Tips for Serving Large Holiday Groups

December 14, 2018

As the holidays are in full swing (with less than two weeks until Christmas!) you’ll probably be noticing more groups than usual, and some may be quite large. This can put a strain on your staff, from top to bottom, and it can definitely cause more wear and tear on your equipment. As your local equipment repair company in Mid-Missouri, we have some tips to help your staff adjust to the added effort and how WE can help with your equipment.

Keep It Simple

Obviously one of the first signs from large groups is that there are a LOT more orders. With that, you may find that the ordering process can become tedious. Make sure that your servers are able to perform their jobs both quickly and accurately. Some restaurant POS systems provide shortcuts for the paying process with large groups, so it’s important to know how your equipment works. The better you know how to work the equipment, the better your entire staff will operate - from the servers to the kitchen staff.

Communication is #1

Keeping the communication open and effective between your front-of-house staff and your back-of-house operations will make later groups even easier. If guests are placing special order requests, sharing and entree, or ordering certain items as appetizers, your servers will need to communicate this to the kitchen. Likewise, if certain ingredients run out, your servers will need to know so that they can relay this to the customers. Communication should work like a finely tuned machine, and on that note …

Keep Your Equipment Working 100%

You’ll want to make sure that your ovens, warmers, freezers, refrigerators and the like are all operating at full capacity during the holiday season. If your restaurant equipment in Mid-Missouri breaks down, it can affect more than just what foods are available. Fast Fix, LLC would love to put you on our Maintenance Agreement list. It can be hard for you to maintain a lot of equipment on time, but our preventive maintenance covers HVAC, refrigeration, cleaning and replacing filters throughout your restaurant. This reduces waste, down-time, energy usage, and improves your bottom line.

Stay On Top of Reservations

The large dinner parties are great for your business, but they can quickly slow things down and stress out your staff if you aren’t properly prepared. There are many things you can do to make the process easier, but a few include the layout of your dining area, the technology that you use to streamline the process, the way you hold the tables for reservations, and even whether you ask for a credit card at the time of placing the reservation.

Don’t Forget About the Other Customers

It obviously takes more time to serve and care for the larger tables, but don’t let that get in the way of serving the rest of your customers. Make sure that your team put just as much priority on the rest of your guests. Sometimes large groups can increase the noise levels, if you have other guests complaining about the noise, do your best to assist by moving people around and trying to keep people happy.

The Holiday Rush

It can be hard to accommodate everyone all at once, but with some planning and good attitudes, you can easily serve everyone and make the holidays go off without a hitch! Fast Fix LLC realizes that the holidays are busy, so the last thing you need is for your restaurant equipment to break down. Fast Fix LLC 24/7 Emergency Services. Please, give us a call at 573-544-0456 to get set up as a customer - we’ll be ready for you at a minutes notice! Happy Holidays from the Fast Fix Team, we hope that you stay busy, and have wonderful guests.