Restaurant holiday marketing: a playbook for parties, catering and the busiest weeks

Restaurant holiday marketing works when you sell the season early. Thanksgiving pre-orders, office party dates, December catering and New Year’s Eve seats should all be on sale by mid-November, with cut-offs, deposits and a staff plan behind them. Then use the quiet days between Christmas and New Year for family trays, lunches and your regulars.

Below is a dated timeline for the 2026 season, the money rules for big bookings, and a message calendar you can copy.

Why plan the holidays now?

Guests hand more of the cooking to restaurants at this time of year. In a National Restaurant Association survey taken 10–12 November 2023, 63% of adults planned to eat out in the weeks ahead and 48% planned to order takeout or delivery. Of those ordering in, 66% planned to buy the entire meal from a restaurant, and 89% would buy the main course.

Offices still celebrate, but carefully. Challenger, Gray & Christmas reported in December 2024 that 64% of companies planned holiday celebrations, while 17% planned to cut party spending. That is an opening for a restaurant with a clear, fairly priced lunch party or a catered office lunch.

The catch is that holiday sales arrive in lumps. A missed cut-off, a 30-person party with no deposit, or a short-staffed Saturday can wipe out the gain. Plan the money and the rota alongside the marketing.

The 2026 holiday timeline, week by week

Week	What’s happening	Do this
Thu 12 – Sun 15 Nov	Thanksgiving is two weeks away	Open Thanksgiving pre-orders with a cut-off. Set holiday hours on Google and your website. Send your party menu to past party and catering guests. Decide your New Year’s Eve format.
Mon 16 – Sun 22 Nov	Offices are choosing party venues	Reply to every party enquiry the same day. Remind your list about the Thanksgiving cut-off. Collect staff availability for December.
Mon 23 – Sun 29 Nov	Thanksgiving Thu 26, Black Friday 27, Small Business Saturday 28	Close pre-orders (for example, noon Mon 23). Run pickups Wed 25 and Thu 26 morning. Promote party dates still open.
Mon 30 Nov – Sun 6 Dec	Hanukkah begins at sundown Fri 4 Dec; party season starts	Lock the December rota by 1 Dec. Put New Year’s Eve on sale. Add Hanukkah family trays if they suit your menu.
Mon 7 – Sun 13 Dec	Party and catering bookings stack up	Confirm every party’s count and deposit. Push weekday lunch parties to fill quieter days.
Mon 14 – Sun 20 Dec	Last full week before Christmas	Daily prep lists. No new menu items. Open Christmas Eve family-tray pre-orders.
Mon 21 – Sun 27 Dec	Christmas Eve Thu 24, Christmas Fri 25, Kwanzaa begins Sat 26	Christmas Eve pickups by slot. Post exact hours everywhere. Thank every party organiser.
Mon 28 Dec – Sun 3 Jan	Quiet 28–30 Dec, New Year’s Eve Thu 31, New Year’s Day Fri 1 Jan	Family trays and lunch offers on quiet days. New Year’s Eve seatings and party packs. Short hours or closed on New Year’s Day.
Mon 4 – Sun 10 Jan 2027	Back to normal	Review what sold. Thank December guests. Give rested staff their days off. Ask offices about 2027 lunches.

Print it and pin it next to the rota.

How do you run Thanksgiving pre-orders?

Pre-orders are the most controlled sale of the season: you know the count days ahead and cook only what was paid for.

• Keep the menu short. One or two complete meal bundles, plus a few mains, sides and desserts sold on their own. The NRA survey found guests buy parts of the meal too: 89% the main, 86% sides, 63% desserts.
• Sell family sizes. “Serves 4–6” and “Serves 8–10” are easier to choose than ounces.
• Take payment at order. Guests who have paid turn up; unpaid trays can be left on the shelf.
• Set a firm cut-off. Noon on the Monday of Thanksgiving week gives the kitchen two days to shop and prep.
• Use pickup slots. Fifteen-minute windows with a cap per slot, on Wednesday afternoon and Thursday morning. No crowd at the door.
• Label everything. Name, pickup time and a reheating card in every bag.
• Run a pickup station. One table near the door and one person who owns it.

The same set-up works for Christmas Eve trays, Hanukkah dinners and New Year’s party platters.

How do you win office holiday parties and group bookings?

The person booking an office party is busy and usually comparing two or three places. Make the choice easy.

1. One-page party menu. Two or three set menus at clear per-person prices, what’s included, how many you can seat, and the dates still open.
2. Sell the quieter slots. Friday and Saturday nights sell themselves. Weekday lunches and Monday to Wednesday evenings need a nudge, such as a free dessert course or a lower minimum.
3. Quote the same day. A clear price and two available dates, sent quickly, often wins the booking.
4. Let guests choose ahead. For a sit-down party, collect each person’s main course before the day so the kitchen preps once and every plate lands together.
5. Offer the office option. Some teams can’t leave the building. A catered lunch delivered to the office, or one shared order link for the team, keeps them as customers. See office lunch group orders.

Deposits and minimum spends: how to protect big bookings

Big bookings are where the season’s profit lives, and where no-shows hurt most. Match the protection to the booking.

Booking type	Common protection	Put in writing
Party of 10–20 in the main room	Card on file or a per-person deposit	Final count date, late-cancel charge
Private room	Food and drink minimum spend	What counts toward it, what happens if they spend less
Catering order	Deposit at booking, balance before delivery	Final count date, delivery window, cancellation terms
New Year’s Eve seating	Prepaid ticket or full deposit	Refund or transfer rules

A minimum spend example. Your private room seats 30, and on a December Saturday its tables would normally bring in about $2,400. Set a $2,400 food and drink minimum, before tax and service. If the party spends $2,100, the $300 gap is charged as a room fee. Write that sentence into the booking terms so nobody is surprised.

