Greater Lafayette’s restaurants see big business in lunch service hours
LAFAYETTE, Ind. — The opportunity to step away from your desk, or your home, for that matter, in the middle of the day is something many in Greater Lafayette look forward to throughout the week.
And that lunchtime escape, as it turns out, is big business for area restaurants.
Cory Spurgeon, co-owner of Big League Sports Bar and Grill and The Tick Tock Tavern, said that when he and co-owner Jerome Gee took over The Tick Tock in April, they weren’t totally new to running a lunch service. But what the North Ninth Street restaurant was accustomed to was a different world for Spurgeon.
“Lunch alone is probably about 40% of our business, and some days it’s significantly more than that,” Spurgeon said. “Just at The Tick Tock alone, if we don’t see a good lunch crowd, we probably don’t really hit our numbers that day, but overall lunch is very consistent for us. “
A lot of crunching goes into planning for a lunch service, as longstanding restaurants, and those still in the works, are pivoting toward a focus on lunch in the area.
Crunching more than just Taco Tuesdays
When the COVID-19 pandemic shut down regular operations for restaurants, Bistro 501 co-owner Mary Buckley said finding a way to return to a lunch service was difficult.
One of the ways the restaurant decided to pivot was by opening the Bistro Market and Deli, a downtown grocery and lunch counter service concept connected to the restaurant. But the winter months were slow, Buckley said, and it made it difficult to offer staff at the market full-time hours.
But out of the opening of the Bistro Market, Buckley said she and her daughters and co-owners, Theresa and Cheyenne Buckley, could see there was a need for lunchtime offerings.
“Lunches for those two hours every day were really, really good. We knew the need was there, and we would hear that from a lot of the people in these new apartments who work from home,” Buckley said. “When we made that decision to shut the market down, we knew we would be bringing lunch back to the Bistro, but it was just a matter of getting our ducks in a row.”
Wednesday will be the first day since pre-pandemic Bistro 501 has opened for lunch, Buckley said, answering the calls for daytime hours she’s heard from regular patrons. A good portion of the lunch menu will offer some of the more popular sandwiches served at the Bistro Market, Buckley said, like the Reuben and the Wellesley, a nod to Buckley’s mother’s Sunday dinners and to her Massachusetts hometown.
Narrowing the lunch menu, too, was important, Buckley said, given the vast majority of the ingredients found in Bistro’s menu are delivered daily. That also plays into why the downtown restaurant goes without Monday and Tuesday hours.
“We don’t use one big company to order all of our supplies. We do a lot of independent purveyors, and most of them do not deliver on Mondays,” Buckley said. “But even if they did, there would be no time to prepare. We have one little freezer, and that’s just for ice cream. Our dishes are prepared fresh each day, and we would rather run out than throw out.”
Daily lunch specials are a lot of The Tick Tock’s bread and butter, too, Spurgeon said, with their Thursday homemade chicken and noodles and Tuesday tacos being the biggest.
When the clock strikes noon, Spurgeon said it’s often like magic to see the restaurant go from nearly empty to completely filled.
“Between noon and 12:15 p.m., every table will be filled, and that’s easily $1,000 coming through that door, if not more,” Spurgeon said. “Those are significant numbers, but it can be really stressful. It may not be like that every single day. Sometimes it’s even more than that number, but our servers are busting their asses every day.”
Planning for future lunches ahead of restaurant doors opening
When Ethan Brown made the decision to revive Jake’s Roadhouse in downtown Lafayette, there was no question of whether they would offer lunch.
“When we were on the hill, lunch was always a huge thing for us, especially because of the ‘lunch punch cards,'” Brown said of the previous Purdue campus location. “With the new spot being right across from the courthouse and surrounded by downtown businesses and professionals, we know there is a huge need for lunch spots down here, too.”
Finalizing some last-minute improvements to the bar’s beer lines, Brown said he expects Jake’s to open within the next month.
Brown said he plans to keep the menu very similar to the former Chauncey Hill Mall cornerstone’s. Eyeing quick service menu items, like personal-sized pizzas and sandwiches, Brown said time is of the essence when you’ve punched out for lunch.
“Everyone working that 8-to-5 job wants to have an hour or so to escape reality and unwind, at least just for a little bit of their day before going back to the grind,” Brown said. “When people come in, you don’t want them to feel rushed. We know lunch will be big for us, and we anticipate it making up a large portion of our business, too.”
Spurgeon said he expects his next venture, the currently empty restaurant and bar at the corner of Ninth and Kossuth, to be a key lunch spot, too.
Waiting on his existing liquor license to get out of escrow has been the longstanding hold-up on the eatery planned for 900 Kossuth, Spurgeon said. Looking ahead to the March hearing, Spurgeon said that if the license is turned active and some minor fixes are made, the nameless restaurant could be open in early spring.
“Lunch is going to be a big focus for us. There are a lot of professionals in the area, but we’re just a little hop up the hill, very similarly to how The Tick Tock is just a quick shot north of downtown,” Spurgeon said. “I know in downtown there are a few spots that get hit hard at lunchtime, but I think with the right menu, we could really pull together a solid lunch crowd.”
Jillian Ellison is a reporter for the Journal & Courier. She can be reached via email at [email protected].
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