Prepare Your Restaurant for the Holiday Season

With holiday cheer in the air, people are ready to celebrate and go out with their colleagues, families, and friends — particularly as their favorite restaurants reopen!

Prepare Your Inventory in Advance

There’s nothing worse than running out of essential ingredients or materials during the height of your operating hours. Avoid headaches and stress by ensuring that your inventory has extra materials in stock. When you order additional food supplies, glasses, trays, silverware, dishes, and restroom supplies, you will set your restaurant and bar up for success during the holiday rush.

If planning your inventory ahead or keeping track of restaurant materials leaves you feeling overwhelmed, consider installing a point of sale (POS) system specializing in restaurant inventory management, tracking, and quantity checking. 

Develop a Holiday Menu

Nothing entices customers more than fresh menu options. Offering holiday bar and restaurant specials is a great way to celebrate seasonal flavors. Whether you’re adding cranberry and turkey for Thanksgiving or including figgy pudding and gingerbread on your dessert menu, guests love the opportunity to try something new, exclusive, and delicious.

Start building your holiday menu now and make sure that your staff knows about upcoming specials. This will provide a smooth transition for your workers and customers.

Seasonal drinks are also a crowd favorite. Take advantage of this holiday trend by adding seasonal beverages to your holiday specials, like a peppermint mocha martini or an apple spice cocktail.

Deck the Halls

As restaurants and bars transition into the holiday season, decorations are the perfect way to welcome customers. Allow your staff to decorate your restaurant or bar on off-hours and let their creativity shine.

Decorations like lights, seasonal posters, and holly bring the magic of the holidays and instantly promote a cheerful ambiance for your customers to enjoy. Just be mindful to keep up with the decor and switch up the aesthetic throughout the season (i.e. transitioning from harvest colors to wintry details).

Cater for the Holidays

Most businesses find a way to celebrate the holidays with their teams and, in many cases, they’ll need food and beverages to keep the party going! Consider branching out by offering catering services for holiday events.

Not only does this promote your restaurant and open doors for new connections, but it also drives new customers your way! Create a seasonal restaurant marketing plan and send out flyers to neighboring businesses to let them know about your catering services.

If catering is out of the question, you can always invite companies to host their holiday parties at your restaurant or bar. Providing party accommodations is another wonderful way to market your restaurant. 

Provide Gift Cards and Promotions

Nothing screams holiday cheer more than restaurant gift cards. Gift cards are a popular choice for regular diners during the busy holiday season. Make sure your gift cards are readily available and easy to use so you can attract the masses and boost profits.

If you’re curious to see the impact gift cards have on your restaurant or bar’s overall profits, take advantage of a POS system, which can manage and track gift card transactions.

Offering discounts and promotions are also fantastic methods for marketing during the holidays. Celebrate your loyal customers by sending them discounts and rewards through email, social media, or direct mail. This will encourage your guests to enjoy everything your restaurant or bar has to offer. 

Update Your Restaurant’s Technology

There’s nothing worse than having outdated technology that slows your restaurant’s workflow down. You can avoid frustrated customers and staff by installing a point of sale (POS) system. A POS system provides many benefits for your restaurant or bar, from mobile and online ordering to staff timesheets and comprehensive sales and costs reports.

Especially with the holiday rush, you’ll want to ensure that your restaurant or bar provides a personalized and hassle-free customer experience. With the right POS system, you can easily send holiday promotions and discounts to your loyal customers and make paying for meals a walk in the park with contactless payments.

Although the holiday season is known as the busiest time of the year for restaurants and bars, your business will run much more smoothly and efficiently when you have a plan in place. Instead of waiting for the holidays to roll around, start your arrangements now by hiring additional staff, preparing your inventory, curating your holiday menu, and updating your restaurant’s technology to a POS system.