Preparing for the Christmas season now

It is getting less pleasant, with Covid numbers rising, and limitations once again.

What Covid does not affect is that the festive season brings out our festive spirit and the need for comfort, presents and social gatherings. We want to allow ourselves to enjoy good food, and the company of each other. Therefore, the end of the year is still a season full of opportunities for a restaurateur. In our webinar we talked about this topic and Jens Ertel presented the main actions that you should focus on to make the festive season a joy for you and your business.

The limitations of Covid strike through our usual business activities that you would have planned years ago. It forces us to rethink our own strengths, to create events or concepts that suit your business and the new normal. In  times of change it takes innovation to reposition yourself to cope with the situation at hand. Your customers have to trust that you are capable of what you offer. It does not make sense to just copy the success stories of others. Best practices can however inspire you to kick-off something of your own. Bernsteinsee Stüde for example spend their Covid subsidy (Überbrückungshilfe III and III Plus in Germany) to purchase bubbles, table spheres that enable guests to enjoy a cozy dinner outside – safely – on the terrace viewing the Bernsteinsee!

Jens Ertel via Instagram – “Fondue-Bubble!
Jeden Donnerstag am Bernsteinsee!”

The offer was communicated on social media and using flyers  and attracted immediately 70 reservations of each 3-4 guests. The idea that was initially created for a Thursday Fondue will now also be rolled out on other days. The considerate extra turnover changes the whole outlook for the rest of the year for this establishment that usually focuses on the summer season.

DISH Webinars include detailed hands-on tips that are relevant now!

Jens guides through all the relevant aspects of your business that matter, especially when busy times are ahead. From making fact-based decisions on your opening days, table planning, and reservation slots, to personal planning and the budget you need to reserve for purchases to prepare the bigger events that lie ahead. The Webinar offers  in-depth information, making the online event extremely useful to attend (or watch back) if you were looking for a fresh-up for all the actions you need to focus on as a restaurant owner this time of the year. One thing that sticks: It is crucial to be proactive and take matters into your own hands, rather than to wait until external situations, like government regulations determine your business success. Some of the actions that are obvious to Jens:

• Plan which opening days and time slots would suit your business based on past results and schedule them with a reservation tool that has 0% commission and allows for reservations to be made directly via google.
• Share your information effectively, your opening times need to be consistently correct on all the main online platforms. Organize all the different platforms in one profile with the DISH Weblisting.
• Offer your food – adapted to the season – also online for take-away, with a 0% commission webshop, like DISH Order.

Take part in our exclusive Gastro-exchange

In the exclusive exchange part of the webinar – not available to watch back –  more ideas and business concepts were shared. Christian Renner from DISH shared a straight-forward idea to use your restaurant invoices as advertisement space, including your latest offer or a QR-code –  in the header or footer – to your restaurant webshop or takeaway service. Some restaurants are now using their restaurant space as a christmas market, selling products that suit your business and the target-group. Other businesses created a specific “Holiday foodbox” to sell via DISH Order. How about the “Goose-Taxi” in Berlin, that delivers your perfectly cooked Christmas goose at home in a cab? Be creative, prepared, sometimes bold and sease the moment to make the festive season a wonderful time for you and your restaurant, regardless of the challenges of Covid.