Holiday Event Planning for Catering Businesses

Holidays in the food service business

As the holidays approach, so do the parties and events that center around food. The holiday season is a busy time for catering companies. From corporate lunches to dinner parties, food service businesses are busy with events that keep their staff members hopping from Thanksgiving through the New Year.

Catering on a Tight Schedule
The catering business is about much more than just food. Event planning and logistics are just as important as the menu. Keeping multiple timetables straight can be a challenge, and there’s a lot resting on keeping a tight schedule.
Unlike the big weddings and other events of spring and summer, catered holiday events tend to be clustered together on specific days, making it more challenging to schedule deliveries. Not to mention, often caterers have to hired temporary staff members, who may not be as familiar with the company’s policies and territories as regular employees.
Catering businesses need to consider the time it takes to set up for an event, clean up afterwards and how to keep food either hot or cold in the meantime. Plus, with multiple jobs on days near popular holidays, it’s important to make sure one schedule snafu doesn’t derail the rest of your deliveries.

Efficient Catering Routes
Online route planning helps catering businesses schedule their days efficiently, including helping estimate the time each stop will take so the canapes’ aren’t cold by the time they reach the last event.
Simply enter in the addresses and find the best way to get from point to point, optimizing for either time or mileage. You can set the time you want to start your route and estimate the service time to define how long you will stay at each destination.

Importing Addresses and GPS
Best of all, addresses are easy to import from an Excel file. Simply print or email the route to any device. Plus, if you email your route to a smartphone or mobile device, you can click on links in the route that will provide turn-by-turn directions. If you have multiple vehicles, it’s easy to create two or more routes that make sense geographically.
Online route planning gives food services businesses a helping hand during the holidays with up-to-date directions for driving and easy-to-use road maps. Planning your catering routes means your driver’s route and arrival times are predictable, so you can track and manage your staff members more efficiently.
Route planning also helps food service businesses reduce operating costs, mileage and fuel costs. And that’s a gift that keeps on giving, long after this holiday season has passed.