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The holiday season can feel like an intense sprint. Families, friends, and coworkers gather for festive meals, leading to sudden peaks in demand that can overwhelm your dining area, staff schedules, and kitchen inventory. In this context, offering a pre-ordered holiday menu might just be the game-changer you need:
Even if you’ve never done it before, a holiday pre-order system is worth exploring. It can help keep your kitchen from being overloaded while still allowing you to accommodate the festive crowds.
One of the biggest benefits of a pre-order system is that you can plan your menu specifically for the holiday rush. Not every dish on your usual menu may hold up well in a takeout container or in a high-volume environment. Some items might be too complicated to handle en masse, while others might be ideal. So how do you decide what to offer on your holiday pre-order menu?
This is no time for risky experiments. By choosing dishes you and your team can execute seamlessly, you’ll maintain quality and consistency. After all, the holidays are special—and a good holiday meal often relies on the classics done right.
Signature holiday dishes, like roast turkey or glazed ham, can draw customers in but can also be time-intensive. If you include these items, consider offering them in portion sizes that are easy to prepare, slice, and package. You might also offer a few side dishes that complement these mains, but don’t overextend your team with too many side options.
Also think about vegetarian or vegan dishes, given that more diners are looking for plant-based options. A beloved vegetable side or a hearty grain dish can fit nicely into a holiday spread, pleasing a broad range of customers.
With holiday pre-orders, you can gather orders days—even weeks—ahead of time and thus more accurately forecast how much of each ingredient you need. No more last-minute dashes to your supplier for extra turkey or greens. This level of clarity also helps you negotiate better bargains or delivery schedules with suppliers.
Here’s how to optimize inventory:
Remember: your stock isn’t just about fresh ingredients. Don’t forget packaging materials, disposables (if you’re offering takeout or catering-sized portions), and any custom accessories—like holiday-themed ribbons or stickers—that add festive charm to your offerings.
Time management is key to keeping your kitchen calm. If you’re accepting pre-orders two months out, you’ll have a more gradual ramp-up in production. But if you leave everything to the week before Christmas or New Year’s, crunch time might become unmanageable. To keep things smooth:
Careful scheduling frees up your kitchen to handle regular dine-in patrons without letting pre-orders derail your normal flow of service.
Holiday pre-orders don’t just reduce guesswork when it comes to ingredients; they also help you plan labor. Knowing how many orders are queued enables you to schedule the right amount of staff, ensuring you’re neither understaffed nor overstaffing in a way that cuts into your profit margins.
Think about dividing your team into stations. If you’re offering a roast turkey set, for example, you might dedicate a small group solely to preparing, basting, and packaging turkeys. Another crew could focus on side dishes, while a separate group might pack orders and handle pick-ups.
Look out for staff burnout, too. The holiday season can feel like a marathon. Consider:
Being able to handle pre-orders effectively also signals to your team that holiday chaos isn’t an inevitable part of the season. It can be managed, even enjoyed.
It’s one thing to decide on a special menu and set cut-off dates. But how do you actually collect these pre-orders? Here’s where a good digital strategy shines:
Many restaurants use their own website or third-party platforms to show the holiday menu and capture orders. Make sure your platform:
Transparency is key: display any deposit or cancellation policies, so there are no surprises for customers or staff.
If you operate a full-service restaurant with dine-in options during the holiday season, you could reduce table turnover times by using QR codes for payment. A solution like sunday makes it especially simple: diners scan a QR code at their table, split or pay the bill on their phones, leave a tip in just a few taps, and can even write a Google review right there.
The more quickly a table is settled, the more quickly your front-of-house can seat a new group of holiday revelers—and keep lines from forming in your lobby or hostess stand. A streamlined payment process is also immensely beneficial if you run a separate holiday food pick-up counter. Customers can pre-pay online and walk in with a QR code receipt, making retrieval simple and fast.
When someone orders a holiday feast to go, presentation matters just as much as ingredient quality. With pre-orders, you have a little more time to plan packaging that’s both safe and visually appealing. A few considerations:
Taking some time to think about packaging conveys that you care about the entire dining experience, not just the moment the meal leaves your kitchen.
The pick-up process can be either wonderfully organized or downright chaotic. You get to decide which. An efficient pickup flow can brighten a customer’s holiday and spotlight your restaurant as a stress-free solution. Consider:
Sprinkling a bit of holiday spirit can also elevate the experience. Perhaps you have holiday music playing or you’re serving cups of hot chocolate for people waiting. Details like these linger in a customer’s mind when they consider where to buy their holiday feast again next year.
A key benefit of pre-orders is that customers have invested trust in your restaurant to deliver. Once they receive a stress-free, delicious meal, they’re primed for loyalty and positive feedback.
Instead of leaving that to chance, invite them to share their experience. If you’re using a QR code payment system such as sunday, adding a quick link to Google reviews right after they pay is incredibly simple. You might include a short note on your packaging encouraging them to share a photo of their feast online.
