Hey Hot Potatoes,

Welcome to the latest edition of the Hot Potato Newsletter. Now, it’s getting to that time of year isn’t it… Christmas lights brightening up Regent Street, The Pogues getting their annual time to shine on our radios, and Hyde Park’s Winter Wonderland has officially opened it’s gates. This can only mean one thing, Christmas is coming! For me, and I am sure like others, it’s a period of sheer excitement. It’s that time of year when one more at the pub is harder to turn down, because after all, it’s Christmas! What about that week between Christmas and New Year’s where nobody knows what day it is; I relish in waking up, eating turkey leftovers, getting a few glasses of red in and then going back to bed, you just can’t beat it. As you can imagine, for the hospitality sector it’s a hugely exciting time and arguably the most important trading period of the year. So, in today’s newsletter we look at the ways in which you can make the most of December; from maximising revenue, staffing, marketing and ensuring your offering is on point. Let’s get into it!

In today’s email: How to smash the Christmas period.

Read Time: Approx 7 mins

Maximising revenue and profits

Source: Access Hospitality / eat.drink.sleep

To rake in the most revenue and profits, you should be diving into your historical data regularly to pinpoint peak trading days and allow these insights to guide your customer communications. This is particularly important when it comes to the Christmas period, as you’ll need to make sure you keep your stock in check, arrange your team schedule just right to boost profits and have a focus on reducing waste. Plus, don’t forget to lean in and score better supplier deals to keep your margins as healthy as possible.

Key Points:

1. Use Historical Data: In this day and age, data is seriously important, so make sure you are getting to grips with it! You should look at historical sales data to govern how you can effectively manage resources. To prove my point, last year the following four dates specifically - Saturday 7th December, Friday 13th December, Saturday 14th December and Saturday 21st December - accounted for £67mn in hospitality sales in the UK alone. Be sure to take this data seriously as you can use it to help manage stock and create a staffing schedule that maximises profits.

2. Negotiate With Suppliers: Maintain good and close relationships with your suppliers as these can result in friendly discounts. Suppliers know it’s a busy time of year and they may be looking to thank you for your loyalty. Use this pull on top of your buying prowess to snag better deals. You could group your orders or even check out alternatives as there may be other offers on the table. I’d also suggest giving supplier contracts a once-over too before the Christmas craze hits.

3. Keep Tabs On Costs Every Single Day: Staying on top of daily expenses is key to catching any anomalies and not being at risk of large financial surprises. This is a proactive approach and makes you more likely to be able to fix issues fast. With savvy accounting software, you can track crucial costs such as labour, food and drinks, and then review your spending against your budget, helping you see potential savings too.

4. Waste Less: According to research, hospitality businesses lose 97p from every meal served due to avoidable food waste, which can add up! So ensure you’re ordering the right quantities and not being overly generous with portion sizes too; you want your Christmas meals to look hearty, but remember people’s eyes are bigger than their stomachs!

Being smart with your data and planning ahead is one of the best ways to navigate through the festive period. Using booking and CRM platforms like SevenRooms can help with sales forecasts and personalised marketing communications. A good POS (Point of Sale) like Toast will allow you to keep on top of every day costs, while ensuring stock and waste levels are kept in check.

Getting your menu and drinks right

Source: Restaurant Online

The traditional Christmas lunch has a large turkey as the centrepiece and remains a customer favourite. Whilst creativity is encouraged, do keep classic elements like roast potatoes and stuffing prominent. Innovative vegetarian and vegan options such as a celeriac wellington can enhance offerings for diverse diners. As for drinks, balance classics like sparkling wine with inventive cocktails, and be sure to include a range of non-alcoholic options to cater to all preferences.

Key Points:

1. Turkey Is Still King: When it comes to your Christmas menu, there can be temptation to stray away from the traditional fare, but the majority of diners still want turkey as an option. Sure you can jazz it up a bit, but make sure to include the traditional sides, including pigs in blankets, roast potatoes, brussels sprouts and gravy, as these are the most popular.

2. Broaden Out To The Veggies And Vegans: Now the one big section on the menu where there is more freedom to roam is the veggie and vegan portion. Loyal readers, we do have to cater for them as well! Nut roast is okay and all, but more choices will appeal to larger groups of people coming with their veggie and vegan friends.

