What are the origins of the early-bird dinner special so commonly offered by family-style restaurants, particularly to their senior citizen customers? If the widely-held perception is correct that old people like to eat dinner early, why is this so? Is it because, absent the routinizing effect of the 9-5 schedule of working-age people, it gives them something to do at that time of day? Or is there something about the geriatric metabolism that necessitates an earlier evening meal? Or is it a cultural affectation specific to the US? I’ve lived in other countries, and didn’t get the sense that old people in those countries diverge as much from the circadian rhythm of the rest of the adult population as old people in the US.
A significant number of elderly people get up early in the morning (poor sleep caused by age-related health problems, or a lifetime of getting up with the birds for farming or . . . ). They then start their day early, and eat lunch early and are ready for dinner earlier than people who work 9 to 5. Then they go to bed early, and start the whole process all over again.
Add in the fact that many elderly people eat slowly, lightly and inexpensively; and the fact that restaurants kinda want their business, but not really want them taking up a table that could be used for more profitable diners later . . .
And all of a sudden you’ve got motive to start Early Bird Specials. Encourage the older folk to come in often, and come in early, and everyone wins.
I am not sure if there’s a biological basis for my observations, but most all of the elderly folks of my acquaintance both go to bed and rise quite early – nodding off by 8 p.m. and being wide-eyed at 3 a.m. is not uncommon.
Given that kind of a routine, usual mealtimes for the elderly who keep such schedules can probably be expected to be pushed back two hours or so. Sort of the inverse of a lot of people’s college/young adult schedules – I remember regularly having lunch for “breakfast” around eleven o’clock to noon, then dinner for “lunch”, and then late-night bar food for “dinner”.
The main thing about old folks is, they could croak any minute. Hence, they don’t like to put anything off: get up early, eat early, go to sleep early. My parents live in a retirement community, and they all celebrate New Years Eve on December 30th. There’s just too much of a risk that they might not be around the next day.
It all makes perfect sense. What doesn’t make sense is why the drive so frackin’ slow! If I was that close to the edge, I’d want to get to wherever I was going ASAFP…TRM
It’s not that we prefer to eat early so much as that, given that we are retired, we have the opportunity to eat early.
Restaurants make more money if they can keep their seats full / kitchens busy over a longer period of time, and giving us folks who have the opportunity to eat before the normal rush a discount for taking advantage of that opportunity results in a good deal for both the restaurant and us.
My grandmother only goes out to eat/ run errands before sundown because she’s terrified of night driving.
Many elderly people have problems with night vision. So that might be a contributing factor.
We like to eat dinner around 6 PM, to get it over with, the dishes washed, etc early enough to hve time in the evening to read, watch a DVD or whatever, and then get to bed around 10 or so. We usually get up between 6 and 7 AM
They want us to eat early .It works for us too. Eating later is slower and much noisier. Who wants to sit around for 2 hrs eating. Gotta go home and watch Golden Girls.
The restaurant gets two rush hours.
This. From the restaurant’s point of view, it’s all about economics. Fill the seats during late afternoon, when few people would normally come. It’s not specifically aimed at seniors, but they’re usually the ones who aren’t working then.
From the seniors’ point of view, it’s great to get your big meal over with early, so you can get home, remove your teeth and relax.
My 80 year old Mom does this! (Plus ice-cream/junk food fest any time between 9 p.m. and 3 a.m. :D, but that’s because she has terrible insomnia). She LOVES to go out to eat, but to put it bluntly, we have to be home by 8 or 9 p.m. in time for American Idol, Dancing With the Stars, Nancy Grace, etc. :rolleyes:…You get into a rut when you get older and frankly, you’d really rather not miss your TV shows.
Amen to that. Add in the deteriorating vision, slowing reflexes and occasional synapse misfires, and driving becomes a thrill ride, especially after dark!
/(I used to drive fast until I realized that I was just getting everywhere ten minutes earlier. So now I just leave ten minutes earlier and it seems to work out. Only I haven’t figured out the point of getting there early.)
Some people have to eat early because of digestion problems.
Not me. I like to get there before the lemon icebox pie is gone.
Acid reflux, which is more common in older adults, can make you want to eat earlier. Acid reflux is usually worse soon after a meal than later, and worse if you’re lying flat than if you’re sitting up. If you have a problem with acid reflux, you don’t want to eat dinner close to bedtime.