5 Tips to Tackle the Christmas Function Season

As November and December roll around, the hospitality industry is hit with Christmas function season. During this time your business or workplace can easily be overwhelmed, and it can be a struggle to keep up.  With more customers, more staff is needed, more dietary requirements to be catered for and less time available.

To help you out we have created 5 tips to tackle the Christmas function season

• Be prepared for a change in numbers
• Have different dietary requirements covered
• Reduce prep time to overcome staff shortages
• Be budget savvy
• Be creative and memorable

Tip 1: Have different dietary requirements covered

With the growth in plant-based eating, veganism, gluten free and dairy free customers, it is important that you are prepared with suitable options for all Christmas Functions. Often, you are surprised on the day with the number of dietary requirements needed to be catered for and you need to think fast. Use any of our Wild Chef Meal Components as their consistent quality and extreme versatility mean that you can use one product for many dishes, to satisfy multiple dietary requirements and eating preferences with one dish.

Here’s a recipe tip, create a Mini Falafel or Mini Corn Pattie salad bowl made with seasonal vegetables, brown rice and roasted chickpeas or serve these Gourmet Finger Foods as canapes topped with smashed avocado and fresh salsa, to satisfy all your guests.

Tip 2: Reduce prep time to overcome staff shortages

Finding quality staff in the hospitality industry is an increasing struggle, as mentioned in the latest edition of the Restaurant & Cafe magazine. Around the Christmas function season, the competition for staff is even higher. By focusing on reducing your prep-time, you can free up staff, especially experienced staff, for more priority jobs and tackle the Christmas function season…

Wild Chef products are designed to be prep time savers so you don’t have to do all the time-consuming grating and forming so you can spend your time creating masterpieces. Our products are made from whole ingredients that you would find in your own kitchen. Wild Chef is the closest thing to house-made, you will proudly claim as your own.

Tip 3: Be budget Savvy

If done right, the Christmas function season trade can bring great profits. By choosing how to spend your budget you can make a big difference in your profit and success. Do you charge large and spend large or are you a more affordable option that still needs to impress? Try this tip, by offering different options to customers based on their budget and yours, you can extend your offerings to a larger customer base.

By using one Wild Chef product as a baseline for all menus, you can then simplify or advance your offerings dependant on the budget.

Serve Wild Chef Mini Hash Browns with cream cheese and smoked salmon for a budget-friendly option or be fancier and swap for Crème Fraiche and salmon fillet or blue cheese and walnuts.

Tip 4: Be Prepared for a change in numbers

In an ideal world when a booking says 50 people, 50 people turn up…but this is never the case.  Whether you under or over cater, a change in numbers can be a real loss for a business. When fewer people turn up, food is wasted but on the flip side, if there are too many people you might not have enough food to serve. This can really impact your reputation and customer satisfaction.

Having a plan in place to combat the change of numbers is crucial. Using frozen products like Wild Chef is a perfect solution as they can be used when needed. Wild Chef products are quick-serve and can be served alone or with any toppings you wish.  Have them as a backup or design your menu around them to ensure that you will never be short of or waste food again.

Tip 5: Be Creative and Memorable

The Christmas function season is a great way to secure new business for the new year. Create a reason for customers to come back by being creative and serving something they will remember and want more of.  Whether it is a unique twist on a favourite such as serving a Rosti rather than plain vegetables or something new such as Polenta Chips, you want your guest to have a reason to come back.

Try this tip out and be creative with your function food by creating a show-stopping platter using our range of Gourmet Finger Foods. They come in all shapes and sizes to allow you to create height and interest as well as being dietary friendly. Be creative with their toppings and play around with different colours and flavours to create a beautiful and tasty platter.

With the help from Wild Chef and by following these 5 tips you will no doubt be able to tackle the Christmas function season. By being prepared with backup products and prep time solutions for when unexpected dietary requirements, staff are sick or there is a change in numbers you will be able to have the best Christmas festive season yet.