If, like most of us, you have been busy trying to maximise every possible opportunity coming your way this year, it is likely you have gotten to November and started to panic about Christmas! Although many operators plan for Christmas months in advance, if you simply have not had time, help is on hand to ensure you are still able to ‘sleigh’ the competition and give your business a boost for the last two months of what has undoubtedly been a tumultuous year.
Top of the Trends
This year the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee hit a nostalgic note with traditional puddings coming to the fore. A season full of traditional fayre, Christmas is the ideal time to re-visit some of those much-loved desserts, combining them with new ones such as Clootie Pudding, a traditional Scottish pudding made of vine fruits, candid peel, warm spices and a generous glug of whisky. Of course, they will sit on a menu full of firm festive favourites including Christmas Pudding and Turkey with the trimmings. “One trend that’s set to be big this Christmas is nostalgia – rather than looking for trendy new foods, diners are seeking the familiar. And what could be more perfect than the humble prawn cocktail? Our tasty Lion Thousand Island Dressing and Prawn Cocktail Sauce are the perfect accompaniments to freshen up this classic dish,” comments Sarah Lesser-Moor, Brand Manager, Lion Sauces.
Care home caterers can ramp up plans for a traditional Christmas, invoking happy memories of family festivities, while event caterers can go big on nostalgic themed menus for office parties with their own spin on the classic vol au vent and indulgent giant mince pies.
Cocktail-inspired desserts are also set to be a big hit this Christmas, many supermarkets have kick-started the trend, launching a range of puddings including an espresso martini and passionfruit martini served in a cocktail glass to enhance the experience – so take their lead and create an aperol spritz cheesecake, a margarita lime tart or keep it simple with a sparkling raspberry jelly.
Extending the Celebrations
Five to ten years ago, Christmas celebrations started in earnest early December, however with cross-cultural influences giving us every excuse for a party, operators are also starting to extend the Christmas season, testing festive menus on crowd-pleasing Thanksgiving events. The result is an extended holiday season. “Our Festive menu starts the third week of November and lasts until the end of January. January is generally a slower month, but there are plenty of companies that move their Christmas parties after the festive season” comments Christian Kaberg, Managing Director, St Pancras Hotels Group Ltd. For care homes, marking international events such as Thanksgiving is another opportunity to engage residents in a social activity, making pumpkin pie and indulging in a practise-run turkey dinner before the big day!
Work Smarter, Not Harder
All too often, operationalising teams to manage the festive period gets overlooked. With increasing numbers of consumers looking to spend their hard-earned cash more wisely, it is more important than ever before to focus on the little things that matter.
Looking after parents with young children, providing highchairs, colouring books, space for buggies and child-friendly cutlery goes a long way to ease the stress of dining out for parents. Alternatively, making sure you have space for wheelchair access and quieter tables for older people who may be overwhelmed by too much noise, will help you cater for families who want to celebrate together this year.
“Data collection and analysis is key in offering this personalised service, enabling you to identify different customer segments and cater to their needs. Knowing a customer’s life stage and spending habits allows us to communicate the elements of what we do that will appeal to them,” advises Scott Muncaster, Managing Director, Adactus. “Using intelligent CRM systems can help capture the right data from your website, bookings, ordering and other systems, collating and organising data from all customer touchpoints to give a single view of the customer.” While for many, installing new technology is beyond financial-and-time limits this Christmas, training staff when taking bookings to ask key questions or making amendments to online booking forms will give you the additional information needed to improve your customer’s experience.
Another way to streamline operations is to offer fixed price menus for parties, limiting the options to a range of well-honed dishes that have been perfected in the kitchen. This will help your team cope with the increase in trade without dropping standards or getting too stressed. “I would have three price bands for food, and three drinks packages,” recommends Christian. “Options should be four of each course, ensuring that you can comfortably incorporate options for most preferences. The higher the price band, the more luxury you add to the package. Always include basic festive decorations, and scale it according to price band. We have found that some companies do also wish to have to option to mix and match menus, so flexibility is key.”
