Every few weeks somebody asks us to stay open until five. Here is the arithmetic of a four person kitchen at the end of a seven hour night.
We are asked to stay open later about once a fortnight, usually by somebody who has just watched us turn away an order at twenty to three. It is a fair thing to want, so here is why the answer stays no.
A night here starts at six with the prep, opens at eight, and the last order goes out at about ten past three. That is nine hours on your feet for four people, seven nights a week. The hour after we close is cleaning, and the fryer has to be dealt with properly or the first order of the next night tastes of the last one.
Staying open until five means either the same four people working eleven hours, which produces worse food and eventually an injury, or hiring a second team for the two quietest hours of the night. The second team would cook for perhaps six orders. There is no arrangement of those numbers that works.
There is also a quality argument, which matters more to us. Between two and three the kitchen is at its worst. Everybody is tired, the stock is picked over, and the difference between a good burger and an adequate one is entirely in how much attention the person at the grill has left. We would rather stop at three with the food still good than run until five and be remembered for the last plate.
So the last order is half past two. The site stops taking them at that minute, not at some vague point afterwards, and if you catch it at twenty five past you will get your food. The hatch stays open for collection until three.
What we did change is the other end. We open at eight rather than nine now, because a surprising number of people want dinner at half past eight and everything else in the area has stopped serving by then.