This article was originally written for and published by Foodservice Consultant, FCSI’s (Foodservice Consultants Society International) trade magazine, for which Marius writes a monthly column.
Hey Young World,
For most people, Christmas in a restaurant or hotel is an indulgence. For people who work in hospitality, it is something else entirely. Christmas is their Super Bowl. It is exhausting, chaotic, sometimes absurd, but also the moment in which the purpose of the industry reveals itself most clearly. Once you leave hospitality and become a regular civilian, you realize how much you miss it. I certainly do. There is something amazing about knowing that you can create an atmosphere so warm that guests will remember it years later.
Some of my own happiest Christmas memories were made not at home, but at a restaurant. I still think about one Christmas dinner at restaurant Huis met de Pilaren in Bergen, in the Netherlands. The perfectly cooked pheasant, the white tablecloths, the mellow music, the quiet buzz of happy guests. I was there with my parents and my then-girlfriend, now wife. Nothing “special” happened, yet everything was special. It was hospitality operating at its highest frequency.
The merry money maker
How do you create such memories? Operators sometimes feel the pressure to turn their restaurant into a fully themed Christmas production. And to be fair: a little spectacle is good. Christmas is one of the few moments in the year when guests actively want you to turn things up. The decorations, the warmth, the sense of occasion.
A special menu can be smart business, too: it gives you structure, it raises the average spend, it lets the kitchen shine, and it can be a money maker. But the trouble begins when the spectacle replaces the identity. The real challenge (and opportunity) is to make Christmas feel special without becoming unrecognizable. The best operators start with who they already are and then turn the volume up. Guests aren’t looking for a complete reinvention; they’re looking for a heightened – dare I say, festive – version of the place they already trust. At Christmas, intention matters more than spectacle. When the choices you make regarding the menu, the atmosphere and the service feel true to your identity, guests feel it instantly. That is what makes a Christmas experience resonate.
Then there is the question of opening hours and staffing, which is more complex than it first appears. Working during the holidays can be magical in its own way. As I said earlier, many people in hospitality genuinely love the energy of Christmas service, the sense of doing something meaningful for guests together. But for that to happen, operators need to make thoughtful choices. If you push a team past its limits, the magic evaporates. If you close the doors entirely, you may deny staff who want to work the chance to be part of that special atmosphere. And somewhere in between is the equally important reality that people deserve time for their own version of Christmas.
There is no universal answer, but when the balance is right, a hospitality Christmas becomes meaningful for everyone.
One Love,
Marius | 1520