A Popular Chain Restaurant Could Soon Be Open On Sundays

It is not uncommon for businesses of all kinds to limit service on certain days of the week, and chain restaurants are no different. Well before Chick-fil-A started up a streaming platform, it decided to shutter its doors on Sundays for religious purposes, meaning folks wanting to try its new Key Lime beverages only have six days of the week to get their hands on the drinks. While the chicken chain shows no signs that it will start serving customers all week, another chain restaurant often closed on Sundays has pivoted, opting to offer toothsome treats to people seven days a week.

Nothing Bundt Cakes has supplied patrons with flavorful bundt cakes and cupcake-sized Bundtlets since it debuted in 1997. From the beginning, the business had no requirement for locations to open on Sundays, providing staff in some spots a guaranteed day off every weekend. However, in a recent about-face, the company has told its franchisees they are now required to open their doors for at least five hours on Sundays beginning February 2. Despite the fact that weekends aren't always the best time to eat at a restaurant, customers with a craving for something sweet might be excited by the news. What's more, nearly 500 of the chain restaurant's roughly 650 locations in the U.S. have already started opening up on Sundays. Still, some franchisees don't feel quite so enthusiastic about the pending change.

Nothing Bundt Cakes informed franchisees roughly a year ago about the shift to seven-day work weeks, indicating that the timeframe offered franchisees ample opportunity to brace for the change. Still, some owners feel betrayed. The initial contracts signed to become part of the Nothing Bundt Cake family didn't include the demand that they operate on Sundays, which influenced the decision of some franchisees to get on board.

In some locations, staying open all week comes with a unique set of challenges. Franchisees in California have recently struggled to steady their balance sheets following the state's minimum wage increase to $20 per hour. In regions where Sundays are typically slow days for any business, staffing a location that isn't making many sales can make meeting margins especially problematic.

Other franchisees are upset because they prefer not to work Sundays on religious grounds. Nothing Bundt Cake locations in Utah, where many residents are members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, have been hesitant to comply with the order for just that reason. State legislators have even introduced a bill that would allow operators to skirt this new rule in the name of religious liberty.