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Seasonal Menu Tips: How EPoS Makes Planning Easier

Written by Team SPARK | Nov 28, 2025 2:51:19 PM

Seasonal Menu Tips: How EPoS Makes Planning Easier

The festive season is one of the busiest and most profitable times of the year for UK hospitality. Whether you’re running a restaurant, café, bar, or hotel, your seasonal menu can make or break your December revenue.

But between rising costs, unpredictable footfall and pressure on staff, planning a Christmas or winter menu isn’t simple.
That’s where a smart EPoS system can make the entire process faster, clearer, and far more efficient.

Here’s how SPARK EPoS helps hospitality teams build, deliver and optimise their seasonal menus with ease.

Understanding Seasonal Customer Behaviour

The holiday season brings unique patterns that smart restaurant owners can plan for:

Office Parties & Group Bookings Surge

The end-of-year period is dominated by corporate lunches, team celebrations, and family gatherings. This means:

  • Larger tables

  • Set menus are becoming more popular

  • Higher spend per head

  • A need for smoother table management

Restaurants that prepare early capture the majority of these bookings. An integrated EPoS system could help you plan your festive menu and manage bookings effectively.

Weekend Peaks & Earlier Bookings

Customers tend to plan ahead in winter, particularly for Christmas meals. Fridays and Saturdays fill up quickly, and many venues experience earlier dining times as people work around winter travel and weather.

1. Plan Seasonal Menus Using Real-Time Sales Data

Before adding festive dishes, it’s important to understand what already works.

A comprehensive EPoS system should give you instant access to:

  • Bestsellers and underperforming dishes

  • Hourly sales patterns

  • Profit margin insights per item

  • Historic holiday-season performance

2. Add and Update Seasonal Dishes in Seconds

An integrated EPoS system enables changes to sync across tills, mobile ordering and QR ordering. So guests always see the correct version of your menu. 

You can:

  • Add new seasonal items instantly

  • Create Christmas bundles and set menus

  • Add modifiers, portion sizes and upsells

  • Assign allergens and nutritional tagging automatically

3. Keep Stock Levels Under Control

Seasonal ingredients often have shorter shelf lives and higher costs. A smart EPoS ensures you have the right ingredients, avoid waste, and eliminate the risk of “sorry, we’re out of that dish” during peak season.

It helps you stay on top of your stock with:

  • Livestock deductions per order

  • Automatic low-stock alerts

  • Recipe-level stock tracking

  • Purchase ordering tools

4. Sync Everything with Your Kitchen Team

A smooth kitchen is essential when festive tables are fully booked.

SPARK’s Kitchen Display System (KDS) ensures:

  • Orders arrive instantly and clearly

  • Modifiers and allergen notes are always visible

  • Multi-course Christmas meals are paced properly

  • Less waiting and fewer mistakes during service

5. Deliver a Simpler, Faster Guest Experience

Studies show that customers spend more when the ordering process feels seamless.
SPARK supports multiple ordering channels that help reduce queues and speed up table turnover:

6. Run Festive Promotions Easily

December is full of opportunities to increase sales.

With SPARK, you can create:

  • Happy hour deals

  • Gift voucher promotions

  • Set menu pricing

  • Loyalty rewards

  • Christmas upsell prompts

Black Friday: Get SPARK EPoS for the Best Price of the Year

Seasonal menu planning doesn’t have to be stressful. With SPARK EPoS, you can make smart decisions, deliver consistent service, control your stock, and maximise profits during the busiest weeks of the year.

Our Black Friday EPoS Deal is live this month only. It includes systems, support, onboarding, and additional tools at a huge saving.