Operators are increasingly looking at ways to build value into restaurant downtimes. Breaking from traditional happy hour, operations could offer two social hours, early between 3 to 6 p.m. and late night between 8 p.m. and close, encouraging time-crunched guests to gather, relax and share social bites and drinks within a flexible and convenient timeframe. This convenience “hook” is further set with high quality, irresistible small bites and sharable offerings.

We are seeing restaurants offering boards/platters, side dishes pulled from the main menu and made into shareables, individual small plates and tiered pricing approaches. The Beer Kitchen, a gastropub in Kansas City, Mo., exemplifies this with a happy hour lineup of $4, $5 and $6. The $6-offering features house wine, spicy papas, stockyard fries, and a pair of cheeseburger sliders.

Another standout that touts a bold, fresh approach to its cuisine is 6Smith, a modern American restaurant in Wayzata, Minn. Its diverse daily happy hour features a range of tiered pricing with curated selections that include tap beer, standard rail mixed drinks, and wine paired with craveable bites like short rib chili cheese nachos, sambal-glazed chicken wings, carne asada tacos and triple dip french fries.

Here’s further inspiration from 10 national restaurants making their social hour menus a can’t-miss destination.

Short Rib Fried Rice: Jasmine rice, sofrito, peas, “yum yum” sauce
Nolo’s Kitchen & Bar, Minneapolis

Embutidos Mixtos: Assorted grilled Spanish sausages with warm potato and curtido salad, with coarse grain mustard vinaigrette
La Bodega, Kansas City, Mo.

Nitamago Deviled Eggs: Soy-poached egg, bacon-pea jam, slow braised Kurobuta pork belly
Ascend, Bellevue, Wash.

Bourbon & Apricot Glazed Meatballs with Fresno chile jam
Fleming’s, Newport Beach, Calif.

Bacon Fat Popcorn: Heirloom popcorn, rendered bacon
Citizen Public House, Scottsdale, Ariz.

Steak Frites with Coffee and Ancho: Center-cut filet mignon and fries
Pierpont’s, Kansas City, Mo.

Bacon-Poached Chicken Wings with miso-lime gochujang sauce
W.A. Frost and Company, St. Paul, Minn.

Grilled Brat Bun: Dijon aïoli, apple + celery slaw, pickled mustard seed
Bud & Marilyn’s, Philadelphia

Filet Mignon Sliders: King’s Hawaiian Roll, horseradish aïoli
Citizen Public House, Scottsdale, Ariz.

Braised Pork Belly: Morcilla sausage-chickpea stew, herbs, chicharrones
Extra Virgin, Kansas City, Mo.