Would You Pay More for Dinner on a Saturday Than on a Tuesday?
A Toronto restaurateur is finding out
Roger Yang had a problem that’s familiar to any successful, full-service restaurant owner in North America: Everyone wants to eat at the same time.
“There’s such a dramatic difference between demand on weekends versus weekdays,” says Yang, owner of vegan tasting menu restaurant, Awai in Toronto’s Bloor West Village.
Most people want reservations at peak times, which in Toronto, starts around 7:30 p.m. on Friday and Saturday night. Unless restaurateurs can convince customers to sit on each other’s laps, they often can’t satisfy demand. Meanwhile, seats can sit empty on Tuesday.
So in March, Yang got creative with a solution by raising prices on weekend nights and lowering them the rest of the week.
Awai now serves five- and eight-course tasting menus for $48 to $75 (CAD) from Sunday through Thursday, and $62 or $95 on Friday and Saturday. Before the policy change, he charged $55 or $85 every night.
“It becomes a phenomenal deal on the weekdays and there’s a premium to pay on Friday and Saturday nights,” says Yang. “It’s really just adjusting to supply and demand.”