3. Festive Specials: Even if you don’t offer a traditional Christmas meal, this is a time of the year when you’re allowed to add a bit of festive flair to your menu. Look at Pizza Express as an example, they are doing dough ball pigs in blankets and pizza with turkey and stuffing. It’s different, available for a limited time only and gives customers another reason to visit, so why not?!

4. Make Your Drinks A Delight: After a long twelve months, most people like to indulge at Christmas, especially with a drink or two. So ensure you’ve got an offering to suit all tastes, from the classic mulled wine to snazzy cocktails, striking a balance between choice and ease on operations. Let’s also not neglect the non-alcoholic drinkers, giving them a strong choice of low and no alcohol choices can be extremely profitable.

So when it comes to your menu offering, turkey should remain the focal point of the menu; if you do this whilst keeping the veggie and vegan diners happy, plus drinks flowing, you’re onto a winner. I personally can’t wait to tuck into a few Christmas sandwiches, in particular I have my eye on ‘The Gobbler’ at Wildes Deli. Checkout Timeout’s top Christmas sandwich list here if you want to try the best in London!

Operations and staffing

Source: Access Hospitality

Efficient staffing during this busy period is crucial. Plan ahead to manage holiday requests and keep staffing levels adequate. Think of incentivising your team where possible and make sure your staff are well trained, know how to keep operations smooth and are pumped to provide the best customer experience.

Key Points:

1. Plan Ahead: What’s that saying… proper planning prevents piss poor performance. Look at past data and future bookings to forecast what staffing levels are required. Make sure your staff have staggered their annual leave fairly so you don’t have a wave of no availability over the Christmas period. You could even have a policy where they can’t take time off over certain weekends or weeks in December, but be sure to be kind, empathetic and look to motivate them pre and post Christmas as a thank you. It is important you have enough staff at all times.

2. Incentivise Performance: It’s a tough period to be working in hospitality, the long hours and very busy dining rooms means it can be hard work. You should make it so your staff are rewarded, perhaps with extra cash incentives, and be sure to recognise them for their relentless efforts and sacrifices.

3. Team Training: A well trained team is crucial to keeping operations and service running smoothly, and means your customers will be well looked after. Think about what skills may need a little polish and map out how and when you'll roll out your training sessions. Let's make sure your staff are ready to shine during the festive season! It also looks good if the team are well versed with the Christmas menu too, so they can provide a consultative approach when making recommendations and upsell food or drink offerings.

Now is the time to pinpoint any training gaps you might have and get ahead of the game before the Christmas rush kicks in. I can’t stress enough, remember to make sure you’ve planned adequately so you’ve got good staffing levels to cover you throughout the festive season.

Marketing and out-of-the-box thinking

Warm up the crowd like a glass of mulled wine and step up your marketing efforts. Highlight your uniqueness, whether it’s your menu or venue, and get it on your socials. Leverage your CRM for personal outreach and Christmas offers... even hampers can help drive further revenue.

Key Points:

1. Shout About Your Uniqueness: From your venue to your menu, what can you shout about? Give customers a reason to visit over the festive period and talk about it on your socials. I loved Franco Manca’s Christmas ad this year, they highlighted their new four course menu all the while pretending to be carol singers, you can check it out on their Instagram here. Very funny and very on trend!

2. Leverage CRM Tools: Get the word out about your unique festive specials with targeted marketing campaigns; tap into that early customer buzz and give your outreach a personal touch. Fire off those emails ahead of time (yep, fingers crossed you’re on it already!), and get your customers excited to stop by for some holiday cheer.

3. Hampers And Gifts: When it comes to out-of-the-box thinking, think about boxes! Outside of the usual revenue streams, things like hampers and special treats or gifts are another big revenue driver. The likes of Simon Rogan, Michel Roux Jr and Tom Kerridge offer hampers full of Christmas treats, and you can get these delivered directly to your front door.

Hopefully with all these tips and tricks, you can make it a Christmas to remember!

Today we’ve explored some of the ways in which you can absolutely smash this festive period. For the operators out there, what are you focusing on to ensure it’s a great period of trade? For everyone else, you’ve heard some of my favourite Christmas traditions, I want to hear from you, what are you most looking forward to this Christmas?

In next week’s edition, we look at why in today’s saturated market some choose to keep it niche, what are the benefits and who’s doing just that.

Thanks for reading and don’t forget to subscribe to stay updated weekly on all things hospitality!

Bon appétit,

Max Shipman, Founder, Hot Potato

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