How to Fix Wrong Restaurant Hours on Google (and Stop Losing Customers)

Why wrong hours cost you customers

Wrong hours send customers away in two ways: people who see "Closed" skip you without a second thought, and people who drive over to a locked door may never try again.

Hours are one of the first things people check on your Google listing, especially on a phone when they're deciding where to eat right now. A single wrong entry can cost you a full night of walk-ins, and an unhappy review from someone who showed up to a dark dining room.

Why your hours are wrong on Google

Most wrong hours come from one of a few sources: information that was never updated, missing holiday hours, or changes Google made on its own based on other sources.

• Your hours changed, but your listing didn't. You added lunch service or started closing on Mondays, and nobody updated Google.
• Holiday hours were never set. Google shows your regular hours on Thanksgiving unless you tell it otherwise.
• A customer suggested an edit. Anyone can suggest changes to a listing, and Google sometimes accepts them.
• Google found different hours elsewhere. Your website, Yelp, a delivery app, or another directory shows different hours, and Google picked those.
• A duplicate listing. An old or duplicate listing for your restaurant is showing outdated information.
• An old "temporarily closed" status. A past closure was never switched back.

How to fix your restaurant's hours on Google, step by step

If you already have access to your Business Profile, this takes about ten minutes. Google moves its menus around from time to time, so the button names may differ slightly, but the steps stay the same.

1. Sign in to the right Google account. Use the account that owns or manages your Business Profile. Search your restaurant's name on Google or open Google Maps. If you're a manager, you'll see tools for editing your profile.
2. Open the hours editor. Choose to edit your profile and find the Hours section.
3. Set your regular hours for each day. For split shifts, like lunch and dinner with a break in between, add two time ranges for that day. If you close after midnight, set the closing time past midnight on the same day instead of splitting it.
4. Add extra hours if they're different. Many restaurants can list separate hours for things like brunch, happy hour, takeout, delivery, or the kitchen. Use them if they don't match your dining room hours.
5. Set special hours ahead of time. Add holidays, private events, and planned closures as special hours so they override your regular hours only on those dates.
6. Review suggested changes. Google sometimes proposes updates based on customer edits or other sources. If you see a notice about updates to your profile, review them and reject anything that's wrong.
7. Save, then check again later. Some edits show up within minutes. Others go under review and can take a few days.

Make your hours match everywhere

Google compares your listing with other sources. When they disagree, it may "correct" your hours for you, so every place your hours appear should say exactly the same thing.

• Your website: header, footer, contact page, and any hidden business details
• Yelp, Apple Maps (through Apple Business Connect), and Bing Places
• Facebook and Instagram
• Delivery and ordering apps, including your own ordering page
• Reservation platforms like OpenTable, Resy, or Tock

If your website is hard to update, that's often where mismatched hours come from. Restaurant website fixes and updates can solve that for good.

If you can't get into your listing

If nobody on your team can edit the profile, you'll need to claim it or request access from whoever controls it now.

Search for your restaurant on Google Maps and look for an option to claim or manage the business. Google will ask you to verify that you're the owner, often by phone, email, video, or mail. If a former manager, previous owner, or old agency controls the listing, Google has a process to request access from them. If they don't respond, Google may give you other options.

Once you're in, make yourself the primary owner and add other people as managers instead of sharing a password.

When your hours keep changing back

If your hours keep reverting, something is overriding them. It's usually a conflicting source, repeated customer edits, or a duplicate listing.

• Fix every other place your hours appear, starting with your website.
• Check for duplicate listings of your restaurant and get them merged or removed.
• Keep an eye out for Google's suggested changes and reject the wrong ones quickly.
• Post a short update on your listing confirming your hours.
• If it still won't stick, contact Google Business Profile support.

This is exactly the kind of problem I solve in Google Business Profile management for restaurants.

A simple routine to keep hours right

Five minutes a month prevents most hour problems.

• Keep one master list of your hours and update everything from it.
• Update Google the same day your hours change.
• Add holiday hours at the start of each month for the month ahead.
• Check your listing on your phone once a month, signed out, the way customers see it.
• Add a second trusted person as a manager, so you're never locked out.

Related

• Restaurant Google Business Profile checklist
• Google Business Profile management for restaurants
• Restaurant website fixes and updates