The busiest holiday season of the year has arrived and many times restaurants tend to get swamped. With the huge increase in the number of guests, there comes revenues and subsequent increases in profits as well. The holiday season gets challenging if there are no necessary preparatory steps taken well in advance. In this article, we shall talk about, how to prepare restaurant franchises for the Holiday season.

Surveys suggest nearly 33 million Americans get their meals at restaurants while they are busy shopping for Thanksgiving, Christmas Eve, Christmas, and New Year’s Eve. Since the flow of consumers can become overtly incomparable, it becomes fundamental to update the systems and integrate holiday-rush-friendly tactics to handle the surge in the most efficient way possible.

Let us walk you through How to prepare restaurant franchises for the holiday season

• Time for Holiday Specials- Consumers worldwide look forward to menu freshness. With the holiday season around the corner, the people visiting your restaurant get excited about the new additions to make their holiday meals feel special. Quick Service Restaurants across the globe revive their holiday menu with items to entice the customer to try new things to consume. Starbucks’ menu has incorporated the Peppermint Mocha, Caramel Brulee Latte, Chestnut Praline Latte, Toasted White Chocolate Mocha, and Irish Cream Cold Brew in the beverage section. Meanwhile, the bakery menu includes the return of Reindeer cake pop, sugar plum cheese danish, Cranberry Bliss Bar, Snowman Cookie, and a new addition of Chocolate Pistachio Swirl. McDonald’s, on the other hand, has a Christmas drink menu, Festive Stack and Festive Crispy Chicken to name a few.
• Get Social, Reach out to people – Advertising the restaurant’s holiday specials through the social media platforms such as Instagram, Facebook, etc. fetches great results. Keeping up with consumer needs and the holiday season demands, advertising is a great way to enhance customer reach.
• Multiple Streams of Revenue- the holiday season is the peak season for revenue accumulation. understanding the trends inducing consumer demands is the way to go. Along with market research, restaurants can also provide holiday special discounts, meal plans, rewards and gifts that can encourage the customer to shop for more. This is the time when the loyalty programs surface to be the stars. Through the Loyalty programs, the customers are entitled to offers, rewards, gifts, discounts, and vouchers. Moreover, when the peak season is ongoing there is more inflow of customers. This means more customers approach the array of deals the restaurants have to offer. Gathering satisfied loyal customers ensures their undivided attention towards your brand throughout the year.
• Train staff- Restaurants get flooded with customers who are eager to experience the food, ambiance, and festivity. The staff, however, needs to gear up to meet the expectations of the customers. The busy season calls for more efficient management of the whole restaurant system. with this in mind, its rewarding for the restaurants to keep their POS systems updated to the latest version, a quality table management facility managed with the help of POS in mobile devices, systems that make the bill splitting easier and without hassle, keeping track of the table orders, ensuring a system where there is a continuous flow of food from the food handling staff, managing the wait-list system efficiently are some of the major things that need to be paid heed to. An in-house online ordering system reduces the amount of stress on the staff. Apart from what happens inside the restaurant, there is an organization of the parking systems that is also critical to keep a watch on. Along with the technology update, the staff needs to be trained to be able to handle the pressure of the peak hours using those technologies. This can also be channeled through local businesses that provide services for parking and other related facilities.
• Localize – For a restaurant, attracting the local community plays a vital role. Well-planned marketing strategies focusing on the surrounding community is the key. This also plays an important role while planning the menu for the season’s rush. Partnering with local businesses and communities can increase sales. Planning the menu well in advance ensures a stocked-up inventory and engaging local vendors.

The festivities persuade the businesses to engage in philanthropy deeds in order to give back to the community. KFC launched a Mobile van- The SHAREMOBILE that would feed families in designated locations struck with calamities and facing difficult times. This was initiated to help these families live the festive spirit.

Although franchise brands and units have it all preplanned and duly instructed about the management of business during the peak revenue season, it is also the responsibility of the franchise unit owners to make systems more refined and synchronized.

The franchise owners can do their part to provide better services and generate a more satisfied customer base for themselves.

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