Early bird dinner is a dinner served earlier than traditional dinner hours, particularly at a restaurant. Many establishments offer a seating prior to their main dinner seating with a reduced price menu, often more limited in selection than the standard dinner menu. Some restaurants offer specific meals or meal options which are sometimes referred to as "early bird specials". [1] [2] [3] The term was first used for a clothing sale in 1904, and then in restaurants in the 1920s. [4]
The hours which are deemed as "early bird" hours differ, depending on the locale and the establishment. Early bird seating may be as short as one hour or may be several hours long. It may use a prix fixe menu. [5]
Generally, the idea is for the restaurant to increase revenue and profitability by offering lower-cost meals to attract price-sensitive customers, such as middle-class families and retired people, at a time when the restaurant would otherwise be empty. [4]
The prevalence of early bird dinners at American restaurants increased in the 1970s, as inflation caused a rise in Social Security payments, and more retired people could afford to eat at a restaurant. [4] In the early 21st century, the offer became less common, as retiring baby boomers avoided things they associated with their parents' generation, and other options, especially fast food restaurants and delicatessens within grocery stores, offered hot food at lower costs all day long. [4] The offer has become more popular with some younger groups, especially when the economy is weaker. [5]
Early bird dinners are often stereotypically associated with elderly people, and, by association, with retirement communities in Florida, but are offered throughout the United States.
The association with lower-income elderly people has produced a stigma. This is sometimes avoided by re-branding the offering with names such as "twilight dinner", "sunset dinner" or "happy hour". [4] Another approach is to offer other kinds of discounts, such as coupons or a menu with smaller portions at a lower cost. [4]
A restaurant is an establishment that prepares and serves food and drinks to customers. Meals are generally served and eaten on the premises, but many restaurants also offer take-out and food delivery services. Restaurants vary greatly in appearance and offerings, including a wide variety of cuisines and service models ranging from inexpensive fast-food restaurants and cafeterias to mid-priced family restaurants, to high-priced luxury establishments.
A fast-food restaurant, also known as a quick-service restaurant (QSR) within the industry, is a specific type of restaurant that serves fast-food cuisine and has minimal table service. The food served in fast-food restaurants is typically part of a "meat-sweet diet", offered from a limited menu, cooked in bulk in advance and kept hot, finished and packaged to order, and usually available for take away, though seating may be provided. Fast-food restaurants are typically part of a restaurant chain or franchise operation that provides standardized ingredients and/or partially prepared foods and supplies to each restaurant through controlled supply channels. The term "fast food" was recognized in a dictionary by Merriam–Webster in 1951.
In a restaurant, the menu is a list of food and beverages offered to customers and the prices. A menu may be à la carte – which presents a list of options from which customers choose – or table d'hôte, in which case a pre-established sequence of courses is offered. Menus may be printed on paper sheets provided to the diners, put on a large poster or display board inside the establishment, displayed outside the restaurant, or put on a digital screen. Since the late 1990s, some restaurants have put their menus online.
Happy hour is a marketing term for a time when a venue such as a restaurant or bar offers reduced prices on alcoholic drinks. Discounted menu items like appetizers are often served during happy hour. This is a way for bars and restaurants to draw in more business before or after peak business hours.
A buffet can be either a sideboard or a system of serving meals in which food is placed in a public area where the diners serve themselves. A form of service à la française, buffets are offered at various places including hotels, restaurants, and many social events. Buffet restaurants normally offer all-you-can-eat food for a set price, but some measure prices by weight or by number of dishes. Buffets usually have some or mostly hot dishes, so the term cold buffet has been developed to describe formats lacking hot food. Hot or cold buffets usually involve dishware and utensils, but a finger buffet is an array of foods that are designed to be small and easily consumed only by hand, such as cupcakes, slices of pizza, foods on cocktail sticks, etc.
