# Winter revenue boosters



## aladeg (Dec 4, 2014)

Has anyone else seen a slow holiday season? We're up about 15% for the year, but December sales have not been as robust as expected (we're barely surpassing '16 sales which has not been the case in any other month). I've spoken with my suppliers, others in food industry (and other retail sectors), and it seems to be a trend in our area. Curious if others have seen the same.

We're off-premise catering but our kitchen allows for some limited retail space- pickup, no seating. We're brainstorming about winter sales ideas - we offer dinner takeouts one or two nights per week. Sales have been unpredictable (and the marketing/promotion is a LOT of time/effort for the money). I don't have historical data as we only started offering these last winter (sales were good until April), and this fall (been slow). I don't feel comfortable relying on sales returning to last year's levels so we're at the drawing board before the February/March slump settles in.

In the past we've offered lunch deliveries which we'll try again, and we're organizing special events with a few of our venues. Any ideas on things that have worked well for you?


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## chefross (May 5, 2010)

Yeah this time of year should be busy. 
I am a Personal Chef / caterer and I have been offering 3 home cooked meals to reheat later for a special price as a winter special.
I have had a few bites but no commitments. 
I have one more holiday catering this weekend and am done already for the month and have nothing on the books for the coming months......Seems as though people are focusing more on staying home with families then dining or ordering out.


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## jcakes (Feb 18, 2007)

are you active on social media? If you do the pick up dinner thing, I'm part of several "moms" groups on Facebook and people are constantly asking for recommendations for activities, meals, dining out... I've found out about a few new things just based on those forum groups. Maybe scout out a few local community groups and see if they allow advertising. Even if you get one new customer, you haven't paid for advertising so the ROI is there.

Our bakery does a lot of wholesale and this holiday season is down compared to last year by about 15%


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