usually enough to smooth out unusual days while staying recent.

Not exactly, if it uses payment time. Covers by hour shows arrivals more directly.

Only after looking at several weeks of the curve, and preferably for a season at a time, announced clearly.

The first hour of each service and the last hour before closing.

It shows when to bring people in and when to release them, so the team follows the trade.

No. One shows money and the other shows guests. Read them together, because an hour can be busy with guests and light on sales, or the other way round.

Usually the hour after the peak in arrivals, when the first courses and mains for those tables are being cooked. Kitchen ticket times by hour show it most clearly.

Sales by hour shows the shape of your trading day: when trade builds, peaks and fades in each service, and how the shape differs by day and season. Read it alongside covers by hour and sales by category, and remember that payment time lags arrival time.

Use the curve to set opening hours, build rotas through staff scheduling, smooth the peak by pacing covers, plan energy routines and aim promotions at quiet hours. Pay particular attention to the two hours most venues misjudge, the first hour of each service and the last hour before close, and make a short weekly look at the curve part of the routine.