Countdown to Christmas: What can you do now to prepare your venue for the festive season?
In 2022, 28% of bookings for the entire year unfolded in the months of October, November and December - making the Christmas season one of the most prominent revenue opportunities of the year. And, if you’re reading this article, you know the importance of forward planning in such a competitive industry.
Here at Access Hospitality, we often hear our customers tell us that they want to utilise their software to maximise the Christmas opportunity for their business. And the number one key piece of advice we have? Start early.
So, you’re in the right place, in this article we’re going to look at some of the key areas you can start planning early to give yourself a head start in the run up to Christmas.
Menu planning for Christmas
Your chefs will likely already have started putting together their Christmas menu and now is the time to get ahead of any potential issues.
Stock and supply chain issues are increasingly affecting operators and forward planning is essential. Evaluating suppliers ahead of time and assessing the risk of supply issues can help to enhance the service your guests will receive. This might involve starting to market for Christmas bookings earlier than usual, thinking about alternative menus and assessing what produce is in demand vs what can be delivered.
With all the pressure surrounding these circumstantial issues it’s important to take the stress out of the functional operations that can be handled in the run up. This includes updating your PoS to include your seasonal offering and training your teams on what it will be for early upsell and promotion.
As your teams might not need to fully update and upload a new menu regularly, it can be surprising how much time this takes to resolve. Some PoS providers will be able to guide you through the process, but many won’t offer this level of support leaving it to your GMs or operations team to resolve. Access Hospitality has a team of experienced consultants that can take away the headache by coming to re-program their EPoS systems to include Christmas and New Year menus, freeing up staff to focus on preparing the business for all other pressing tasks.
And as the Christmas season approaches, the timing is perfect to evaluate your digital payment solutions. Order and pay at table software delivers an efficient and seamless order and payment solution for your guests that helps you keep up with the demands of a busy season.
Christmas rota planning
As the holiday season approaches, addressing staffing challenges takes centre stage for hospitality venues. The ongoing staffing crunch has already placed substantial strain on our dedicated hospitality workforce. Throughout the year, many operators have found themselves compelled to trim operating hours or adjust their schedules, a situation that hopefully can be managed effectively this Christmas.
Again, planning ahead is key. Take a close look at your existing team composition, considering their skills and availability over the festive period to identify potential gaps. This proactive approach not only aids in maintaining team morale but also ensures you have the right people in place to deliver the best possible service to our cherished guests.
As well as driving recruitment to fill roles, it will be important to look at what else you can do to keep your venue running and support your teams. potentially allowing for a complete day of rest to rejuvenate teams and foster a healthy work-life balance. Engaging with team members through surveys can shed light on their preferred working hours during the holiday season. Furthermore, creating detailed shift task lists will ensure that you have adequate staff not just for guest management, but also to uphold cleanliness and hygiene during the busiest periods.
And let's not forget the power of incentives. Drawing in new and temporary staff, as well as motivating your current team, can be achieved through thoughtful perks. Offering extra pay for public holidays, early Christmas compensation, on-demand pay options, and engaging team-building activities – like dedicating an afternoon to sample the festive menu or throwing a heartwarming Christmas party – can uplift team spirits and create a vibrant atmosphere.
By putting your people first, you're not only crafting a well-prepared team for the festive rush, but you're also fostering an environment where each member feels valued and ready to deliver exceptional service.
Effective staff training
Another key area you will want to focus on in the run up to the season is staff training. Where are your current teams up to? Are hygiene and compliance training up to date for all team members? With the updated legislation around Natasha’s Law, is your team’s allergens training up to date? These are all important areas that will be critical to running a successful Christmas operation and can be tackled now rather than when your venue is busy.
You’ll also likely to be using a range of temporary bar and restaurant staff to help fill shifts and manage the increased footfall. With recruitment still an ongoing challenge, you can make life a little easier for your GMs by developing an onboarding training programme for new and temporary team members that prioritises the most important areas of training.
Online hospitality training courses cover all essential areas of hospitality compliance, and the hospitality LMS platform allows you to track compliance rates across sites, assign training to individuals, notify team members of their required training, and monitor completions.
Get ahead of Christmas planning
In this article, we’ve looked at some of the key areas where you can get a head start in the run up to Christmas.
To help you in your Christmas planning, we’ve developed a free Christmas planning guide series helping you to uncover the latest consumer trends, marketing strategies and how to leverage hospitality software to optimise operations.
