Get your shop ready to attract customers for the end of the year festival! Share tips on how to prepare your shop and staff to be ready for the boom.
The end of the year festival where people are willing to spend money on happiness, eating, traveling, shopping and partying at the end of the year. Don't miss this opportunity to make money. But how do you prepare your shop and staff? Today, let's check your readiness.
Let's start from the storefront first.
Must have promotions, focus on promotions for large groups of customers, organize parties
At the end of the year, companies and stores often hold employee parties or employees hold their own parties. Many families have members come back to meet and celebrate. Choosing to hold a party in a restaurant is a convenient option because you don't have to waste time preparing and cooking and cleaning up. Therefore, promotions that focus on large groups are most suitable during this time. Promotions that appeal to this customer group include:
- Special price set meal promotion: Since there are many of you and you order a lot of food, if you offer a set meal at a special price, it will make customers feel more comfortable and feel like the price they paid is worth it.
- Free banquet room, free karaoke room when ordering the required amount of food. If any restaurant has a place, this promotion is very suitable because even though it is a party, companies and shops still want privacy, clarity, and the additional entertainment attracts attention very well.
- Alcoholic beverage promotions: Try offering alcoholic beverage promotions, focusing on selling in large quantities at a reduced price, such as 3-5 bottles of beer at a special price. Although the profit from drinks is not as high as food, they can lead to more food orders. And there is no corkage fee for customers who book a party and bring wine or liquor into the restaurant.
- Don't forget to advertise your store's promotions on various social media, make signs in front of the store, or if your store is near a company, department store, or factory, make a document offering a catering promotion and send it to the HR department of the company. Because many companies often set a catering budget during this period, it will increase the opportunity to sell more.
If the promotion is good, you must also prepare well. If the promotion is effective and many people come to the store, you must train your employees to be ready as follows:
When booking a table, check carefully. There must be absolutely no overlapping queues. You must estimate the time well, such as how many hours it will take for customers to finish their party. If you want to release a table if a customer doesn't show up, how many minutes do you have to wait? If there are many groups booking, you must try to place the tables a bit apart for privacy. The flow of the banquet tables must not block the walkway of other tables. If there is a banquet room, it will be more convenient. For using a banquet room, karaoke room as well, there should be an arrangement of times that are appropriate for the promotions that are arranged.
Make a daily table arrangement plan based on customer reservations, taking into account the reservation time and departure time.
Setting up tables and eating utensils must be prepared before customers arrive. Drink sets such as soft drinks, plain water, and ice should be placed in a corner where they can be easily grabbed but not obstructing the walkway. Also, prepare a bit more than usual because with a lot of customers, the staff will be more busy. There may be a problem of insufficient plates, bowls, spoons, forks, soft drinks, and ice. In the case of stocking drinks in the banquet room, don't forget to check the quantities carefully.
There are a lot of customers but we have to serve quickly. Practice serving, serving food, getting food to tables, setting food in sets, arranging it quickly, and arranging it in a standard way.
The same goes for clearing and cleaning up the tables. You have to do it quickly and clean it up to prepare for the next group of customers.
During the festival season, there will be more chaos. You may need to train your employees to be able to work in multiple roles. Arrange for good rotation of rest and work to avoid shortages.
3. Decorate the shop to create an atmosphere that fits the festival.
Try decorating your shop to make it colorful and lively. Psychologically, it will help people feel relaxed, happy, and want to eat more. Try adding string lights, ribbons, Christmas trees, gift boxes, greeting posters, or anything that represents the New Year and parties. This will help create a more festive atmosphere. Some shops that are usually decorated in gray tones, or bistros that play with light and shadow, try finding something to decorate that matches the atmosphere of the shop, such as a table with gift boxes or a Happy New Year light sign. In addition to decorating the shop, the staff's clothes can also help create an atmosphere. Try changing the old uniforms to bright ones. Adding headbands and hats for the New Year will also make it more fun. 4. Strict cleaning measures
More customers, more food waste, the restaurant will be dirtier than usual. Whether it's the floor with more people walking in and out than usual, more plates and bowls used, more tables with many people using them, more toilet paper, bathrooms, and food waste. All of this requires more management measures than usual, such as:
There must be a way to clear the table and clean it as quickly and cleanly as possible.
Increase dishwashing cycles because there is increased turnover, or hire additional dishwashers during this time if there is no dishwasher.
Food scraps need to be bagged and stored until the garbage truck arrives, which may be more than usual at this time. You should find a place to store them that is tightly closed, has a lid, and does not emit a bad smell.
Increase the number of times you mop the floors and clean the bathrooms, and make sure to check the toilet paper to make sure it doesn't run out.
This also includes the hygiene of the shop, both in the front of the shop, the kitchen and the back of the shop, which must have more management measures than before.
Always remember that even though there are more customers, cleanliness standards cannot be reduced. They must be given the same attention as other services, especially during the COVID-19 outbreak. In addition to adding alcohol gel and temperature checks, there are additional practices for restaurants. Try studying the following:COVID Free Setting “Open a Safe Restaurant”Available on the websiteCOVID Free Setting Department of Health
For the kitchen, you need to prepare the following:
Arrange the kitchen FLOW to prepare to receive orders from large groups of customers.
Flow refers to the smooth flow of the cooking process in the kitchen. Whether the food comes out quickly or slowly, with many or few errors, partly depends on the Flow, which depends on the arrangement of various work points to flow smoothly, not complicated, back and forth. For example, the kitchen process starts with receiving an order, then picking up ingredients from the refrigerator, going to the stove to cook, and arranging them on a plate, and serving them. Therefore, arrange the refrigerator, the ingredient preparation table, the stove, and the plate arranging table next to each other in order. The cooking will have more Flow. The order sheet should be inserted or found to be clipped in order so that it will not be lost or the order will be confused. Therefore, if the order sequence in the kitchen is still confusing and going back and forth, fix the Flow immediately!
In the case of a party, food may be ordered in advance, but cooking in advance is not possible because freshly cooked, hot food is still more appetizing and sanitary. We can use the pre-cooking method, such as cutting vegetables, boiling meat and preparing it for the salad, making curry, making sauce and dipping sauce in advance. When the time comes, cook it again, which will help reduce cooking time. 2. Prepare ingredients that are appropriate for the promotion that is being promoted.
It is not a good idea to advertise and sell the food through the media but do not have the ingredients to cook the food according to the promotion. To prevent such cases, the owner and the kitchen staff must be “accurate” in the following matters:
Accurately estimate daily sales by looking at sales from the same period last year, weekly sales, table reservations, or you can use the 1-2 day trial promotion method to see the results and collect data for calculation.
Calculate the raw materials used accurately, and always remember to calculate the yield of the raw materials. Then, see how much raw materials the sales estimate actually requires and how much raw materials are needed before cutting.
Check the stock accurately. If there is a shortage or surplus of raw materials, a report must be made every day. When ordering raw materials to be delivered, check before receiving them to ensure that they are not missing or spoiled. Check that they are in accordance with the required specifications.
Problem solving must be precise. There must always be a plan B in case of raw material shortage. There must be a supplier that can be ordered immediately as a backup. Or if there is a lot of raw material left and it is close to expiration, it must be able to be applied as a special promotion menu and have the staff promote additional sales.
