The Ultimate Holiday Success Checklist for Restaurants
November 4, 2025
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The holiday season is a critical time for restaurants, often feeling like the busiest and most chaotic period of the year. Increased guest traffic, higher volume, heightened expectations, and tight staffing can quickly turn small oversights into major problems. At 5&5, we’ve spent years helping restaurant brands navigate this chaos, both during critical periods and the holidays. Now, we’re sharing our ultimate Q4 checklist to ensure your team is prepared for success.
This isn’t just another generic guide.
Every recommendation here was personally curated by our leadership team, who are experts in the tech and operational systems that keep restaurants running. They work closely with our clients every day, listening, learning, and identifying what most impacts the bottom line. More importantly, they understand what it takes to prevent erosion of the guest experience through smart tech stack enhancements and optimizations. Consider it your insurance policy for the holidays: a little prep now, fewer surprises later, and more happy guests throughout the season.
Now, without further ado, here are your holiday-ready recommendations.
1. Review and Update Holiday Business Hours Across All Platforms
Imagine a guest is trying to order from your restaurant, only to realize your hours are outdated on your Google listing. Maybe your website shows your usual schedule and you should be open, but DoorDash says you’re closed. That type of misalignment can cost you sales and frustrate both your guests and staff.
When holiday hours, closures, or special openings aren’t accurate and synced across platforms, it can easily confuse guests. Keeping accurate hours consistent across your website, business profile, online ordering systems, and third-party apps ensures guests always know when they can come in or order for takeout. Accurate hours protect revenue, reduce frustration, and prevent unnecessary strain on your team.
2. Strategically Plan Holiday Operations and Promotions
The holidays are a high-stakes season of traffic spikes and high expectations. That’s why planning your operational and promotional calendar in advance is critical.
What to do:
– Plan new store openings around periods when your team can confidently manage guest traffic and be ready for holiday or promotion-driven surges.
– Revisit menu throttling and order pacing rules to prevent bottlenecks.
– Cross-promote your core items, LTOs, and Catering menu to ensure guests understand your full breadth of offerings.
Why this matters:
When operations and promotions work hand in hand, your team can plan ahead instead of playing catch-up. By understanding when, where, and how guests are most likely to order, your managers can schedule smartly, prep efficiently, and maintain consistency even during peak hours. The result is smoother shifts, happier teams, and a guest experience that feels seamless no matter how busy the day gets.
3. Optimize Menus for Holiday Efficiency
High volume orders from on-premise traffic, online channels and delivery during the “most wonderful time of the year” means your kitchen and front-of-house teams are often under pressure. One solution? Streamline your menu.
What to do:
– Temporarily remove low-margin or labor-intensive items.
– Highlight bestsellers to drive sales on specific items or seasonal ingredients.
– Make sure online ordering modifiers are set up correctly and intuitive for both guests and staff.
Why this matters:
A lean, smart menu reduces prep time, prevents bottlenecks, and keeps orders moving fast, without compromising quality. It doesn’t even have to be a large scale-back; by reducing the number of complicated or costly menu items offered, the result can be good for everyone. Your staff can focus on their core responsibilities, you can maintain quality standards, keep guests happy and alleviate a bit of holiday “stress” for your team.
4. Confirm Ordering Platform Accuracy and Monitor for Errors
Nothing derails an order faster than a mismatched menu item, missing modifiers or incorrect pricing. But when you’re advertising and promoting holiday specials, packages, or deals, the stakes are much higher when something in the ordering process goes wrong. During this season, catering orders and large group meals often come from new guests like local businesses or families hosting special gatherings, who are counting on a seamless first impression. A single error can impact a high-value order and potentially a long-term relationship. Double-check that your menus, pricing, and modifiers are consistent across every ordering platform to keep large orders accurate and experiences memorable for the right reasons.
What to do:
– Audit menus, pricing, and availability across all channels: website, in-store kiosks, and third-party apps.
– Confirm that catering packages and menus are optimized and ready for the holiday season.
– Set up monitoring processes to quickly catch and resolve issues.
Why this matters:
Even small errors can lead to sizable refunds, negative reviews, and eroded trust. Consistency, accuracy, and thorough menu checks are always important, but they become essential during the holiday season. With execution under the spotlight, everything starts with a guest’s ability to place an order seamlessly. Safeguard your brand’s reputation, minimize errors, and keep orders flowing smoothly from start to finish.
5. Stress-test your tech-stack
When holiday traffic hits, every piece of your tech ecosystem needs to perform flawlessly, from your POS to your loyalty platform. Even a small glitch can ripple across channels, leading to long lines, frustrated guests, and stressed teams.
What to do:
– Run end-to-end tests across all systems: POS, app, web, and marketplace ordering.
– Validate that your loyalty program integrates properly and that offers load, apply, and redeem as intended.
– Check that pricing, discounts, and loyalty points sync accurately between systems.
– Audit payment processors for speed, uptime, and reliability under high volume.
– Prepare backup plans for common failure points such as a payment crash or misfired offer.
Why this matters:
A smooth tech stack means faster service, happier guests, and more revenue during peak periods. Loyalty members, for instance, are proven to visit 22% more often and engage with enrolled brands at twice the rate of non-members (Nation’s Restaurant News). Keeping your systems connected and reliable ensures every guest interaction, whether payment or points, is seamless, rewarding, and stress-free.
6. Validate Prep Times and Capacity Management
Overpromising on speed or capacity can frustrate guests and staff, so make sure to spend time auditing make-times for your entire menu.
What to do:
– Review prep times, staffing, and order capacity settings.
– Adjust throttling rules to prevent unmanageable surges.
Why this matters:
Properly calibrated prep and pacing protect team morale, reduce errors, and deliver a consistent experience, even under the most intense holiday pressure.
Smooth Shifts, Happy Guests
The holidays amplify everything: the good, the great, the challenges, and the preventable. By investing a few dedicated hours annually to review your hours, streamline menus, stress-test systems, and plan loyalty campaigns and offers, you’re setting your team up for smoother shifts, higher efficiency, and stronger results.
With the right preparation and a partner like 5&5 who understands the technology and operations behind your success, the season will most definitely be “merry and bright.”
Tephie is a Marketing and Communications Specialist at 5&5 who thrives on crafting compelling stories and building connections through words. With a passion for the restaurant industry and creative problem-solving, she ensures every blog post resonates with readers while delivering actionable insights. She also plays a key role in creating and executing social media strategies that bring 5&5 to life. Outside of work, you’ll find Tephie brainstorming new ideas, exploring food trends, or adding fun energy to the team!
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