Running a Cafe on Fasting Days: Menus, Sold-Out Dishes and Planning

Sudo Menu Editorial · 3 November 2026

For many cafes and restaurants in Ethiopia, the week has a rhythm set by the fasting calendar. On Wednesdays and Fridays demand for fasting dishes rises, and during the long fasts, especially the Great Lent before Easter, it can dominate the menu for weeks. Venues that plan for this rhythm sell more and waste less. Venues that do not find themselves running out of shiro at lunchtime while unsold meat sits in the fridge.

This guide offers practical advice for owners and managers.

Know your fasting calendar

The key fasting periods for most guests are:

Wednesdays and Fridays for most of the year, except the fifty days after Easter.
The Great Lent (Abiy Tsom), about 55 days before Ethiopian Easter. Dates change each year.
Advent (Tsome Nebiyat), about six weeks before Ethiopian Christmas on 7 January.
The Assumption fast (Tsome Filseta), about two weeks in August.
Shorter fasts during the year.

Not every guest fasts on every day, and the mix depends on your neighbourhood and customers. The best guide is your own sales: look at what sold on the last few Wednesdays and during last year’s Lent.

Keep a strong fasting section all year. Fasting dishes are popular every week, and many guests choose them even on non-fasting days. A good beyaynetu, fresh shiro and a couple of vegetable dishes are worth having on the menu permanently.

Expand during Lent. Many venues add more fasting dishes during Lent and reduce the meat menu. Some switch to a fasting-only menu for part of the day. Plan these changes before Lent begins, so staff and suppliers are ready.

Plan the end of the fast. The days around Easter and Christmas are among the busiest of the year for meat dishes such as doro wot. Order ingredients early and consider taking pre-orders.

Prepare fasting dishes properly

Guests who fast trust you to get it right. A few rules protect that trust:

Cook fasting dishes with oil, not butter. Keep niter kibbeh away from them entirely.
Use separate pans and utensils where possible, or clean them thoroughly between fasting and non-fasting dishes.
Label honestly. A dish marked fasting must contain no meat, dairy or eggs. If a dish can be made either way, offer both versions and label each clearly.
Brief new staff. Make sure every waiter can answer “is this fasting?” correctly.

Mark fasting dishes clearly

Guests should never have to ask which dishes are fasting. On a printed menu, use a clear section or symbol. On a digital menu, a fasting label and filter are even better: guests tap once and see only what they can eat.

On Sudo Menu, every dish can carry the fasting (ጾም) label. Guests can filter the menu to fasting dishes, and on Wednesdays and Fridays the menu reminds them that it is a fasting day. This small feature saves waiters from answering the same question at every table.

Handle sold-out dishes in real time

Popular fasting dishes often sell out on busy days, and nothing annoys a guest more than choosing a dish only to hear “it’s finished”.

Update the menu the moment a dish runs out. With a digital menu, mark it sold out so guests can see it immediately.
Tell the floor team. Waiters should know what is finished before they take the next order.
Suggest alternatives. When shiro runs out, a waiter who can recommend misir wot or a beyaynetu keeps the guest happy.
Learn from it. If the same dish sells out every Wednesday, prepare more next week.

Sudo Menu has a one-tap sold-out board for the kitchen. When a dish is switched off, guests see “Sold out” on the menu right away and cannot order it, without anyone republishing the menu.

Manage stock and waste

The fasting calendar affects what you buy:

Stock up on lentils, chickpea and pea flour, vegetables and oil before Lent and before each Wednesday and Friday.
Reduce perishable meat and dairy orders during the long fasts.
Prepare in batches. Fasting stews such as misir wot and shiro can be prepared in the morning in quantities based on recent sales.
Track what sells. A simple daily record, or the reports in your ordering system, shows which dishes sell on which days. Sudo Menu’s end-of-day report lists your best sellers for any period.

Look after your team

Many of your staff may be fasting themselves. Long shifts on fasting days can be tiring, especially during Lent when many people eat nothing until the afternoon. Planning breaks, sharing a staff meal after the fasting hours and being understanding about energy levels goes a long way.

In short

Fasting days are predictable, which makes them an opportunity rather than a problem. Keep a strong fasting menu all year, expand it for Lent, prepare fasting dishes honestly, mark them clearly, update sold-out dishes in real time and use your own sales data to plan. Your fasting guests will notice, and they will come back.