It’s September… So Why Are We Talking About Christmas?
You see the Christmas menu appear in September and immediately think:
Absolutely not. It is FAR too early for Christmas.
Meanwhile, behind the scenes, a hospitality manager has already had three coffees, spoken to six suppliers, changed the menu twice and is wondering how on earth they are going to fit another 400 bottles of wine into the cellar.
Because while customers are still enjoying the last of summer, Christmas is already in full swing behind the scenes.
For most guests, Christmas starts when they see the decorations go up and hear the first Christmas song in a shop but for the hospitality industry, it starts months earlier.
Why September Means It’s Christmas
Menus need costing, suppliers need contacting, wine needs pricing, decorations need organising and marketing needs preparing.
Bookings need to be taken, deposits collected, dietary requirements recorded and table plans worked out. Then there are Christmas parties, corporate bookings, family gatherings, Christmas Day and New Year’s Eve, all competing for attention. Oh, and someone has just remembered the Christmas crackers.
That’s all before anyone asks about the staff rota, because apparently everyone wants New Year’s Eve off. There is also the small matter of making sure there is enough stock to cope with the busiest weeks of the year without buying so much that the cellar, stockroom and freezer become impossible to navigate.
The Christmas Menu
Three courses. A few festive favourites. Easy, right?
Except customers expect value for money, competitors are offering increasingly impressive menus and nobody wants to pay £75 for something that looks like it came from the childrens menu.
So the menu gets changed. Then costed. Then changed again.
Then the chef spots something they think would work brilliantly as a special.
Then the turkey price increases.
The suppliers change their delivery dates.
The owner asks if it can be done for £5 less per head.
The chef looks at the owner. The owner looks at the spreadsheet.
The planning behind these celebrations takes considerable time and thought.
Guests are not simply booking a table; they are trusting you to deliver a great experience. They expect value for money, great quality and, above all, a memorable occasion. Whether they are celebrating with friends, family or colleagues, or trusting you with their Christmas Day dinner, they have chosen your venue to make the occasion special and that comes with pressure. Nobody notices the chef that has been awake since 5am or the drama behind the scences of running out of cranberry sauce. They remember the food, the service, the atmosphere and whether they had a great time. That is what all the planning is ultimately about.
Then Comes the Stocktake
Wine, beer, spirits, meat, desserts, Christmas puddings and enough Brussels sprouts to feed a small village.
The stockroom suddenly resembles a festive game of Tetris. Cases are stacked higher, deliveries are coming in more frequently and suddenly there seem to be bottles and boxes everywhere.
And there’s one rule every hospitality operator knows: Stock sitting in the storeroom is money sitting on the shelves.
Buy too little and you risk running out at the worst possible moment. Buy too much and you have tied up cash in stock you may not need. If you get your ordering wrong then you could end up carrying excess stock into January, when sales traditionally slow down and cash flow becomes even more important.
Christmas is one of the busiest periods for stock movement, with increased sales, more deliveries and extra staff creating even more opportunities for discrepancies. A busy Christmas service is exactly when you need your figures to stack up.
That’s why accurate stocktaking becomes even more important during the festive period. It can help identify where stock is being lost, where purchasing needs reviewing and whether what you think you have on paper is actually what is sitting on the shelves. It’s easy to get caught up in the Christmas rush and think, we will worry about the stock after Christmas but January has a habit of asking exactly where all that money went.
Then December Arrives
After months of planning, Christmas is finally here.
The venue looks fantastic. The tables are decorated, the lights are on and the customers arrive.They have absolutely no idea what has happened behind the scenes in the months prior and that how it should be. They eat, drink, laugh and enjoy themselves.
The staff are working hard, the kitchen is flying, the bar is busy and somehow everything comes together. Meanwhile, somewhere in the background, someone is wondering whether they ordered enough mince pies. That’s the thing about hospitality, when it’s done well the customer never sees the stress, the spreadsheets, the supplier calls, the menu changes, the stock deliveries or the hours of preparation. They simply see a great Christmas experience.
So, when you see that Christmas menu appearing in September, don’t sigh. Remember the person behind it as they have probably been planning Christmas since the summer because for hospitality, Christmas isn’t just one day it’s months of preparation, weeks of work and a very long days to make sure everything goes right.
And while you’re sitting down in December saying “Merry Christmas”, someone behind the scenes is probably thinking about the spring menu.
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