The festive season can be a lucrative time for hospitality venues. This high-volume trading period, running from mid-November until early January, can place enormous pressure on hospitality venues.
To maximise your profit potential during this time, it is important to plan early, prepare thoroughly, implement controls, and communicate clearly with all staff and customers.
Planning
- Create a seasonal food and drinks menu using local produce that is in season. Check costings thoroughly, including all garnishes and extras, to ensure your price point is correct. Don’t forget about the non-alcoholic drinkers – ensure that you have alcohol free options on the seasonal menu.
- Understand the limitations of your venue, and avoid trying to cash in on the season by overbooking the venue.
- Carefully consider your staffing requirements. You may need to roster on extra staff or hire temporary staff to help you through busy periods.
- Training new temporary staff can be time consuming, so choose staff carefully and give yourself lots of time to avoid getting caught out in peak periods
- Usual stock levels need to be increased to accommodate the higher volume trading over the period.
- During a busy period, everything is magnified. Avoid overly complicated strategies – instead stick to getting the basics right. Ensure that stock levels are correct to avoid running out of popular items, that service is fast and attentive, and that orders are correct and come out on time.
Preparing your bar to be more efficient
- Develop a drinks menu that allows you to pre-batch the cocktails to save your bar staff time. Avoid pre-batching fizzy cocktails, however, as they can go flat and increase wastage.
- Sliced fruit and garnishes can be prepped ahead of time and kept in sealed, refrigerated containers.
- Check inventory levels of products and ensure that usual levels are increased to accommodate for the increased trading period.
- Ensure that there is sufficient glassware in the venue so that staff aren’t wasting time looking for glassware.
- Make sure all essential equipment has been serviced prior to peak trading periods. This includes Point of Sale (POS), dishwashers, fridges, and ice machines for example.
Stock controls
- Accurate weekly or fortnightly bar stock takes, as well as monthly kitchen stock takes, are essential in running a successful venue. These stock takes can be done internally or outsourced to a professional service such as Sculpture Hospitality.
- It is crucial to keep your finger on the pulse of your bar and kitchen costs, products sold, and shrinkage. Communicate results to staff so that they are aware of the venue’s performance. Use the results of the stocktakes as motivation for improvement or to reward good results based on pre-determined benchmarks.
- Planning, preparing, controlling and communicating will ensure a successful, profitable & less stressful festive season.
This content was written by Brad Legassick who is the Sculpture Hospitality Franchise Owner for the Gold Coast in Queensland.