That's Life

Friends of Branded:

Happy Saturday and I hope you had a great week.

I learned about a special Thanksgiving Day dinner that took place at Patsy’s Italian Restaurant, in midtown Manhattan, back in the 1950s where Frank Sinatra was the guest of honor (although Mr. Sinatra was unaware of that for many years).

First, a disclaimer, I’m a big Frank Sinatra fan, BIG! And while you don’t want to hear me to sing any of his songs, I’m not afraid to do so on any given night. 😊

This in-person dining story is notable b/c Patsy’s Italian Restaurant was closed on Thanksgiving, always had been. The restaurant made an exception once in the early 1950s when Sinatra was at a low point of his career as well as in his personal life. Professionally, his record company had dumped him and on the personal side, so did Ava Gardner.

Not wanting to be alone on Thanksgiving, Frank made a reservation at Patsy’s, but he didn’t know the restaurant was closed for the holiday. Founder, Pasquale “Patsy” Scognamillo, didn’t want to disappoint his friend and loyal customer, especially at a time when he was down on his luck. Patsy accepted the reservation, opened the restaurant for Frank, and asked his staff to come for Thanksgiving dinner and for them to bring their families.

While Sinatra didn’t dine on turkey that evening (just like Schatzy, Frank wanted anything but turkey), Patsy’s son Joe cooked him a chicken rollatini, stuffed with spinach, which Frank enjoyed as his Thanksgiving dinner with Patsy sitting at his table.

It wasn’t until years later that Sinatra learned about what Patsy had done on that Thanksgiving just for him and the story goes that neither Frank nor Patsy ever spoke of that dinner, but it certainly cemented Sinatra’s loyalty to the restaurant and a lifelong friendship.

If you’d like to hear the story from Sal Scognamillo, Patsy’s grandson, click here: A Frank Sinatra Thanksgiving at Patsy's

While I’ve been and have enjoyed Patsy’s Italian Restaurant, my family has a particular love of Patsy’s Pizzeria and specifically the original joint up in East Harlem on 118^th and First Ave. Patsy’s Pizzeria was opened in 1933 by the late Pasquale (Patsy) Lanceri. There’s a picture of Frank Sinatra on the wall and at a concert in 1976, he proclaimed the pizza at Patsy’s was “the greatest in the world.”

Okay, moving on from Frank (and his two favorite Patsy’s).

For decades, Thanksgiving was one of the few days of the year that the restaurant industry went dark. Thanksgiving was for “home games” and was a day for restaurants to give their staff a day off to be with their families. Thanksgiving was, almost like it was an unwritten rule, a day for the restaurant industry to close.

Not anymore.

In today’s environment, Thanksgiving has become a most meaningful day for in-person dining and a material revenue generator for operators across the country. This shift has been primarily driven by changing consumer behavior, smaller households, dispersed families, growing travel patterns, and the simple truth that millions of Americans prefer to outsource the stress of preparing and cooking this holiday meal.

For many restaurants, Thanksgiving now represents one of the busiest days of the entire year!

Upscale American concepts, hotel restaurants, and family-dining chains are the biggest beneficiaries, but nearly every segment of the industry, from casual to fast-casual, see a holiday lift through dine-in, catering and meal kits.

In addition to the reasons given above for this surge in restaurant dining on Thanksgiving, costs and the stress of hosting are also playing a role in this shift. Having hosted a Thanksgiving dinner for 22 people a few years ago at my apartment, I know firsthand that there’s nothing easy about the shopping, prepping, cooking and serving of this holiday meal (although I want to note that 90% of the work associated with this “host” I’m speaking was done by my wife and it’s important that I make that clear b/c she’s a loyal reader of the H^2 each week). 😊

These factors I highlight above have certainly contributed to the increased demand for dining out on Thanksgiving, but I think it goes beyond that and how restaurants have become a more accepted and embraced extension of our homes and specifically of our kitchens. Dining out and ordering in are far more mainstream today than they were decades ago (or even as recently as a decade ago). Dining out on Thanksgiving has established itself as a legitimate holiday tradition and not one that is relegated to a fallback option.