A few more rules that save arguments:

• Final count three days before. Charge for the count given, even if fewer arrive.
• Refunds have a date. Refundable until a set day, then turned into a credit.
• Label service charges clearly. The IRS treats a mandatory charge, such as 18% for large parties, as a service charge rather than a tip, and service charges paid to staff count as wages. Some states have rules on how fees must be shown, so check yours. See what changes for restaurants in January 2027.

For reminders and confirmation steps, see how to reduce no-shows.

How do you handle December catering?

December catering comes from families hosting, offices feeding teams before the break, and religious and community gatherings.

• Sell by tray with clear serving sizes. Price it properly first; see how to price catering.
• Cap orders per day. Decide how many trays the kitchen can make on top of normal service, and stop taking orders when you hit it.
• Use delivery windows, such as 11:00–11:30, not exact minutes.
• Get final counts 48–72 hours ahead and confirm the address and a phone number on site.
• Label diets on every tray: vegetarian, vegan, nuts, gluten.
• Leave a menu in every delivery with one line: “Book your 2027 office lunches.”

How should you plan New Year’s Eve?

In 2026, New Year’s Eve falls on a Thursday and New Year’s Day is a Friday, so many guests have a long weekend ahead. Pick one format and sell it from late November.

Format	Best for	Watch out for
Two fixed-price seatings (e.g. 5:30 and 8:30)	Full-service dinner restaurants	Take prepayment; the second seating runs late
Early family seating	Families with young kids	Keep the price lower and finish by 8 p.m.
Regular menu, bookings only	Casual restaurants	Cap covers so the kitchen keeps pace
Take-home party packs	Pickup-heavy restaurants	Cut-off on 30 Dec, pickup slots on the 31st

Decide New Year’s Eve staffing and pay early. It is the shift people ask about first.

What about the slow days between Christmas and New Year?

From Saturday 26 to Wednesday 30 December, the normal weekly rhythm breaks. Many people are off work, children are off school, relatives are visiting, and most offices are closed or quiet. Some restaurants are packed; others are empty by 3 p.m. Check your own sales from last year before you decide.

Ideas that suit this week:

• A no-cooking family tray for households with visitors.
• Lunch first. People off work eat out at midday. Push lunch harder than dinner.
• Bonus rewards points on 28–30 December only, so the treat goes to the quiet days and not your busy New Year’s Eve.
• Big family tables. Promote bookings for 8–12 with dishes chosen in advance.
• Gift card holders. If you sell gift cards, some guests will arrive to spend them this week. The NRA’s November 2024 survey found 59% of adults planned to give restaurant gift cards, and 76% valued cards they could use for takeout or delivery. Make sure staff know how to redeem them.
• Shorter hours if last year was slow, rather than a store-wide discount. See slow-day promotions for the discount math.

How should you staff the busiest weeks?

• Collect availability by mid-November and lock the December rota by 1 December.
• Name one owner for parties and catering. One person confirms counts, deposits and delivery times.
• Write prep lists from real numbers: pre-orders, final counts and bookings, day by day.
• Cross-train a host to run the pickup station on big pickup days.
• Plan who answers the phone during the dinner rush, when party and catering calls still come in. See restaurant phone answering.
• Freeze the menu. December is not the month to launch new dishes.
• Promise January time off to the people who carried the rush, and keep the promise.

Holiday message calendar for email, WhatsApp and SMS

Send messages only to guests who opted in, and keep each one to a single offer and a single link. Read the SMS and email rules before you text anyone. As a rule, send no more than one or two messages a week to the same guest.

Send	Channel	Who	Example line
Thu 12 Nov	Email	All guests	”Thanksgiving, sorted. Order trays by noon Mon 23 Nov and pick up Wed or Thu morning.”
Tue 17 Nov	Email	Past party and catering guests	”Holiday party dates are still open, lunch or dinner. Reply with your date and headcount for a quote today.”
Fri 20 Nov	SMS	Last year’s Thanksgiving buyers	”Last call: Thanksgiving pre-orders close Monday at noon. Order here: [link]“
Mon 30 Nov	WhatsApp	Regulars	”New Year’s Eve tables are open. Two seatings, 5:30 and 8:30. Book: [link]“
Wed 9 Dec	Email	Offices	”Feeding the team before the break? Catering trays for 10 to 100, delivered. Final counts three days ahead.”
Tue 15 Dec	SMS	Families	”Christmas Eve family trays: order by Mon 21 Dec, pick up Thu 24 by 3 p.m. [link]“
Sat 26 Dec	WhatsApp	Regulars	”Family in town? Lunch is on all week, and points are doubled 28–30 Dec.”
Tue 29 Dec	SMS	Guests without a New Year’s Eve booking	”Party at home? Platters for 6 or 12, pick up Thu 31 from noon. Order by Wed: [link]“
Mon 4 Jan	Email	Everyone who ordered in December	”Thank you for a wonderful season. Here’s what’s new in January.”

Swap in your own dishes and prices, and note what each message brought in so next year’s plan starts from real numbers.

How WhatsTable helps

WhatsTable puts the holiday pieces in one place. “Order ahead” takes Thanksgiving and other holiday pre-orders with pickup slots. The catering planner turns a headcount and budget into tray plans, quotes and enquiries, group pre-orders let party guests pick dishes before a booking, and group orders give an office one shared pickup cart. When the phone rings mid-rush, Maya, the AI phone host, picks up when your team can’t.

Each week, WhatsTable drafts email, WhatsApp and SMS campaigns, and nothing goes out until you approve it. AI offers for quiet hours also wait for your approval, and they pause when the kitchen is busy. It works with Clover, Toast, Square or its own POS. See catering and group orders.