The holidays can provide one of the most significant opportunities for restaurant profits throughout the entire year. In fact, many restaurants find the holiday times to be the busiest. However, how we celebrate and prepare for the holidays over the past few years has changed a lot.
Aside from presenting seasonal menu favorites, there are other tips and tricks for helping a restaurant prepare for the holiday rush, and we're going to share those with you now.
What Diners Expect During the Holidays
From the customer's perspective, restaurant holiday dining can be more expensive, and harder to reserve tables. Some resources suggest that diners should make reservations in advance, arrive on time, and expect the unexpected. They also suggest the option of takeout as a happy medium between cooking for family and dining out, especially considering the massive growth of the off-premise dining sector over the past few years.
Restaurants can capitalize on this growing trend by creating a specialty takeout menu just for the holidays. This engages with a new audience looking for convenient food solutions during the busy holiday seasons, a convenience that doesn't have to mean a reduction in quality.
Upgrade Your Menu & Prepare for Take-Out
Creating a holiday menu can be based on seasonality and items that translate well to carryout service. During a time of the year when many operators and "doing the favorites," how those restaurants differentiate themselves can make the difference. Whether it's packaging foods to maintain the quality during transit or making the takeout experience simple and safe for customers, there are many ways to upgrade an off-premise dining program.
[Additional Resources: Tips for helping your restaurant can stand out]
Things to consider include upgrading the menu, including a takeaway brunch option, using technology to reduce friction in the ordering process, and leveraging social media platforms to connect with an ever-growing social media-savvy audience. Creating a warm holiday experience is important for customers in the dining room. Still, that experience can translate to carry out, as well, when operators consider injecting hospitality into all customer touch points.
Lastly, staying up-to-date with the latest holiday food trends can make or break a seasonal restaurant business is important. Some of these trends include getting in the spirit of holiday gift-giving and presenting complimentary food. Rethinking classic menu items is also popular.
The Right Equipment for the Holidays
When it comes to seamless carryout foodservice that's safe and efficient, nothing can help an operation more than the Carter Hoffmann Pick Up Cabinet. Designed as a touchless system that conveniently holds food at proper temperatures, consumers benefit from safety and efficiency in the same unit.
Other great holiday equipment includes the Blodgett HydroVection combi oven, which can withstand even the most demanding seasonal rush. At the same time, a Globe Mixer is the right piece of kitchen equipment for prepping for busy holiday crowds. These units are durable and reliable; both are known for being the leaders in their respective foodservice equipment categories.
Lastly, we're still not entirely out of the pandemic. Safety is still a concern in many dining rooms, and restaurants can capitalize on innovative air purification systems like the Bluezone air filtration system. Proven to kill up to 99.9995 percent of all airborne viruses, such as those that cause Covid-19, Bluezone is accredited by some of the world's leading medical organizations for its effectiveness in scrubbing the air.
Get more ideas from the team at Heartland. Book some time in our test kitchen today.
