The holiday season is here, which means packed dining rooms and a steady stream of office catering orders through the end of December. The breather after New Year's will be short. On February 14, 2027, Super Bowl LXI lands on Valentine's Day for the first time in the game's history, meaning some poor restaurant host is going to get a request for a candlelit table for two with a clear view of the TV.
For restaurants, that’s a couple of jam-packed months. The good news (other than your order numbers) is that there’s preparation you can do now to be ready for the rush. The 10 best practices below cover the planning and the post-rush debriefing to avoid snags and ensure your busiest days are also your most successful ones.
Before the rush:
1. Planning
How far in advance should restaurants plan for high-volume days? Early enough that inventory orders and staff schedules aren't last-minute guesses. Go through last year's sales by hour and channel to see when digital orders spiked, which items sold out, and where the kitchen fell behind. If pickup orders doubled in the two hours before kickoff, this year's prep schedule should reflect that.
*Olo Tip: Brands using Olo Ordering can set specific hours for accepting online orders on high-volume days without affecting general restaurant hours via the Olo Dashboard.
Brands can also use Olo Guest Intelligence to see which items spike in demand each season and which dishes keep guests coming back. That makes it easier to order the right ingredients and build a menu around dishes that earn repeat visits.
2. Staffing
Cross-train employees so they can easily switch roles during busy periods. That way, managers have options when the grill is short-staffed and the rush hits. Brief the team before the shift on specials, the order-pacing plan, and who to loop in if a large group order runs late.
*Olo Tip: Host users can leverage Shift Notes to communicate important information with employees before they start their shift (work assignment changes, Valentine’s Day specials, reservations made by high-GLV guests, etc.)
3. Menu
A shorter menu means faster tickets, and a kitchen that will almost certainly be frying wings all afternoon has no reason to also offer 40 other items. Focusing on best-sellers and a few appropriate specials keeps the kitchen from juggling dozens of dishes during the rush. You can also prep peak-day favorites ahead to free up hands when orders start stacking up.
Even with a tight menu, something will run out. Make sure staff know how to remove the item from the website, app, and every other ordering channel at the same time, so guests aren’t ordering food the kitchen can’t make. The harder part is remembering to put those items back once they’re restocked, and to take holiday specials down when the season ends.
*Olo Tip: If the kitchen runs out of wings at the end of game day, every hour they stay off after restock is lost revenue. Brands using Olo Ordering can automate how long items stay unavailable, so 86'd items return automatically at every location. You can also schedule limited-time specials to come down automatically, so no one has to remember to pull the turkey family meals.
Sync users can count on Olo’s listings management tool to automatically syndicate menu changes, holiday hours, and other up-to-date restaurant information across the web.
4. Online Ordering Optimization
A guest ordering wings at halftime is doing it with one thumb and limited patience. A mobile-friendly site, passwordless checkout, and multiple payment options, including digital wallets, cut the steps between craving and order confirmation, boosting cart conversion on high-volume days.
*Olo Tip: If you use Olo’s included front end, Serve for online ordering, be sure to set up your Smart Cross-Sells, For You, Local Favorites, and Recent Items to increase ticket size with personalized recommendations. Just ask Waffle House, which now earns 36% of its online revenue from these recommendations, plus a 1.6% overall revenue boost.
5. Tech Integration
On a busy day, orders arrive from the website, app, POS, and third-party channels at once. Without integrations, someone retypes tablet orders into the POS during the busiest hour of the year. Only when your restaurant systems share data in real time can you effectively manage capacity, prevent manual errors, and deliver an optimal guest experience.
*Olo Tip: For frictionless integration with zero data silos, use Olo’s 450+ partner ecosystem and download the Buyer’s Guide to Future-Proofing Your Restaurant Tech Stack.
6. Catering
Plenty of hosts do not have the patience to brine a turkey or create a Pinterest-worthy game-day spread, and would happily hand the cooking to someone else. Let guests buy in bulk by creating catering packages for special occasions. Use off-peak hours to prepare catering orders, boost efficiency, and maximize kitchen resources. And don’t forget about pack slips, which can help ensure you have everything you need for each order before handoff.
*Olo Tip: Catering+ customers can serve tax-exempt organizations and set up house accounts to reward VIPs with a streamlined purchasing process.
7. Capacity Management
Set your brand up for success on high-volume days using any capacity management tools built into your online ordering platform. Order throttling, for example, can help mitigate an influx of digital orders during a given period, so your kitchen isn’t overloaded and guests have reasonable expectations for when their order will be ready.
*Olo Tip: Olo Ordering customers can take advantage of three throttling strategies to control how, and when, orders hit their restaurants: Orders-in-Progress Limits, Make Time Minutes Per Period, and Orders Per Window.
8. Delivery and Pickup Logistics
Ensure your order confirmation message includes clear instructions so guests know where and when to pick up their order or when to expect delivery. Set up dedicated pickup areas with clear signage inside your restaurant to prevent congestion and long wait times. Lastly, sync driver arrivals with when the food will be ready to ensure food is as fresh as possible and create a positive experience for delivery guests.
*Olo Tip: Rails users can solve operational challenges linked to high order volumes with marketplace-specific controls that allow you to disable individual marketplaces or pause all Rails orders. Dispatch users can manage any delivery issues with Olo’s delivery rescue and automated guest refund features.
9. Marketing
Generate excitement in the weeks leading up to special events and holidays with promotions to encourage guests to order early and make reservations. This will drive sales and ease pressure on employees. Use your website, app, social media, email, SMS, and digital advertising to spread the word and keep your brand top of mind when guests make plans.
*Olo Tip: Olo’s AI Creative Assistant makes it easy for Marketing users to craft high-converting promotional emails in a fraction of the time. Users can also build the segment they need in seconds simply by typing the audience you want in plain English.
After the rush:
Within a week, review sales by hour and channel, sell-outs, throttled windows, quoted versus actual pickup times, and guest feedback. Writing down three or four changes turns one busy Sunday into a better plan for next year.
Peak days also bring in first-time guests. A loyalty signup or welcome offer gives them a reason to come back on a normal Tuesday.
Plan the next peak day now
The holiday rush and a Valentine’s Day Super Bowl will stretch menus, staff, and ordering systems. Brands that plan weeks out and review the numbers afterward walk into each peak day with a better playbook than the year before. With that plan in place, guests' only complaint will be that Uncle Gary got the last wing.
To learn how your restaurant brand can manage high-volume days more effectively and maximize revenue during peak times, talk to our team of experts.
