If you’ve ever had a craving for chicken fried rice or pork buns, then realized that your favorite Chinese restaurant was closed, you might have wondered, “Why do Chinese restaurants close on Mondays?”
In this article, I’ll discuss the main reasons why Chinese restaurants tend to be closed on the first day of the week. Ultimately, when you run a business, you get to decide when to be open and when to stay closed.
But it isn’t very pleasant when a restaurant you love isn’t open, especially if you have a particular craving for it. But once you understand why Chinese restaurants may be closed, it might not be such a big deal anymore.
Why Do Chinese Restaurants Close on Mondays?
So, why do Chinese restaurants close on Mondays? Depending on the specific restaurant, a Chinese restaurant may decide to stay closed on Mondays for various reasons.
These reasons include but are not necessarily limited to predicting lower traffic on Mondays, having a day of rest, and considering inventory matters.
Low Traffic
Mondays are often viewed as a low-traffic day for businesses in general.
Because Chinese restaurants rely on having customers to generate income, it only makes sense that they would want to stay closed on a day when there are fewer potential customers.
However, this may not always be the case. Some Chinese restaurants may be open on Mondays and generate a good amount of business.
It all ultimately depends on the restaurant’s location, how well-known it is, and what other businesses are open nearby.
But if they typically have fewer customers on Mondays and want at least one day off, then it makes the most sense to close on this day of the week.
Day of Rest
Another possibility is that the Monday closure is simply a day of rest for Chinese restaurant employees.
Working in the foodservice industry can be quite demanding, so it’s not uncommon for restaurants to give their staff one day off per week.
Because Monday is the beginning of the week according to the international standard ISO, it’s often the preferred day for employees to have off.
In general, only people from the U.S., Canada, and Japan consider Sunday the first day of the week and Monday the second.
Low on Inventory
Another potential reason why Chinese restaurants close on Mondays is that they may be low on inventory.
This is especially common for smaller, family-run restaurants that may not have the financial resources to stock up on ingredients for the entire week.
As a result, they may choose to close on Mondays to have time to restock their shelves and prepare for the rest of the week.
Deciding to stay open when you are low on inventory might mean having to mention a list of menu items that aren’t available that day.
To some customers, this might be more annoying than simply waiting the next day to choose their favorite Chinese food dishes they want to order.