Christmas party bookings: taking them without chaos
Christmas dinners are sold in October and November. How to handle sittings, large parties and enquiries without the phone eating your afternoons.
The Christmas dinner is eaten in December but booked now. Companies ring round in October, and whoever answers first with a clear yes gets the party. Whoever asks to get back to them on Thursday often does not.
In Sweden this is julbord season, but the problem is the same anywhere. Most of the stress is not about the food. It is about the bookings: sittings that have to be kept apart, parties of eighteen who want to sit together, and a phone that rings in the middle of lunch. Here is how we would set it up.
Start by opening December
A surprising number of places miss this. Most booking systems only let guests book a certain number of days ahead. With us the default is thirty days. That is sensible in an ordinary week and far too short in October, when someone wants to book the 11th of December.
Go into the booking rules and raise how far ahead guests may book. It takes a minute and is the difference between selling Christmas now and selling it when everyone else already has.
Set the sittings up as events
A Christmas dinner is not an ordinary table booking. It has a fixed price, a fixed start time and a fixed number of seats. Treat it as ordinary tables and you get parties booking 18:15 for a sitting that starts at 17:00.
In Bordflow you set each sitting up as an event: Christmas dinner, Friday 11 December, 17:00, price per person, number of seats. The guest picks a sitting and a number in the widget and gets a booking reference. When the seats are gone it says sold out, and nobody has to call and ask.
Payment happens with you at the venue. You get a guest list per sitting to tick off at the door.
Large parties: do not say no, say email us
A company that wants to come as twenty-five should not be met with “max 8 guests”. Nor should it be able to book half the dining room in two taps without you having said yes.
The middle way is one line in the widget: More than 8? Email us. You set the limit. The party gets in touch, you reply with a quote and enter the booking yourselves. Tables are then joined for the party, so you do not have to count chairs.
Ask what they are celebrating
The quick choice Celebrating something? has an option called Business dinner. It sounds small, but it is exactly the piece of information that decides whether you put out a microphone or keep the table quiet.
Sell the little extra before Book
Mulled wine on arrival, a round of schnapps, an extra hour in the room. Set them up as extras and the guest is asked Would you like to add anything? just before the booking is done, with your price. The total is paid at the venue. Anyone who does not want it taps past.
Keep the kitchen alive
December is the month when everybody wants to come at seven. With pacing you set a ceiling for how many new guests may arrive per quarter of an hour, so the evening fills at the rate the kitchen can handle. Pacing is included from Standard.
Do not forget the days you are closed
Christmas Eve, the days in between, that Monday when the whole staff is at its own party. Enter them as special days, so the widget does not take bookings you then have to ring and take back.
A short checklist
- Raise how far ahead guests may book, so December is open.
- Set the sittings up as events with a price and a number of seats.
- Switch on “More than N? Email us” for large parties.
- Switch on the quick choice Celebrating something.
- Set up one or two extras.
- Enter closed days as special days.
Want to see how the guest meets all this? Read about the booking widget, or have a look at what it costs.