Are you ready for the most wonderful time of the year? The holiday season accounts for 20% of restaurants’ annual sales on
average, according to data from SpotOn. Restaurants and hotels often add staff, develop seasonal menus, and increase their hours to take full advantage of the season before the doldrums of January.
Here are a few more ideas for boosting your bottom line during the holidays by bringing in more customers and trimming waste.
Market yourself as a holiday party venue — starting right now.
Early in the season, companies’ designated party planners start searching for things like:
- Holiday party venues near me
- Best holiday party venues
- Fun holiday party venues
- Restaurants for small holiday party
You get the idea. Make sure your business shows up in results! Use social media, paid search advertising, and your own website to help people find you. Don’t forget the details — identify what makes your hotel, bar or restaurant an appealing holiday party venue. Do you offer affordable weekday specials? Can you accommodate large parties? Do you have private rooms?
Focus more on food, less on booze.
J. Riccardo Benavides is a corporate party planner extraordinaire. His company, Ideas Events & Rentals, caters to Silicon Valley tech companies and routinely organizes events with 6-figure budgets. He’s seen one major holiday party trend in recent years: The era of overindulging in alcohol is over. “It's not like my era when everyone got trashed… Millennials will sit there or mingle and hold just one beer for the entire event,” Benavides tells Business Insider.
As drinking decreases, companies may be planning to spend more on food for their holiday parties this year. Offer plenty of upgrades and upsells with your seasonal menu: special appetizers, elaborate charcuterie, extra-fancy desserts, etc.
Get creative with the holiday décor for your restaurant or venue.
Benavides’ corporate clients often insist having on "Instagram moments" as part of holiday party planning: scenes and sets that encourage attendees to take a photo for social media (tagging the company, of course). This kind of exposure can boost your business, too. So when it comes time to decorate for the holidays, don’t put up the same dusty reindeer and a few strands of twinkle lights. Ask yourself: What can you do that’s better, bigger, weirder or more fun than anyone else?
You don’t have to go as over-the-top as Rolf’s German Restaurant, which consistently draws accolades (and customers) for being the most Christmassy restaurant in New York City. You could go for an understated, woodsy look (like Sunday in Brooklyn). Or kitschy tinsel overload (like Pit and Tap outside Chicago). Or ambitiously artsy (like Sketch London, which has featured artist-made installations as varied as an immense floral Pegasus, a Christmas tree inspired by 18th-century Russia, and a UFO in the loo.)
Try a holiday-themed pop-up.
The popularity of pop-up holiday bars continues to grow. Two of the best known concepts — the retro Miracle and the tiki-themed Sippin’ Santa — have been adopted by venues all over the world. Or you can have even more fun coming up with a concept of your own. Some favorite themes we’ve seen are Krampus (at the Side Door in Washington, D.C.), The Nightmare Before Christmas (at Zeppelin Station in Denver, CO); and “Santa’s Secret ‘Stache” in Atlanta, which offers treats for kids and cocktails for adults next to an ice-skating rink.
You could even offer ticketed events or experiences, as 21% of restaurants do for the holidays. Santa brunches, festive wine tastings, and holiday teas are all reliable ways to bring customers in the door.
’Tis the season to target food waste.
The holidays are traditionally associated with excess, but there’s no reason to waste food — especially when it sabotages your holiday season profits. We have a few suggestions for ways to reduce and repurpose food waste.
- Keep food delicious longer with an in-chamber vacuum sealer. When done correctly, vacuum sealing can dramatically extend the usable life of perishable foods and help with accurate portioning. Pre-season proteins and other menu items, then seal and refrigerate or freeze. (Make sure your kitchen staff are trained in safe handling practices for vacuum-sealed food.) Explore the PrimaVac™ line of vacuum packaging machines.
- Put your high-performance blender to work. Repurposing food scraps is a major trend in restaurant sustainability, and a high-performance blender makes it easy. Bruised fruit can be blended into a smoothie or frozen cocktail. Herb stems blend nicely into fresh sauces. You can even process leftover bits of cheese into an absolutely delicious treat called fromage fort.
- Find a home for leftover food on Too Good to Go. This innovative app enables restaurants and hotels to sell extra prepared food to customers via “Save Surprise Bags.” Fairmont Copley Plaza Executive Chef Zaid Khan says it’s a great opportunity to serve extra food that must be made in batches: “At the end of the night, there’s some inevitable overage there — for things like our clam chowder, our grits from the shrimp and grits, and we generally have some chicken seared off for salads and some mustard greens sweated off.” All those extras go into a bag for discount-seeking diners to enjoy.
- Donate excess meals. As hotel and restaurant operators know, it’s inevitable that some prepared meals will go uneaten at large holiday events. Establish a partnership with a local food bank, shelter, or other nonprofit that can ensure those meals are enjoyed by people who need them. After all, the spirit of giving is what the holidays are all about.
Hamilton Beach Commercial is your partner in driving revenue and making your kitchen more efficient all year long. Browse our full line of commercial foodservice equipment solutions.
