Thanksgiving Eve: Must-Do Prep for Restaurants

When Thanksgiving rolls around, the busy, bustling Wednesday before the special Thanksgiving day provides the restaurant with the golden opportunity to shine.

As friends and families gather to celebrate the spirit of gratitude, this night is more than just an opener of the holiday. It is a time when people flock to bars and eateries for social gatherings, reunions, and parties before the more formal, family-focused feast on Thanksgiving. For restaurants, it’s a thrilling mix of chaos and profit.

Managing the holiday rush and delivering top-notch service feels overwhelming during this time. You are not alone if you are a restaurant owner and feel the same. As you embrace the joy of the season this Thanksgiving Eve, if you want to deliver a memorable service to your customers, you are welcome! We have compiled the most effective strategies to help your restaurant survive and thrive on this festive occasion!

How to prepare for Thanksgiving Eve at your restaurant?

Preparing thoroughly for Thanksgiving Eve high-traffic night can significantly improve operational efficiency, customer satisfaction, and profit. As the holiday spirit fills the air and families gather, here’s how to prepare for the Thanksgiving Eve rush:

1. Stocking up on inventory

Thanksgiving Eve is a big reason for the influx of customers to your restaurant. And you need to be prepared for the greater demand for food, drinks and usual days. If you are not new to the business, then you have a rough idea of a guest on any normal day so that you can estimate a doubling of the stocks.

Bars, in particular, need to pay attention to their alcohol and beverage collection, as the night before Thanksgiving often sees high demand for cocktails, wine, and beer. Why not give your customers an extra reason to celebrate with a special festive cocktail menu? It’s important to order additional stock of the most popular brands to meet this demand.

Analyze the data from your POS system to identify food items that might be in high demand and stock them accordingly. In the spirit of Thanksgiving, if you plan to offer Thanksgiving-themed dishes, consider hiring expert chefs and discussing the inventory needed to manage the festival’s demand. The POS system can also provide past sales data to help you develop a perfect plan, allowing you to avoid overstocking.

2. Offering special promotions and menus

A festive season is a great opportunity to attract new customers or to make big profits from repeated ones. It is normal for people to expect offers and deals during the Thanksgiving season, as most of the stores are doing the same. Come up with unique deals and discounts and offer strategies to implement during the festive season.

With Pickcel’s Artboard it’s easy to create menus, promotional offers, or discounts directly on the menu board. It is a free application that comes with Pickcel digital signage software solutions that help to design various digital contents including welcome greetings, event announcements, gift cards, upselling content, and ads, etc. Allow customers to receive discounts for pre-orders, bulk purchases, or gifting purposes. Use digital signage in your restaurant to display promotional ads of your deals starting a week before the festival to inform your customers about offerings beforehand.

3. Event planning

Bachelors, friends, and family often come together with ideas for enjoying an event on Thanksgiving Eve, filled with festive cheer and warm gatherings. Organize events at your restaurant and promote the offering of free entry; it will drive a packed house of guests. This will increase your opportunity to make sales or gather tips. Plan for live music or DJ nights for the Eve or organize karaoke and open mic nights for the guests to enjoy a fine dinner with the event.

Restaurants can initiate charitable events in cooperation with local charities, shelters, or food banks. On Thanksgiving Eve, many restaurants in the U.S. participate in charitable efforts by opening their doors to feed the less fortunate, despite being closed to regular customers.

4. Hiring extra staff

Managing staff is a headache during the festive season because they may request time off to enjoy the festival with their family and friends. Make sure you are well prepared with your staff and plan the whole thing in advance. Divide roles and responsibilities to manage things smoothly. If you believe you need more human help, then go ahead and hire more smart staff, as you can’t compromise the holiday cheer or customer experience.

You will need additional servers and bartenders to handle more orders and reduce delays. Make sure your kitchen has enough cooks and dishwashers to keep up with the rush.

Additionally, to ensure that all your staff is giving their best, promise them bonuses, extra holiday treats like festive treats, free family dinners, holiday trips, salary hikes, or promotional benefits. It will boost their confidence and enrich the culture of your brand.