A Very Vegan Christmas
With Veganuary just round the corner, its time to put your vegan cooking skills to the test and roll out some great tasting vegan Christmas offers. Not all diners are looking for a turkey dinner (or a soggy nut roast), and there are plenty of ideas from ready made to home-baked to be inspired by. “The Menuserve Cajun Spiced Sweet Potato Roulade is filled with vegan cream ‘cheese’ and a sweet and spicy red pepper and red onion chutney and can be served with the usual festive accompaniments like sprouts, roast potatoes and parsnips for a Christmas dinner with a difference. To help reduce wastage and keep tabs on costs, it’s supplied in cases of 16 individually wrapped portions, making it a worthwhile item to add to any Christmas menu,” comments Gordon Lauder, Managing Director, Central Foods.
Providing a full vegan menu extends to the wine list too, so make sure you have a wine list that can accompany turkey as well as vegan dishes “A vegan option will pair well with most white wines and light reds, and of course sparkling wines can accompany a festive meal from start to finish,” says Luisa Welsh, Wine Educator.
Keeping Costs Under Control
As the economic situation starts to bite, many operators will be looking to balance celebrations with caution, maximising margin opportunities with simple serves that also represent value for money. “Christmas, can be a fine balance between providing an inspiring and interesting menu whilst maximising profitability. One way of keeping costs under control would be menu rationalisation and introducing ingredients that can be used creatively across a wide range of dishes and meal occasions,” says Daniel Duprat of Bennett Opie Limited. “For example, a good quality olive can be used across a number of meal occasions. They can transform a breakfast burrito or used to top a shakshuka and then be used later in the day for sharing platters – and even for traditional martini cocktails. Stem Ginger in Syrup meanwhile, can be used across cocktails, bakes and biscuits.”
Although there will be plenty of Christmas fayre on the menu, diners will also be looking to indulge in regular favourites too. “Our top tip would be ‘build your own fries’ – give customers a choice of sauces, toppers and extras that can change regularly to offer something fresh and new, all built around world-class fries!” says Peter Evans, Lamb Weston’s UK & IRL Marketing Manager. “Try loading up Stealth Fries with sriracha and vegan mayo, plus fresh chilli, spring onion and crispy onion – stacks of flavour and texture, easy to assemble and trending flavours/seasonal ingredients can command around £4-5 margin per serve (ingredients costing around £1 per serve with £5-6 selling price based on a 2pp sharer option).”
Using the simple ‘soup of the day’ mechanism to minimise wastage by making fresh soup from leftovers will also help to make every pound stretch further. Serve it in a hollowed out crusty roll or with a homemade cheese scone, changing the accompaniments to keep the offering interesting. Hearty soups are a staple in care homes as well as cafes, providing nutrition and hydration throughout the day. Alternatively, look to your store cupboard for inspiration on how to re-use leftovers more creatively. “A delicious traditional honey roast gammon can be brought to life with Lion Sauces’ mustard collection – featuring four familiar favourites with aromatic French, fiery English, smooth Dijon and versatile coarse grain, which can also be utilised in terrines and sandwiches throughout the festive period, and well into the new year as a delicious option on a roast dinner or carvery,” says Sarah.
Frozen food that caters for a broad range of dietary requirements and day parts is another way to keep costs down. “Stocking delicious, pre-prepared frozen products that just happen to also be suitable for free-from customers helps operators to manage costs and avoid menu proliferation,” says Gordon. “The hospitality sector is undergoing a number of challenges at the moment, and such products can help to make it easier to cope with staff shortages, freeing up kitchen teams to prep and create other parts of a Christmas menu”
Whichever way your business is going to celebrate Christmas this year, despite the challenges we have all faced together, we sincerely hope you enjoy the festivities and the efforts from you and your team pays dividends as we head to the finish line of 2022.
