Christmas Day bookings: deposits, set menus and pre-orders

How to take Christmas Day bookings so everyone knows where they stand: deposit or full payment, a simple set menu, collecting pre-orders and dietary needs ahead, deadlines that work back from the day, what to do when people cancel, and saying it all clearly.

Christmas Day is unlike any other booking day of the year. Most tables are booked weeks ahead, many of them are bigger than usual, the menu is fixed and the kitchen gets one go at it. A party that cancels on 23 December leaves seats you're unlikely to fill.

That's why the way you take Christmas Day bookings matters as much as the menu. Here's how to set it up so that you, your team and your guests all know where they stand.

Deposit, or pay in full?

There are three common ways to take money for Christmas Day:

• A deposit per person, with the rest paid on the day. The easiest ask of guests, and enough to make people think twice about not turning up.
• Full payment when they book. The surest for you and a bigger ask for the guest. It suits a fixed-price set menu.
• A deposit now, and the balance by a set date, such as two weeks before. A middle way: guests spread the cost, and you know the money is in before you order stock.

Whichever you choose, tell guests the amount, when it's taken and when any of it can be refunded, before they commit. Keep it in proportion to what you'd really lose if they didn't come. Our guide to taking booking deposits goes into the trade-offs.

This is general guidance, not legal advice.

Keep the set menu simple

A set menu is what makes Christmas Day workable. A few things help:

• Three or four courses, with two or three choices each, including a vegetarian choice at every course.
• A children's menu with its own price.
• One price per head, saying clearly what's included: drinks or not, coffee, any service charge.
• Dishes you can adapt. Know in advance which can be made gluten-free, vegan or dairy-free, so the answer is ready when guests ask.

Collect pre-orders and dietary needs ahead

Ask every party for their choices before the day, with each guest's name against their dishes and any allergy against the person, not the table. Your kitchen gets an exact prep list, and on the day your team knows who ordered what.

The organiser often finds this the hardest part, chasing a dozen people for their choices. If each guest can choose their own food, the job shrinks. Either way, send the full order back to the organiser to check, so mistakes are caught in time.

Set deadlines that work back from the day

Pick your dates now and put them on everything:

• When bookings open, and when you'll stop taking Christmas Day bookings online.
• When the balance is due, if you take one.
• When pre-orders close, far enough ahead to order stock.
• When final numbers are due.

A reminder before each deadline does more than a strict policy. Most people miss a date because they forgot, not because they meant to.

A timeline for a Christmas Day booking: booked with a deposit, balance due, pre-orders close, final numbers confirmed, a reminder a few days before, then Christmas Day

When people cancel

Plans change, especially in December. Decide before you open bookings:

• When a whole party cancels: how much notice earns a refund, and what happens after that.
• When a party gets smaller: whether you refund the missing guests' share, keep it, or let the organiser bring someone else.
• Instead of keeping the money: some venues offer it back as credit for a future visit, which keeps the goodwill.
• Refilling the table: keep a list of people who wanted Christmas Day, and call them first.

Write your answers into the day's cancellation policy (our guide to writing a no-show and cancellation policy can help) and apply them the same way to everyone.

Say it clearly, and more than once

The best policy fails if guests only find it after they've paid. Put the essentials (the menu, the price, the deposit, the deadlines and the cancellation rule) on your booking page, in the confirmation and in each reminder. Brief your team so they give the same answer on the phone. For big parties, a short summary the organiser can forward to their group saves a lot of back and forth.

A drawn confirmation email for a sample Christmas Day booking for eight at 13:00, with a pre-order deadline, beside four numbered things to tell every party.

For the rest of the festive season, our Christmas booking checklist covers hours, parties, rotas and gift cards.

If you use ResoFlow

Christmas Day can be a special date with rules of its own:

• a Deposit (Plus and above), or Pay in full (Pro and above);
• The rest of the payment, due a number of days before, with the deposit as A share of the set price if you like (Pro and above). Nothing is ever cancelled for not paying;
• its own Money back if they cancel cut-off (Plus and above);
• Pre-orders from the date's own set menus (Pro and above), where guests can each choose their own food by link;
• A note for customers, shown on your booking page and in the confirmation email.

If your venue has Gift cards, a deposit your policy keeps can become credit for their next visit instead.

Using ResoFlow? Ask Rezo from your dashboard, or email [email protected].