Loyalty also extends beyond reviews. Offer a bounce-back incentive—like a discount code for a future dine-in meal or a special Valentine’s Day pre-order next year. Even a small gesture, like a complimentary dessert coupon, can motivate repeat visits.
Inevitably, you’ll get calls from customers who missed the cut-off. While your first goal is to encourage well-planned pre-orders, you might have found that same-day or short-notice requests can yield extra revenue if handled properly. But beware of overextending your kitchen.
Here’s how to manage last-minute orders gracefully:
Being prepared for the unexpected fosters goodwill and can earn you long-term loyalty, even when you must say “no” to certain requests.
Pre-orders don’t mean much if your customers aren’t aware of them. Consider a multi-faceted approach:
Make sure your marketing encourages quick action—the earlier they order, the easier it is for everyone.
It’s not enough just to deliver on time; you need to maintain stellar quality during one of the busiest seasons of the year. Key steps:
High-volume operations sometimes compromise quality, but a well-thought-out pre-order plan helps you avoid that pitfall altogether.
You can integrate technology beyond just ordering and payment. For instance, create an automated text or email notification system that texts the customer once their order is ready to be picked up. Tools like Twilio or built-in functions of many restaurant POS systems can do the job.
When customers know precisely when their order is ready, they’re less likely to show up early and cluster around your entrance. That alone can dramatically reduce the risk of confusion or crowding—and maintain a positive vibe throughout the busy days.
In addition, you can leverage digital signage or a screen that displays order numbers or customer names once items are packaged. Checking a screen is often quicker and less stressful than having to ask your staff multiple times.
Let’s imagine you run a cozy bistro in a suburban neighborhood. Ahead of Thanksgiving, you roll out a pre-order menu featuring:
You announce pre-orders on your social media channels and, to boost visibility, ask local influencers to share a short reel of their tasting experience. You partner with a local farm for fresh produce, ensuring that if your pre-order count grows, the farm can schedule an extra delivery.
Customers see a clear pick-up date range of November 22 to 24. Each day is broken into two-hour windows. They select a time slot while placing their order online. Meanwhile, you use a digital system to keep track of how many turkeys you’ll roast each day. By the time Thanksgiving week arrives, you have a well-organized schedule, and your staff is prepared.
On the pick-up days, everything runs smoothly because orders are alphabetized and grouped by time slot. For payment, you encourage guests to pay online or use a QR code for a quick check-out. They walk away impressed by the seamless experience. They leave positive reviews, and your bistro basks in the glow of holiday satisfaction without your kitchen feeling the usual chaos.
According to a study by the National Restaurant Association, consumer spending on seasonal meals has consistently risen year over year, with a particular focus on convenience and quality. Customers are increasingly willing to pay a premium for reliable, hassle-free festive dinners they can serve at home (National Restaurant Association).
Meanwhile, digital transactions and online ordering continue to climb, as reported by Restaurant Business Online. This shift makes adopting an online pre-order system more than just a convenience—it’s rapidly becoming an industry norm.
In the push for efficiency, remember that the holidays evoke feelings of nostalgia and warmth. While technology can streamline tasks, you don’t want to come across as cold or impersonal.
Try adding small thank-you notes to each order or including a mini surprise, like a small bag of homemade cookies. These gestures build a genuine connection, and customers love to share small tokens of your appreciation on social media.
Putting a festive spin on digital solutions—like customizing your online ordering page with holiday themes or sending cheerful email confirmations—can go a long way in keeping your restaurant’s personality front and center.
Once you’ve successfully navigated the winter holidays, don’t let that knowledge slip away. Valentine’s Day, Easter, Mother’s Day, or local festivals can also benefit from pre-order offerings. You already have a tested system in place, so why not make the most of it?
Keep notes on which dishes sold out quickly, what times of day were busiest, and any feedback from staff or customers about bottlenecks. That real-world insight is gold when you plan your next big promotion.
Refining your approach over time doesn’t just help you manage the stress of high-volume events; it also builds a trustworthy reputation. Diners learn that your restaurant can be counted on for consistent quality, no matter the occasion.
Many restaurants do. A deposit reduces no-shows and offsets some costs of ingredients. If you decide to request one, be sure it’s clearly mentioned in your terms along with any refund policies.
Generally, about four to six weeks before the holiday is ideal. This gives customers ample time to plan and ensures you can gauge demand.
While digital is often more efficient, some patrons like the personal touch of a phone conversation. Train your staff to handle phone orders promptly, and manually log those orders into your digital system to keep accurate totals.
Yes, but you need careful scheduling, enough staff, and clear zones within your restaurant for pre-order pick-ups, so that your dine-in service isn’t disrupted.
Clarify up front whether menu substitutions or special requests are allowed. If you can accommodate them without adding major complexity to your workflow, it can be a nice gesture. Otherwise, offer a standard “no modifications” policy during the holiday rush to maintain kitchen efficiency.
