For many diners, the prospect of waiting nearly three hours for your food is a nightmare. We have all done it: the drive-by. You go to the restaurant that you want to go to, and slowly creep by to gauge how busy you think they are. Maybe you even have your passenger go inside and check the time before you make the final decision to jump in. However, if you are a peak hour diner, then no matter where you go, you are destined to get hit with a wait time. Then there are the off hours, where you can be in and out of the restaurant in no time. It all depends on the restaurant in Nashua, what they serve, and their specials that particular day.

The thing to understand about peak hours is that this is what all of your servers, chefs, cooks and hostesses train to endure. They are ready to battle the rush that is the prime hours of the day. Your kitchen works to get the food out ASAP, and the servers race it to the table, trying not to run into each other. The host will continually work to get the tables filled and cleaned in an efficient manner. However, as the guest, you are only aware of your challenge with trying to get food into your stomach.

Now, some restaurants do see greater traffic depending on what their specialization is. For example, a restaurant in Nashua deemed as a breakfast place will be busier during earlier hours. It is impossible to dictate which times are the “peak hours” in the industry, as they fluctuate. At some restaurants, the peak hours can be 1-3, pick up again from 5-8, and be slow in between. Breaks in flow allow the restaurant to get ready for the dinner rush rather than having a straight rush all day. The complication in this is how to bring the revenue in during the slow hours while not overexerting oneself during the peak hours.

Restaurants work to ensure that their training, checklists, forecasting, and ergonomics of the restaurant all make sure that you are not waiting too long during peak hours. So, with a forecast of how the day is going to look, they can somewhat expect what to look out for on that same day last year and plan accordingly with the number of staff that they have scheduled for that day. Having plenty of knowledge available is one way that the restaurant works to make your peak hour experience as enjoyable as possible.

So, the correct question for peak time would be: is there a discounted or new dish? That could increase the number of people that decide to go to the restaurant on that same day, which will, in turn, increase the wait time that you do have. Still, we recommend coming to Stella Blu, even at peak time on our music days. You can enjoy live music while you wait and the wait. It will feel much more bearable with the entertainment that makes us such a unique restaurant in Nashua!