Start Now To Build A Successful Restaurant Holiday Season

Making a plan for the restaurant holiday season is right now! The up-coming holiday season can be a very profitable one if you start setting the groundwork now. Starting with Halloween in October. Doing something special for Halloween may seem like it would be a no win situation, but that is the wrong idea! A few cheap decorations and encouraging your staff to dress for the occasion is not only a moral lifter for your staff, but it shows your visitors that you have a fun place and that you are looking forward to celebrating the Christmas season too. Imagine that, you get to give them a pre-show event for their potential Christmas party season.

Next up Thanksgiving, another precursor that can elevate your Christmas season sales. You will have a full restaurant if you plan it out properly. You may wish to handle the day several ways but the one I try to steer restaurateur away from is the getting all you can method. So many places try to offer a single fixed menu with a sticker price that causes that pumpkin pie to slide down like the turkeys wishbone. Yes, you know you will be full but do not try to scalp your patrons; they are again the same audience you want to attract for the Christmas season. Offering a great dinner at a fair price will return you ten fold.

All this hype about Christmas, so what’s the big deal about the restaurant holiday business? Well if you’re asking that you have missed the boat in past years.

This year you had better get on it. By far the biggest moneymakers for the Christmas season are holiday parties. With that in mind it’s time to start changing your radio and print ads now to include “available for private parties”. Your telephone message should include a private party plug and if you can put a message at the bottom of the guest checks now is the time. Having a little brochure or flyer type announcement is also a good idea. You or a staff should also bring it around to the area businesses with some cookies or some kind of treat is also a wonderful touch. Keep in mind the benefits when planning out how to promote the parties. Not only are Christmas parties lucrative on their own, but with so many going on the customers you would normally have on a given night may very well be attending their Christmas party at another restaurant causing you to have a slow night if you are not booked. The parties are also a great way to attract new customers, as many of the guests very well may never have been in your place before. Pull off the perfect party for them and gain new customers for life!

Starting about the first of December most of the Christmas parties have already been booked or at a minimum your target audience should have a good idea about your facility. You may find a couple stragglers that can fill in some gaps on your books, but for the most part the planning is done. This is perfect timing for the knowledgeable restaurant holiday maximizer. The restaurant holiday season offers one of the best loan programs in the world. With incredible interest rates and with the most flexible terms you can get this loan program is a no-brainer – GIFT CERTIFICATES! This is so important to getting through the January doldrums that we have a page dedicated to just how these little numbers can thrust you to the next level.

Restaurant Gift Certificates. is a must read for every restaurant wanting to capitalize on the restaurant holiday season.

After Christmas there is a solid week of business that is usually driven by families taking their vacation and shoppers! Where you are located will determine how to best attract these customers, but take advantage of the uplifted spirits of the general public because your restaurant holiday season is coming to an end. The last party is New Years Eve. I know it’s amateur night out on the town for most places, but that means you get to give a nice impression of your establishment to a set of people that probably rarely if ever frequent your place. I’m not a big fan of the night myself nor do I want to portray I know how to handle every restaurants individual situation, so I’m not going to. Instead I would just like to wish you all a Happy New Year and hopefully this article has helped you get a little buffer as you go into the nationally ranked worst month of the year for any business sales; January!