Hospitality and the silly season - Christmas, New Years, Parties and Money

Christmas time and the holidays are on our doorstep. Now is the time to put into action the big plan, which we touched in some detail in a previous post http://www.hospitalityimprovement.com/2009/10/hospitality-christmas-and-end-of-year.html


Now is the time to implement your campaign. In this post we will explore in some more detail about each aspect of this crucial time of year. But remember the key elements of December, and with the mindset of what your business can achieve with this, you can set about step by step.

This is the month where you can make up to six months of revenue in a massively busy 31 day stretch. Over this time (if you want it to be, the opportunity is there), a restaurant or café in essence ceases to be a breakfast and/or lunch and/or dinner serving establishment.

It becomes a cash cow. While this might sound financially ravenous, it is a useful mindset to have. Especially when considering that the quietest financial quarter of the year immediately follows.

When considering this above statement though, make sure that any concept of greed is firmly placed behind a plan, structure, and organisation of the massively increased business levels.

Think of your holiday period and December as one continuous Friday or Saturday night.

So let’s look at the key aspects:

What is actually happening?

By now, basics such as menu, different offerings and set menus should be organised. Special offerings, such as a Christmas menu offering traditional holiday meals, or special drinks - need to be confirmed.

But make sure this is all organised and above all communicated. You would be stunned at how quickly basic organisation can fall apart before it all begins due to lack of inter-organisation transparency.

• Before anything is committed, make sure it is humanly possible. If you are cooking a special dish, make sure your supplier can provide the Turkey!
• Make sure the people who actually need to perform the key “acts” know what they need to do. Managers and owners signing off on Christmas eggnog cocktail is great, but the bar needs to know about it.
• Put everything to paper, and plan everything from A to Z. If you are releasing a new menu, then not only do the kitchen need to cook it, but you need the menus, it needs to be advertised, team need to know so that they have the information. Other things need to be considered such as what happens to your “normal things.” If you have a Christmas menu that is going to sell, should you not reduce your stock of your ordinary menu?

Switch to an events mentality

Even though events and restaurants in theory fall under the same hospitality umbrella, they are massively different. In the same way that some people naively think they can operate a restaurant from scratch with no experience whatsoever, don’t fall into the trap of thinking that events and Christmas time are just like a busy service.

In 2010, I will be covering events and functions management in some detail, but for now, we will touch on the basics as it relates to Christmas time.

• Ideally, have someone specifically focused on the behind the scenes planning. This is taking the bookings, fitting everyone in and having all of the information ready for the floor team to execute. In a perfect world make sure that the roles of service team don’t overlap with this, it will mean the organisation is more fluent.
• Understand the benefits of an event order. These can be as simple or as complex as you like, but instead of just writing a note in your diary, have a specific piece of paper detailing anything that could be classed as a specific event. This could mean it is worth a couple of hundred dollars, it could be a minimum number of say 20 people.
• Think of your events as a separate occasion. In a restaurant or café, this can be tricky. Not only will each different group have different requirements (menus, drinks, etc) but often an event will be paid for by one person, and so on. Separate the business

But most importantly, be prepared for a different mentality from the customer. A restaurant of café is essentially a controlled environment in the fact that the guests sit at a certain table, order according to your sequence of service, and so forth. What separates an event is that the organiser has more importance that any ordinary guest (this is crucial) and will have specific requirements that may to a certain degree go over and beyond what you might offer.

Also, think as if you were the customer. If you walked into the restaurant as part of a special group, would you know where to go? Would signage be appropriate?

Don’t forget all the little extras.

The goods, perishables and non perishables

Make sure that all non perishable goods are planned for now, and that there is at least a short term plan. Often, this can be for something as simple as Christmas decorations. I have worked in hotels where often the decorations are not put up until mid to late December because no one has actually stopped to work out which department needs to take responsibility for it.

Also, often the equipment you may need for special events (extra tables and chairs are a great example) will come from a third party.

This is where (as I fervently recommend in hospitality improvement) that your relationships with suppliers need to be strong and you keep in touch with them. Don’t insult them by ringing with last minute requests. If you plan, then they can, and they will have everything you need.

On this same note, make sure you at the very least spend a half hour on the phone (face to face is better) with your food and beverage suppliers to work out everything you need.

This conversation also will cover delivery times, payments, when do they close over the holidays, and so forth. Don’t let poor third party organisation – on your part or theirs, cripple this period for you.

The team

This is the one time of year where briefings must be religious. Make sure that team always know what is going on. A small trick for events is to have a clip board for each day of the week with everything on it for that day. I was so organised that I would attach a summary of events to my roster:

MON

20pax cocktail main veranda (partitioned), BAR TAB
35pax Xmas set menu A, (7 tables 5), Under Coca-Cola

Staff

4pm Ann – Function setups
5pm John – Bar
5pm Frank – Veranda Bar

Something as simple as this can add so much to your business in terms of organisation. While it is excellent to have all of your team capable of doing everything, do try and delegate specific responsibilities. Just as you have floor team, bar team, chefs, etc – specialise even more.

On this note, make sure you are prepared for this extra business flow when this is all said and done. If you have an accountant come in for one afternoon a week to do your payroll and consolidate your receipts, he or she might need more time to do this in a busy period.

Don’t kill yourself!

Do not make the crucial mistake of overworking yourself or your team. If the above is covered, and you are organised, the need for you to have any member of your operation work 60+ hour weeks can be avoided.

Little things help. In a specific functions department, I would often have separate set up teams come in. It makes a big difference if you do a dinner service and evening functions if you don’t need to stay until 4am the next morning setting up for a breakfast or lunch shift.

Always think one step ahead, and after you have planned that step, think ahead to the one following that. At the beginning of each day and week, set a plan of attack, and your structure and efficiency will be massively increased.

On a finishing note, while we did mention that this period can be a cash cow, you must also know your businesses limitations. It sounds simple, but a 100 seat restaurant can’t sit 200 people. A little bit of greed can be good, but if you don’t work within your realms, both as a person and within your infrastructure, you are inviting trouble.