5. Prepping for takeout and delivery

During the Eve, families and friends often prefer to enjoy a meal at home without the hassle of cooking. Preparing your takeout and delivery systems can help expand your offering and welcome more demands.

Optimize your menu with items that can be easy to deliver, and consider adding combo offers and complementary. Ensuring you have extra packaging supplies of high quality is essential for making sure food arrives at customers’ homes in good condition.

Many food delivery partners are available, which makes the process even easier even if you don’t have an in-house delivery team. Ensure you have listed on popular delivery services like UberEats, Zomato, Grubhub, or DoorDash and updated with your latest holiday menu and promotions.

6. Enhanced safety measures

With the increased foot traffic on Thanksgiving Eve, safety becomes paramount for guests and staff. Ensure you have staff and security guards to manage the crowd and check everyone’s security. Your security staff can manage the overcrowding of your restaurant, respecting local regulations.

Additionally, health and safety protocols are also important after recent health concerns. To ensure proper hygiene maintenance with food safety protocols, assign staff or a team to look over it.

7. Boosting marketing efforts

The more you reach, the more you grow. Growing as a business or an individual becomes this easy in this era of technology. Put efforts into marketing your offerings before the arrival of Thanksgiving Eve. Run social media campaigns and create content on your social media handles to let customers know your business.

Businesses often collaborate with an influencer or local celebrity to drive the crowd’s attention. You can also display ads on DOOH displays or video walls in various crowded places in your locality.

Use technology to streamline the process

If you have the proper technology, managing a festive season is a cakewalk. Technological integration can reduce your staff count, manage repeated tasks, and streamline the entire management process.

Digital signage

Digital signage systems are often used as digital menu boards in restaurants and cafes. They are effective in attracting customers simultaneously and can display menus, event content, information, and more. Digital signage can also display tables available for guests or QR codes for mobile ordering and payments.

Connect your digital menu board with the POS system to manage the menu items automatically. There is no limit to how you can use digital signage. Example: Pickcel for Digital signage, which comes with an integrated Square POS system with their digital menu board.

Events management tools

Install audiovisual technology to manage events and ensure a memorable experience for your guests. Ensure all the audiovisual tools like sound system, visual display, and external tools are connected through software to manage everything smoothly. Additionally, you can set up interactive digital kiosks for event ticket booking or online booking.

Payment solutions

Ensure all payment options, including a digital payment gateway, are available for your guests’ convenience. Allow customers to pay via smartphones using Apple Pay, Google Pay, or other contactless options. Additionally, some POS systems allow for easy bill splitting, which is common for large groups dining out on Thanksgiving Eve.

Try out the Thanksgiving Eve menu template.

When the entire restaurant is glowing with lights and decorations of Thanksgiving Eve, an old menu with the usual offerings and designs will not fit into it. Try revamping your menu board with a festive look, new menu items, and deals.

Instead of hiring a graphic designer to craft your digital menu board, a more straightforward option will be to try out a holiday menu template design. Templates are pre-designed, well-structured, and available in various options. Now, the work is more accessible; edit the menu according to your requirements and fit it into any screen layout. It will save you time and the headache of designing it from scratch.

The Pickcel digital menu board app has a great collection of free digital menu templates with 100+ different options. In addition to Thanksgiving, you will get access to templates for Christmas and other holidays. Decide on one template you feel looks good and add menu items. Make sure to customize the color composition to match the vibe and look of your restaurant.

You can also change the name of your menu items to match the festive atmosphere, like “Gobble Gobble Turkey Plate” or “Harvest Pumpkin Delight.” By creating a Thanksgiving Eve holiday menu template, you can cater to the festive mood and enhance your restaurant’s appeal.

Wrapping up before the feast!

The task of management in the festive season is a collective effort. You need people with skillful hands in the kitchen and polite individuals who can serve guests. However, technology can set you apart and help you dominate your competitors. You can put up a massive digital signage board to attract customers about the offers and menu items.

If you are someone who truly understands that investing a small amount in technology can drive massive profits, then you can rule for sure. To support your words, we have the world’s finest digital signage software solutions, which you can check by visiting us. Let’s make this festive season brighter and more profitable together!