The Dish: Why is it so hard to find lunch in this town?

Even with a $12 smashburger special, the lunch crowd at Baltimore’s HappyJack Tavern last Thursday did not inspire confidence. A liquor rep who wasn’t eating sat at the bar. At one booth were two sales reps who also had business with the restaurant. Otherwise, the place was empty.

“It’s scary,” said owner Drew Horne, rubbing his fingers together. The restaurant employs a cook and a bartender who work with him during the day. Every hour that the bar goes without making money costs him $60 in labor, not to mention the utilities.

At full-service bars and restaurants in Baltimore, the weekday lunch has become almost an endangered species. Restaurants might try it out for a while, only to scrap midday service when too few customers show up. Other downtown places long known for their lunch ended it during the pandemic, never bringing it back as many employees remained remote. RIP power lunch at Tío Pepe.

“It all goes back to numbers,” said chef David Zamudio. He stopped serving lunch a few weeks ago, just months after opening his restaurant Josefina in Harbor Point. While the area surrounding Zamudio’s elevated Spanish eatery is full of office workers from nearby T. Rowe Price, they’re often in a hurry during lunch, not able to enjoy the multicourse experience Zamudio offered. And almost no one drank alcohol. “If somebody is just having a burger and a Coke, we can’t pay the bills with that,” he said.

Still, operators like Horne keep trying.

There are reasons it should work. In Canton, where Horne’s year-old HappyJack Tavern introduced lunch just a few weeks ago, many people work from home. He sees plenty of customers walking into fast-casual chains Chipotle and Five Guys around noon. “Why would you want to go there instead of your local spot?” he asked.

Will Mester, chef and co-owner of The Wren in Fells Point, said he’s often searching for a lunch destination on his days off. “It’s always kind of a struggle,” he said. “Our options are abysmal.”

Yet he understands why so many restaurants stick to evening hours. After all, his own acclaimed pub, now for sale, stopped serving lunch after just a few days when sales were low. “It’s really hard to make lunch work,” Mester said.

When Oleum owner Alisha Adibe first moved her vegan restaurant from the Inner Harbor to Fells Point, lunch was on the menu. But the business was unpredictable, with crowds one day, and “crickets” the next. “My labor was killing me,” she said. And the up-and-down nature became stressful for everyone, she said, particularly for tipped staff.

Still, ending lunch service wasn’t an easy decision. “I cried, because I felt like I was failing,” Adibe said. Ultimately, though, it worked out for the business. Adibe said she not only saved money but saw an increase in sales after ending lunch service as more customers began coming in for dinner.

But some restaurateurs are determined to stick with it.

When Atlas Restaurant Group’s The Ruxton Steakhouse opened in 2024, CEO Alex Smith told The Baltimore Sun he wanted to give Harbor East a “power lunch spot.” More than two years later, lunch business at The Ruxton is erratic, Smith said, ranging from just 30 or so customers one day to up to 100 on another, depending on the time of year and what’s happening around town. “We are keeping it because we believe we will continue to build,” he said in a text message.

Others are pivoting. At Josefina, Zamudio is planning to introduce weekly takeout items that customers can preorder. He wants to surprise his customers with specials from around the world. “I’m bored with Sweetgreen,” he said.

A handful of Baltimore restaurants busy during lunch have been at it for decades. The Inner Harbor’s Capital Grille, perhaps the last bastion of the power lunch downtown, opened in 2005. In Fells Point, two establishments known for their lunches have been open more than 40 years combined: Todd Conner’s, which opened in 2007, and Slainte, which opened in 2004. Both spots attract hospitality workers on their way to start their shifts, said Sam Ward, who works as a bartender at The HappyJack Tavern and previously was on staff at The Wren.

Diners are “very habitual with their lunches,” said Randy Coffren, whose Snake Hill Sausage Grill in Highlandtown and The Royal Blue in Station North both serve food starting when they open at 11:30 a.m. and noon, respectively. Both services are profitable, Coffren said, but it didn’t happen overnight.

In the process of building an audience for lunch, restaurants may lose money for months, given that they may have more people on staff than customers walking through the door. “You’ve got to stomach it for a while,” Coffren said.

It helps to find ways to multitask; cooks at Coffren’s restaurants may prep for the dinner shift while plating dishes for customers.

And Horne, at The HappyJack Tavern, says he accepts food and beverage deliveries while the bar serves lunch, helping keep staffing lean during the day. “It’s gotta be bare-bones,” he said of the operation.

But at the end of the week, he’s an optimist. He wants The HappyJack Tavern to be a haven for hospitality workers, remote workers and anyone else who just wants to get out of the house for a meal, a chat and possibly a midday beer.

“It’s going to work,” he said, gesturing to the mostly open bar. “I can guarantee you, by this time next year, 10 people will be sitting here.”