Once upon a time, dining in a restaurant on a Sunday in Ireland, often involved hungover chefs and waiters serving over cooked roasts and veg to three generations of families.
Truth be told, it was a day to be endured rather than embraced, and for many years was not taken seriously enough by restaurants. When I was first in the business, I could never understand how a full house on a Sunday was so psychologically different for the staff than the same numbers on a Saturday. We quickly discovered that Sunday was often our busiest day of the week and started approaching the service with the same attitude as a busy Saturday night.
The format at the time was lunch from 12.30pm to 2.30pm followed by dinner from 5.30pm to 9.00pm. Over time, we noticed that lunch was mostly frequented by older people, and that the busiest time of the day for younger people looking to eat more traditional "dinner" dishes was between 5.30pm and 7.00pm.
The reason for this was the emergence of brunch as the preferred day time dining option on a Sunday. Brunch as we now know it, seems to have it origins in New York City and started out as a late, leisurely breakfast. It has subsequently morphed into an all day affair and the choice of dining options has expanded way beyond steak and eggs. The popularity of venues such as Balthazar has helped establish the brunch market on this side of the Atlantic.
test caption
Dublin city centre has witnessed a seismic shift in the habits of Sunday diners over the last 10 years. What used to be a niche market for hungover hipsters in places like Odessa, has now gained broader appeal and developed into a lucrative business. Some canny restaurateurs have seized this opportunity and by offering big ticket items such as lobster, coupled with cocktails, spend per head can be on par with evenings.
With more and more venues opening and the quality improving all the time, it would appear that brunch is here to stay. More traditional roasts, steaks etc, still seem to be popular early on Sunday evenings.
The overall message therefore to restaurants, is that Sunday needs to be taken seriously. There is real business to be done if you commit to it, and your offering is good enough.
The days of afterthought Sunday menus being thrown together using whatever is left in the fridge, are over. That can only be a good thing.