5 Tips to Prepare Your Restaurant for the Holiday Party Season

Create an inviting atmosphere by adding seasonal decorations like Christmas trees or wreaths to create an environment suitable for parties. If you're interested in purchasing some holiday decorations, there are a few places to find them. You can find holiday ornaments at Michael's, Target, or Walmart. Even the local dollar store can be a good source for those who are on a tight budget.

Offer guests something new this year by coming up with exciting menu items that will be sure to please everyone in attendance at your next celebration. Offer a secondary menu for seasonal food items when seating your guests that could include favourites such as ham dishes, gingerbread, or hot fudge brownies for dessert.

Create a winter cocktail menu for those who are looking for something warm and fun to sip on during the party. Make hot mulled cider or spiced wine to serve to guests at your restaurant this holiday season. Nothing says "Christmas is here" like a tasty beverage on a cool evening. Giving your bartenders the go-ahead to get creative with drink specials can also increase their morale and engagement, bonus!

Make sure you have your restaurant staff properly trained before the winter rush of banquets and parties. This will help ensure restaurant patrons are getting the best service possible when they visit your restaurant.

This is a great opportunity to host some in-house training for restaurant employees who have been on staff all year, or maybe even train new hires if you've added any since the beginning of this holiday season. Make sure everybody knows what's going on, and is up to speed on restaurant policies so there are no surprises for restaurant guests once they arrive!

Have a staff meeting and explain to them in an open matter that the busiest time of the restaurant is coming. Families getting together, workplaces and offices having after-work drinks, and how you'll need all hands on deck. If somebody wants a Friday or Saturday night off, they should be requesting those days now as you'll be approving them on a first come first serve basis and won't be able to accommodate everyone. Getting this out in the open now, can save some anger and tears later.  Using BarSight to blackout time off requests can help prevent too many day off requests coming from your employees for a particular day.

In conclusion, restaurant owners would do well to prepare their restaurant for the upcoming holiday party season by being creative with menus, getting festive with the drinks they serve, and training restaurant staff. Here's to a holiday season ready restaurant!