For restaurants and caterers the holiday season is the busiest time of the year. Consequently, it’s the time when they stand to make the most money providing the meals for Christmas and end of year parties and events. While the holidays are still over a month away the best restaurants and caterers will make good use of that time in order to prepare and get the most out of the increased demand that will soon occur. Here are some ways to make sure your business is ready:

Update your website

Use the space on your website to advertise your holiday party offering. This might include a function room, catering services or any other special packages such as gift baskets. You’ll also benefit from offering incentives to customers who want to book any of these for the holidays early. 

Make sure your staff are ready

It’s imperative that your staff are trained and equipped to handle the increased demands of customers during the holidays. You should develop a training framework so that employees will know exactly what’s expected of them and be better equipped to deliver exceptional service. Further to this, consider hiring additional staff to work at peak times during the Christmas period (Christmas casuals). As the talent pool for Christmas casuals are generally young people who are looking for experience in the hospitality industry, it’s important that they are hired in advance and trained to a high standard.

Make some cold calls

While cold calling isn’t exactly the most respected sales technique, there is a time and place for it and this is it. Many organizations don’t want the extra stress of having to plan a holiday party in advance as many are likely to be preoccupied with finishing off the year’s work. Therefore there is a much better chance they’ll respond positively to a cold call from a caterer offering to take care of their holiday party. When cold calling be sure to clearly outline your services in a clear and concise way and offer some incentives (eg a discount). Calling previous customers is a good start as they would know what you’re about and would not need as much convincing. Once you’ve done that you’ll gain the confidence to approach new customers. 

Update your menu

The most important consideration when choosing the catering for a holiday or Christmas party or event is of course the food, and it’s a god idea to get your menu right with lots of time to spare. This will allow you to plan ahead of the rest and get potential customers thinking about the holidays in advance when they see your menu. Planning ahead will give you time to look into popular trends, source new suppliers and adjust your menu to match customer demands.

The increasingly relaxed corporate culture means that organizations are thinking about the holidays and the end of the year earlier than ever before and in order to make the most out of the holiday season caterers and restaurants need to do the same.