Quality Training & Hospitality College’s busy season survival check list
The busy season is just around the corner and now is the best time to prepare! From adding new summer items to your menu to making sure your air conditioner can handle the heat, here’s our ultimate guide to keeping you sane when the people start pouring in. Happy peak season!
Food
- Stock up
If you’re familiar with the level of increased activity each year, you can comfortably estimate how much additional stock you will need to last you the busy season. It’s a good idea to stock up with your non-perishable items and frozen food. Don’t forget to order extra items such as napkins, plastic utensils and take away containers. - Update your menu
Add some light summer specials or some refreshing summer drinks to get people excited about the warm weather. If you’re stuck on ideas, try out salads, fresh seafood or tropical/fruity drinks. - Promote your summer specials
Once you have some new ideas for your menu, put together some marketing and promotional material to pique your customers interests. You might want to put up a poster advertising your specials, update your table menu stands, promote your new items on social media and spend some money on external advertising.
Maintenance
- Have everything well oiled
Before busy season comes up you want to make sure that all your commercial equipment is serviced and ready to go. No one wants to come into a hospitality establishment with a broken air conditioner. Keep your food lasting longer by servicing your refrigeration and cool room. - Spend a day cleaning
While you’re at it, this is a great time to clean up the kitchen so that when it comes to peak season you can spend more time with your customers. It’s not exactly the most enjoyable activity on the list, but it’ll make your venue organised and a bit of spring cleaning will keep your staff happy.
Staff
- Hire new staff
Make sure that you have enough hands on board once busy season kicks in. You can hire some additional help to ensure that you’re meeting all your customer service needs and to put the stress off your regular staff. Run a job advertisement through Seek or Gumtree, or ask your network for people who are looking for a summer job.
Train your new staff
Ensure that your new staff know what to do so once the queues start lining up they can hit the ground running. Some areas of training to focus on are customer service procedures, cash handling, safety and a rundown of your recipes if you are training kitchen staff. If time is an issue, outsource your training to a training organisation. At Quality Training and Hospitality College, we cater to businesses who are time poor. We can come into your establishment and train your staff with industry relevant skills as well as your business policies and procedures. With traineeships and apprenticeships, you could even gain up to $4,000 in government incentives!
What are your preparation tips for the busy season?