6 Ways To Prepare Your Restaurant For The Holiday Season

Hustle and Cashflow is a blog that aims to educate millennials on personal finance.

When the news media concentrates on the huge financial stakes and opportunities that abound between Thanksgiving and New Year’s, the retail sector usually gets the most attention. As a result, you may be inclined to overlook the impact the holiday season will have on your restaurant. 

However, doing so may result in you missing out on a genuine opportunity to grow and prosper. Here are a few things you can do as a restaurateur to ensure that money jingles into your restaurant’s cash drawer during this hectic season.

Prepare for your workforce requirements ahead of time.

Nothing is more frustrating than being inundated with clients on a night when you just have a skeleton team on hand. You must do everything you can ahead of time to find competent and qualified employees who are ready and prepared to step up to the plate when the crowds of hungry holiday buyers start pouring through your doors, especially in these period of personnel shortages.

Once you’ve gotten the correct people on board, the next step is to plan out their calendars for the season. Remember that staff will seek for time off and decreased hours to accommodate family events, making your job even more difficult. Trying to create an entire calendar by hand is difficult enough at the best of circumstances, but it’s nearly impossible when you’re already anxious.

Fortunately, most payment processing systems for restaurants provide options for scheduling employees. These allow you to keep your employees up to date on any changes in real time and provide an easy mechanism for them to request time off that you can track. You can also utilise your payment processing software to generate information regarding your historical holiday sales trends if you’ve been in company for more than a year. 

With that information at your fingertips, you’ll be better able to plan shifts so that you can accommodate the greatest amount of clients while still keeping them nourished and satisfied.

Establish a positive corporate culture.

It’s never more vital than during the holiday season to create and maintain a joyful and cheery workplace. That’s because when your employees are well-prepared, informed, and cheerful, the atmosphere in your restaurant is lifted. Food is made and served better and faster, tables are turned over faster, and personnel are better able to adapt to changing conditions.

Do your best to instil a festive mood in your employees, in addition to providing top-notch training for seasonal and regular employees. To increase morale and inject some excitement into everyone’s job, throw a Christmas party, organise a gift swap, or raffle off some delicious gift baskets.

Get a grip on your stockpile.

Food storage is a continuous issue that needs to be at the forefront of your thoughts whether you run a multi-location chain or a single little truck. The hectic nature of the season, though, makes this an even greater necessity. Overstocking leads to food waste and unaffordable expenses, therefore you can’t afford to have too much of anything. Similarly, cutting corners and failing to order enough supplies will result in shortages of crucial materials when you need them most.

Another reason why having the correct point of sale (POS) payment processing solution for restaurants is critical is because of this. You can keep track of every food, beverage, and staple item you have on hand using the built-in features. With your finger on the pulse, you can fine-tune your orders, increasing or decreasing amounts as demand dictates.

Furthermore, it is critical to maintain your ear to the ground when it comes to availability, especially given our country’s present supply-chain issues. If your house specialties include seasonal delicacies, make sure you can get them easily. Otherwise, make necessary changes to your menu to keep your clients satisfied.

Decorate your home for the holiday season.

Tinsel, glitter, lights, bows, and festive music are all associated with the holidays. Even if you’re not the most artistic person on the planet, adding the sights and sounds of the season into your restaurant may make every customer smile. Of course, make sure the aesthetics you choose are in keeping with the idea of your restaurant, but otherwise, the sky’s the limit.

Even a few lights and a few strings of garlands, combined with seasonal music on your sound system, can create a unique festive environment. While you’re about it, keep a supply of holiday-themed gift cards on hand for consumers to buy near your register’s card reader. It’s one of the most effective ways to spread the word about one of your favourite restaurants to your loyal diners’ friends and family.

Allow for at-home diners.

Although it’s a fantastic idea to focus on making your dining room festive for the holidays, it’s also true that many people will choose to eat at home during this hectic time of year. 

Allow guests to enjoy your top-notch dishes at their leisure by providing online ordering, take-out, and delivery choices. Customers today expect maximum variety and flexibility, and they will spend their dining money at establishments that go above and beyond to give both.

Get the conversation going.

Of course, between Thanksgiving and Christmas, you want to do everything you can to attract customers to your café or diner. However, you must also consider the weeks and months after the removal of the trees and strings of lights. You can assist to ensure that a steady stream of consumers will enjoy your meals long after Santa Claus has returned to the North Pole by acting immediately.

As a result, now is the time to strengthen your social media and client loyalty programmes. Check your website to see if it’s easy to navigate, mobile-friendly, and has up-to-date menus and hours of operation. Customers should be encouraged to submit reviews on your website as well as on third-party sites like Yelp, Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.

After a specific number of visits, use your point of sale system to reward your regulars with free items and discounts. Maintaining a robust loyalty programme will not just please your most loyal customers. It will also provide you with a gold mine of consumer contact information, including email addresses and purchase histories, which you may use in future marketing campaigns.

Even when the economy is booming, it’s no secret that owning a successful restaurant is difficult. In these difficult times, business owners of all kinds are going to great lengths to entice customers and keep them coming back. You must go above and above if you want your eatery to prosper and stay one step ahead of your competitors.

Taking efforts to prepare ahead of time is especially important during the Christmas season’s craziness. It entails creating a joyful and festive environment for both staff and customers. Most importantly, it entails using your human and technological resources in order to deliver your secret ingredient: exceptional employee and customer care. By doing so, your restaurant will genuinely express the warmth and excitement that characterise this season.

paulmalcolm

paulmalcolm

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