A sample scenario. An average restaurant with a kitchen, six waiters and an owner who decides the menu alone. The dates, dishes and tasks are made up and serve as an illustration. Replace them with your own holidays, team and suppliers.

Why four weeks

A holiday menu rarely fails because of the kitchen. It fails because decisions are made late: the price is worked out the evening before, the photos are from last year, and an item that is no longer offered is still on the table. Four weeks is enough to fix a mistake without making it under pressure. If the holiday is New Year, you start at the beginning of December; for St George's Day, the first week is at the beginning of April.

Assumptions of the scenario

  • The holiday falls at the end of the fourth week; week 4 is the one immediately before it.
  • The menu is in ISKA Menu or another digital menu that can be edited from a phone and keeps changes as a draft until publishing.
  • You offer a fixed holiday menu alongside the regular one, and for the holiday evening guests reserve by phone.
  • There are no revenue calculations and no forecasts of guest numbers: the calendar is only an order of work.

Week 1: decisions and prices

This is the week in which you decide everything that cannot be changed back and forth later. Sit down with the chef for an hour with a sheet of paper.

  • Decide what the holiday menu is: how many dishes, whether it is fixed or with a choice, whether there is a vegetarian option.
  • Remove from the regular menu everything the kitchen cannot prepare well on a busy evening.
  • Ask suppliers for current prices of the main products and write them down with the date. Last year's prices are not a basis.
  • Work out the price per portion from this data, add the margin you want and round to a price that is clear to guests.
  • Note which dishes contain the main allergens. Check how to present them for your property before you show them to guests.

Week 2: photos and descriptions

The guest chooses with their eyes. One good photo of the main dish does more than three lines of description.

  • Photograph in bright daylight, on a light table, with natural light from a window, without flash.
  • Write a description of one or two lines: the main ingredient, the way it is prepared, the portion. No unnecessary adjectives.
  • If the menu is in more than one language, translate the holiday dishes now, not on the last day.
  • Photos and additional languages are available in the Plus plan of ISKA Menu; in the free plan the menu is basic and in Bulgarian.

Week 3: draft and checks

Enter the holiday menu in the system as a draft. Guests still see the old menu, and you work in peace.

  • Check every price against the sheet from the first week.
  • Give the menu to a waiter who did not take part in the preparation and ask them to read it aloud. Every stumble is an unclear description.
  • Check how it looks on a phone, because that is where guests open it.
  • If you use the menu for print, prepare the holiday version now, so there is time left for the print shop.

Week 4: publishing and review

At the start of the week, publish the holiday menu. The link and the code stay the same, so nothing needs to be changed at the tables.

  • Announce the menu by phone, when taking reservations and wherever guests find you.
  • Tell the waiters which dishes are not available, before the shift.
  • Name one person who marks a dish as sold out in the system when it runs out. Do not leave it to guesswork.
  • On the day of the holiday, do not change prices. Only sold-out items.

After the holiday

Set aside half an hour for notes: which dishes sold the most, which were left over, which price prompted a question. These notes are the basis of the next holiday calendar and save you the first week.

What to take from this

The calendar does not add work, it puts it in order. The four steps are the same for every peak, whether it is New Year, St George's Day, a big wedding or an event in town. Only the dates and the dishes change.

Where ISKA Menu helps

If your menu is digital, draft and publish work in the same order as the calendar: you decide, enter it as a draft, check, and only then publish. The menu is edited from the portal and from a phone, and the guest opens it in the browser, without an app. Current plans and prices are on the pricing page.