The busy season for restaurants is upon us, and with it comes a seemingly endless stream of holiday parties, big game nights, and employee appreciation dinners. With so many larger groups frequenting your establishment — most with reservations, we hope — it’s a good time to brush up on some of the finer points of accommodating them.

Here are a few ways to ensure that the dining experience goes as smoothly as possible for you and your guests.

Pre-Game with Pre-Booking

Set yourself up for success by designating a point person from your team to handle reservations and follow-ups. As people sometimes respond better to one form of communication than another, make sure to log more than one way to contact the person making the reservation.

As part of the booking conversation, record any group-specific accommodations by asking about known dietary restrictions and allergies to help the kitchen plan ahead. With large parties, depending on your policy, make the guest aware of requirements for single-check tables, or consider asking for a non-refundable deposit in advance to hold their reservation. Reservation systems like Yelp Guest Manager can help you manage bookings across multiple platforms, including Yelp, Google, Instagram, TikTok, and Facebook.

Party Time, Excellent

For parties with more than eight people, consider offering a simplified menu and asking if your future diners would like to pre-order any food or drinks. Having bottles of wine on the table when guests arrive may save your bartender from having to muddle 12 mojitos at once.

For walk-in parties, do your best to accommodate them and acknowledge there may be a wait time for their experience. When it’s busy, waitlist management systems like TablesReady can help you notify guests when their table is ready, track party sizes, and view your upcoming reservations to help keep you on track and turn tables efficiently.

Make a Gameplan

On days when you know you’ll have larger parties, stock up on the ingredients you think you’ll need and pre-prepare elements of dishes that can be thrown together quickly. If the kitchen is backed up, offering guests a complimentary app, like a garnished cup of soup special, can foster some goodwill.

Consider staffing up in advance of big events and ask employees to come in early to help prep ― offer small perks to make extra shifts feel special. Think along the lines of catered meals before or after service, gift cards, raffles for bigger prizes, or even a “holiday hustle bonus” for those who pick up additional hours. It’s a tangible way to show appreciation, keep morale high, and encourage staff to step up during the busiest weeks.

The Big Game

As with any restaurant situation, it’s important to seat guests and have a server greet them quickly. If a server assigned to a party is busy, ask another team member to say hello and start on drink orders. If a party is large enough, consider assigning more than one server, or at least have another server assist with fielding the initial round of drink and appetizer orders. Encourage the ordering of apps as it boosts sales and gets food on the table quickly.

Fight the impulse to cram your dining room with every table and chair possible. Figure out the places in your floorplan that can accommodate parties of six or more and block those off in advance of your reservations. Not only will service staff need space to serve and collect dishes, but comfortable diners may stay for dessert and have a better overall experience.

We Are Family

When order taking, encourage staff to offer menu suggestions. Talk to groups about family-style offerings ― from trays of wings, pasta, or fajita spreads to seasonal comfort favorites like roasted turkey with sides, meatball trays, and festive pasta bakes — make group ordering easy and on-theme for the holidays. Add a mix-and-match option (choose 2 proteins + 3 sides + dessert) to keep it customizable and fun for every group.

If parties are interested in being served family style, this can reduce impact on staff and help ensure that diners will be fed quickly. For BOH ease, when servers place orders for large parties, consider asking them to break orders into “chits” of five dishes at a time. Long tickets can be harder to read and increase mistakes; smaller tickets can always be merged later.

Near the end of service, have a manager check in with guests about their meals, listening for feedback, showing appreciation, and offering warm season’s greetings. Afterwards, a thoughtful follow-up text or email can turn a good experience into a lasting relationship and encourage guests to return.