During my time on Wall Street, I worked at a number of European financial institutions. Coincidently (of course), I was called to Europe by two different banks for meetings that were scheduled on the Wednesday and Thursday of Thanksgiving. While I have no evidence, I’ve always thought my European colleagues and friends got a little chuckle about the scheduling of those meetings on the American holiday that is Thanksgiving (well played Frederic and Geert, well played). But I digress…

Today, guests are voting with their reservations and restaurants, especially those in urban centers, travel markets, and suburban sit-down formats are reporting surging demand for tables on Thanksgiving. For many, Thanksgiving is now one of the busiest and most important days of the entire year.

For operators, what used to be a big ZERO of a day, is now a day with full dining rooms and the opportunity for high margin prix-fix meals.

For many restaurants and this is certainly true for my hometown of New York City, the 4^th quarter and specifically the month of December represents a critical boost in traffic and revenues. December is a month with strong corporate events, holiday get-togethers, and a most meaningful spike in catering (we see you FamilyMeal, and how you’re crushing it in Q4!). Thanksgiving has put its own stake in the ground and is now a day for restaurants to earn and win.

Like all things, with the exception of maybe gravity and oxygen, winning Thanksgiving for restaurants isn’t easy and it’s not necessarily for everyone. The “5Ps” (Proper Preparation Prevents Poor Performance) is required and you need to be very intentional about your commitment to being a destination for Thanksgiving dinner. It’s never good to mess up or under-perform on any meal, but a failure on a holiday meal is exponentially worse (and remembered).

Marketing is critical here and positioning your restaurant as a place to enjoy a Thanksgiving tradition, as opposed to a one-off or fallback event, will separate you from the pack. Hours need to be extended and catering to the needs of your guests by offering both in-person dining and takeaway orders will make it clear that you’re here for your guests on this holiday whether they want to dine with you or to take your food home.

All of this requires an understanding and the recognition that Thanksgiving is a real revenue driver and an opportunity for you to demonstrate your restaurant’s ability to deliver hospitality on a day where the meal and the experience are in high demand.

Thanksgiving has quietly transformed into a major dining-out occasion in America, and it reflects a larger shift in how people gather, celebrate, and spend. For restaurants, this day is no longer a holiday break or day-off, it represents a high-value moment to deliver hospitality, strengthen guest relationships and grow the top line.

For operators that choose to lean into Thanksgiving, you’ve figured out that your most important holiday season doesn’t start AFTER Thanksgiving anymore, it starts WITH Thanksgiving.

As we head into the holiday this year, and wherever you celebrate, I wish you a wonderful Thanksgiving. I’m grateful and give thanks to you as readers of this newsletter and for allowing me to be a small part of your Saturday morning.

It takes a village.

Big shoutout to our friends and corporate partners Kelly Esten, Aman Narang, Alexander Becker, Brian Koerber, and Steve Fredette at Toast for dropping their final Restaurant Trends Report of the year. Once again, the data delivers a fascinating snapshot of where dining habits are headed.

🍽️ Solo dining is on the rise. Reservations for one jumped 22% year-over-year. While “table for one” still only makes up 1% of all bookings, it’s a trend operators can’t ignore as they rethink menus, layouts, and guest experiences.

🗓️ Tuesdays are trending! Once a sleepy service day, reservations jumped 15% YoY, the biggest boost of any day. Saturdays may still reign supreme, but midweek momentum is definitely real.

🍻 And the early birds are flocking: 4 p.m. reservations climbed 15%, opening doors for new happy hour and pre-dinner opportunities.

We love seeing how Kelly, Aman, Alexander, Steve, and the whole Toast team continue to use data to help operators stay ahead. And if you’ve ever tuned into our Hospitality Hangout, you know this report fuels our favorite segment, Trivia Tuesday.

Let’s just say, after this one, we might all need a refresher on “early bird” facts before the next round. 😉

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