Christmas Checklist for Coffee Shops And Cafes

Plan your Christmas and New Year

Adding a seasonal range gives you an opportunity to get your guests to discover new products and offer them another reason to visit you more often. The great news is that it's easy and quick to add new drinks with a dash of syrup or whipped cream and a bit of imagination.

Your customers will be looking for gifts and stocking fillers too, so don't disappoint them! What coffee or tea related products could you start selling that would be the perfect gift, you don't even need to buy in new stock, you can package up some of the products you already sell, some beautiful clear wrapping and ribbon will make a ready made gift for the time-strapped guests to pick up.

Do you sell gift vouchers? At the simplest level, you can pre-stamp loyalty cards and sell them in packs of 10 for the price of 9. What about offering coffee experience evenings, or barista training as a product?

Using your space for office parties can be attractive new revenue streams as well. If you don't sell alcohol, you may be able to get a temporary event licence for these parties. Delivering buffets and party food to other venues too is a great option as well.

Setting up a bounce back offer for the new year where you give out vouchers for January during December.

Plan your social media campaigns to shout about all the great things you are doing, you can schedule posts in advance to save time when you are busy or relaxing on your time off.

Supporting local charities with vouchers can help you re-engage with the local community as well, so don't dump those begging letters, give generously to the Christmas raffles.

Managing time off for both you and your team is critical too, giving everyone a good break, including yourself, will benefit everyone. Planning for this though should have started months ago as you don't want to be ambushed with a last minute request for a holiday that will cause problems scheduling everyone else fairly.

The planning of the operations and logistics over the holiday period should not be neglected either, with many suppliers limiting their opening hours or even closing for a week, running out of an essential ingredient is likely to cause you pain and disappoint your guests.

Suppliers will be asking you for your orders in advance for both before and after Christmas so be prepared! Watch out for short-dated products as your supplier clears their stock room too, so don't get caught out and claim any credit due.

January will also be a slower time for many suppliers; they will, in turn, be planning their offers and deals. These discounts can be used to build your promotions and deals too, so give them a call now to take advantage of this.

The law of sod also says that equipment will break down at the least convenient time, so don't ignore the squeak or the rumble and get things looked at before they go wrong and in plenty of time.

Below we have put together a checklist of the opportunities we have made in this article plus a few other things that you shouldn't miss either

  • OPERATIONS
    Till Rolls/Credit Card Rolls
    Waste collection schedule
    Milk
    Coffee & Other unique ingredients
    Syrups
    Toilet roll
    Equipment Maintenance numbers
    Up to date phone numbers for all the team
    Extended Closedown checklist
    Sufficient change from the bank.
    Security of the cash while shop is closed
    Holiday planning and fair time off rota
  • SALES OPPORTUNITIES
    Social media planning
    Gift items
    Seasonal Drinks and food
    Hosting Parties
    Delivering Buffets and party food
    Decorations
    Preparing for the January detox and fitness drive
  • OTHER MARKETING OPPORTUNITIES
    Supporting local charities and organisations
    Bounce back promotions
    Supplier discounts and deals
Download the Full ChecklistExcel or PDF format