Room service or in-room dining is a hotel service enabling guests to choose items of food and drink for delivery to their hotel room for consumption. Room service is organized as a subdivision within the food and beverage department of high-end hotel and resort properties. It is uncommon for room service to be offered in hotels that are not high-end, or in motels. Room service may also be provided for guests on cruise ships. Room service may be provided on a 24-hour basis or limited to late night hours only. Due to the cost of customized orders and delivery of room service, prices charged to the patron are typically much higher than in the hotel's restaurant or tuck shop, and a gratuity is expected in some regions.
In restaurant terminology, a table d'hôte menu is a menu where multi-course meals with only a few choices are charged at a fixed total price. Such a menu may be called prix fixe. The terms set meal and set menu are also used.
A value meal is a group of menu items at a restaurant offered together at a lower price than they would cost individually. They were common at fast food restaurants.
Restaurants fall into several industry classifications, based upon menu style, preparation methods and pricing, as well as the means by which the food is served to the customer. This article mainly describes the situation in the US, while categorisation differs widely around the world.
Prawn cocktail, steak garni with chips, and Black Forest gâteau was the most popular dinner menu in British restaurants in the 1980s, according to contemporary surveys by trade magazine Caterer and Hotelkeeper. It was associated with the Berni Inn chain, which popularised mass-market dining out after the end of food rationing in Britain following the Second World War. The Prawn Cocktail Years, by Simon Hopkinson and Lindsey Bareham, called this meal the Great British Meal Out.
A Greek restaurant is a restaurant that specializes in Greek cuisine. In the United States they tend to be a different affair, varying in types of service, cuisine, menu offerings, table settings, and seating arrangements. Their menu may also feature dishes from other cuisines.
A meal is an eating occasion that takes place at a certain time and includes consumption of food. The names used for specific meals in English vary, depending on the speaker's culture, the time of day, or the size of the meal.
A combination meal, often referred as a combo-meal, is a type of meal that typically includes food items and a beverage. They are a common menu item at fast food restaurants, and other restaurants also purvey them. Combination meals may be priced lower compared to ordering items separately, but this is not always the case. A combination meal is also a meal in which the consumer orders items à la carte to create their own meal combination.
Davis Street Tavern was a restaurant in Portland, Oregon's Old Town Chinatown neighborhood. Christopher Handford, chef Gabriel Kapustka, and Handford's cousin Blake Smith opened the restaurant serving American cuisine in 2008. The building that housed it was previously a bakery. Kapustka left in 2010, after being bought out by partners. Subsequent executive chefs were Scott Shampine and Katy Jane Millard. The restaurant hosted an annual supper celebrating Robert Burns. In 2012, Davis Street Tavern and the Oregon Restaurant and Lodging Association led an effort by industry groups to overturn the U.S. Department of Labor's rules prohibiting gratuity sharing with kitchen staff. The restaurant closed in September 2016.
Brix Tavern is a restaurant in Portland, Oregon's Pearl District, in the United States, that serves American cuisine. The 150-seat restaurant was opened in April 2011 by Urban Restaurant Group and offers a menu that includes wood-fired pizzas, rotisserie meats, and other comfort foods. Brix has hosted and participated in special events, and has received a generally positive reception; compliments are most often given for happy hour menu options.
The Original Dinerant, or simply The Original, is a diner serving American cuisine in Portland, Oregon, United States. Owned by Sage Hospitality Resources, Guy Fieri visited the "modern" and "upscale" diner to film a 2016 episode of the Food Network's Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives. The diner has hosted competitive eating contests and other special events. The Original has received a generally positive reception and is most known for its glazed doughnut sliders and alcoholic milkshakes. The restaurant's mezzanine level has an amusement arcade and bar called The Dinercade added in early 2019.
Double Dragon is a restaurant and bar in Portland, Oregon, United States. Chef and owner Rob Walls opened the bánh mì sandwich shop in 2011, which was later expanded to include more food and drink options.
Isabel Pearl, or simply Isabel, was a Latin-Asian fusion restaurant in Portland, Oregon's Pearl District, in the United States.
Fisherman's Restaurant and Bar is a seafood restaurant in Seattle, in the U.S. state of Washington.
