Gearing Up for the Holiday Rush

As you find yourself in between Thanksgiving and Christmas, you may be in a bit of a holiday haze. Don’t get too discombobulated, though! Christmas is a HUGE season for restaurants in Missouri, so it’s a great time to take advantage of the holiday traffic, festive moods, and even traveling guests for the holiday. At Fast Fix LLC, we know what a strain the holiday season can place on our customers, so we have a few tips to help you prepare for the holiday rush, and of course, a few ways we can help as well!


Introduce Holiday Menus

Did you know that at least one-third of consumers say that they see out seasonal menus during the holiday season? From Hanukkah to Christmas and beyond - specialty menus can help set your restaurant apart during the holidays. You can create a prix fixe menu, or you can add appetizers, entrees, desserts, or cocktail specials throughout the season.

Promote Gift Cards This Season!

The holidays are the PERFECT time to promote the gift cards to your facility, so make sure that you have ordered (and re-ordered) the gift cards for your restaurant. You can set up a big display at the front of your restaurant, and even package them in a box or gift bag with bows and ribbons. Really want to catch attention? Try offering a promotion with the gift card! This can help you boost business in the post-holiday winter months as well.

Prepare Your Staff

Make sure that you remind your staff to fill out holiday request forms WAY in advance so that you aren’t stuck with half your staff taking off the same days. These are your busiest days coming up, and you don’t want to be understaffed at this time.

You also want to remind your team about how to appropriately handle the larger crowds. This is a great time to go over policies and procedures for handling situations in your restaurant as well! With it fresh on their minds, it will be easier for them to address situations correctly should they arise.

You may also want to plan on overstaffing for the holiday season. Many facilities take on holiday help, or at least over schedule more than you would usually need. It’s easier to let people go home once the rush slows than to try and call people las minute when it’s getting crazy. Another great way to boost staff is to call former employees who left for college and see if they will be home during the holiday season and want to get some extra hours!


Check Your Supplies

Don’t ask questions, just do this. It’s always better to have too much supply than too little. Your restaurant should be aiming to provide a joyful holiday experience, and running out of an ingredient that is key to the dish your customers love the most is not filled with holiday cheer. You can look back at past sales and try to order supplies to meet the traffic that could be coming to your restaurant, and even anticipate things being even busier.

Another thing to consider is your dishware. It’s one thing to have your guests wait for a table, ut to make them wait because you need to speedily clean more dishes for their meal is another. Check your dishware inventory and make sure that you will have plenty of turnover. Everyone is going to be busy during the holiday season, and dishes could take longer to get to, don’t make dishes become the emergency.

Have Your Appliances Inspected

Finally, one of the most important things you can do, while it may still be a little slow, is to have your appliances looked out. There is nothing worse than going to turn on your oven and finding that it’s not getting up to temp, or noticing that your dishwasher is leaking all over the room with a huge pile of dishes waiting to be washed. At Fast Fix, we help take your emergencies and turn them into solutions - but even with our emergency services, having appliances break down can be hard on your business. Give us a call and have us look at your commercial kitchen equipment in Mid-Missouri before the holiday rush comes through! Better yet, sign up for our maintenance agreement services and let us keep up with the maintenance schedules for you!

Check out our website below to learn more about our commercial kitchen appliance service company in Mid-Missouri. Our staff is highly trained and ready to be there FAST. One call does it all!


Fast Fix LLC. Restaurant Equipment Service & Repair - 

Walk-In One Call Does It All! 




Fast Fix LLC. Restaurant Services
3362 State Road JJ
Kingdom City, MO 65262

Columbia: 573-544-0456
St. Louis: 636-327-8349


https://www.fastfixllc.com/about
Location: Kingdom City, MO, USA

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