Hudson Valley Restaurants’ New Monday Policy Frustrates Customers

If you've ever tried to order out from your neighborhood restaurant on a Monday you've probably run into a frustrating situation.

Whether you're getting pizza in New Paltz, a burger and Pepsi in Poughkeepsie, ramen in Rhinebeck or chicken and waffles in Wappingers you're most likely going to run into trouble on Monday.

Our family has tried its best to dial back on ordering out, but sometimes life gets too busy. For many families, it's just not possible to take an hour to prepare a home-cooked meal every night. When there are no leftovers in the fridge and you're looking for something a bit more healthy than a frozen pizza, you've just got to bite the bullet and order out.

Hudson Valley Restaurants Hate Mondays

When ordering out we usually forgo fast food, instead, opting for locally-owned restaurants. The food is usually fresher, tastier and a bit healthier, plus it's nice to support small businesses.

Unfortunately, that's not going to happen on Monday in my town. We recently discovered that all our favorite restaurants are completely shut down on Monday. But the reason why is not what we expected.

After a recent weekend out of town and a long day at work and school, we decided to order out instead of making dinner. A call to our favorite Italian place resulted in a voicemail saying that they were closed. The same thing happened at our second-favorite Italian place, the Mexican cafe down the street, the Chinese food restaurant we always get delivery from, another pizza place, our second-favorite Mexican restaurant and the list goes on.

Why So Many Hudson Valley Restaurants Are Now Closed on Mondays

While some of these restaurants have always been closed on Mondays, several of them only recently began starting the week by taking the day off. It turns out that there are several good reasons for the practice.

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The first is economics. Mondays are usually the least busiest day of the week. Because of rising costs and trouble finding reliable employees, many locally-owned restaurants are discovering that they are actually losing money by staying open on Monday.

Another reason for closing on Monday is a lack of ingredients. Most restaurants don't receive deliveries over the weekend. Because these smaller restaurants rely on fresher ingredients and have less turnover than larger chains, they usually are scraping the bottom of the barrel by Monday afternoon. That's why many food experts suggest avoiding most independently-owned restaurants on Mondays, even if they are open.

Finally, small business owners are simply burnt out and have found that they have no choice but to take a breather after the weekend. Dealing with absent employees, demanding customers who are never happy and unpredictable online delivery orders that can quickly cripple a kitchen has made it necessary to unplug and regroup before it all begins again.

Now That You Know, Be Sure to Plan Ahead

After forgetting several times that ordering out on Monday just isn't possible, we've finally come to the realization that we need to plan ahead. Having an extra read-to-go meal in the freezer or some extra ingredients on hand is now necessary if we want to avoid fast food on the way to practice.

Have you found that ordering out has become more difficult at certain times during the week? Let us know your thoughts on our Facebook page or buy sending us a text on our mobile app.