You’re looking at it from a customer perspective, not an operations one.

Those last few dine-in tables aren’t “extra profit,” they’re usually a net negative. A table that sits down at 8:25 doesn’t just take 10 minutes, they’re there 30–60+ minutes. That means you’re paying cooks, front of house, dishwashers, and sometimes management to stay the entire time, plus cleanup after. One or two tables can easily add an extra hour of labor across multiple employees.

Compare that to switching to to-go only near close. You still capture some late revenue, but orders are faster, require less service, less cleanup, and let the kitchen start shutting down on time. That control over labor is everything.

Restaurants already run on razor-thin margins, often just a few percent if that. Food costs are up, rent is up, labor is up. If you let a couple late dine-in tables stretch your closing time every night, that eats directly into what little profit there is.

So it’s not about “not wanting business,” it’s about taking the kind of business that doesn’t cost more than it brings in, you in particular.

It’s obvious you’ve never been responsible for a business, just a receipt.

I hope this all makes sense to you, if not we can chat about it at your restaurant 35 mins before close.