How to prepare your hospitality business for the Christmas 2025 campaign

At Christmas everything multiplies: bookings, rush hours, trays entering and leaving the kitchen, toasts at the bar, and the “Merry Christmas!” whispered without a voice at the end of the night. For many bars and restaurants, December is the busiest month of the year… and also the most profitable, if the business is prepared.

Imagine Laura, the owner of a small neighbourhood restaurant. Last Christmas her place was full, but she also experienced queues outside, delays in dishes, and storage rooms overflowing where nothing could be found. This year she made herself a promise: the Christmas 2025 campaign will be different.

This guide is designed for people like Laura… and like you. So your business reaches Christmas 2025 with clear ideas, machinery ready, and a plan that allows you to enjoy the revenue without suffering the chaos.

1. Looking back to design a better Christmas

The first step is not to buy anything, but to stop and think. What went well last year? What was a disaster? At what moments did the kitchen or bar collapse?

• Were there delays in group menus?
• Did you lack space for drinks and desserts?
• Did the kitchen run out of room to prepare mise en place?
• Did orders pile up at certain peak times?

With these answers, you can draw the map of your campaign: where to reinforce processes, where equipment is missing, and which sales opportunities you didn’t take advantage of.

2. Designing Christmas 2025: experience before equipment

Before talking about fridges, griddles and ovens, think about the experience you want to offer:

• Will you work with set menus for groups and company dinners?
• Will you have a special Christmas menu with off-menu dishes?
• Will there be featured holiday drinks or cocktails?
• Do you want to boost desserts to increase average spend?

When you decide what kind of Christmas you want, it becomes easier to see what is needed in the kitchen, bar and dining room. It’s not about filling up on machinery, but about choosing the key pieces that support your strategy.

3. The kitchen as the performance axis during Christmas

If the kitchen gets blocked, the whole business gets blocked. At Christmas, the difference between a chaotic night and a smooth night usually depends on two factors: production capacity and space organisation.

Think about how many dishes go out at once during peak time and how long it takes your team to deliver. If every pass is late, it’s not just “lack of hands”: it may be lack of suitable equipment.

For example, a larger griddle allows you to cook more portions simultaneously and avoid waits. In your case, it might be worth considering an industrial gas griddle MBH or even a professional hard chrome griddle if you cook a lot of meat and fish on the griddle in Christmas menus.

For set menus and serial production, a professional convection oven can change everything: baking starters, finishing garnishes and regenerating dishes while maintaining texture and flavour. It’s the perfect ally for large company dinners at the same time.

And don’t forget rations and fried foods, so typical at this time of year. A double-tank industrial electric fryer lets you work with different products in parallel, reduce waiting times and keep a constant flow of trays ready to serve.

4. The invisible cold that sustains the campaign

Christmas is not only prepared in the hot kitchen, but also in the cold area: walk-in fridges, showcases, bottle coolers, chest freezers. When Laura reviewed her previous campaign, she realised something very clear: she lacked refrigeration space.

In December everything multiplies:

• Drinks and soft drinks
• Desserts, cakes and Christmas sweets
• Cold tapas and starters already plated
• Pre-preparations (sauces, garnishes, bases)

If your equipment can’t keep up, chaos arrives: stacked products, difficulty finding things, doors opening constantly and temperature rising.

To avoid this, many businesses expand their capacity before Christmas with:

• Refrigerated bottle coolers so the bar is always one step ahead.
• Vertical display fridges for beverages, pastries or cold tapas sold visually.
• Stainless steel vertical freezers for fast-rotation products.
• Chest freezers for large volumes and safety stock.

The better organised your cold storage is, the easier it will be to work and the less waste you’ll have at a time when every euro counts.

5. The magic is in the presentation: selling more without saying a word

There is a key moment in all Christmas dinners: when dessert arrives. If you’ve displayed it well, half the work is done before the waiter says a word.

A well-lit display showcase with homemade desserts, cakes, traditional sweets and special options (gluten-free, lactose-free, vegan) can naturally increase the average ticket. Customers choose with their eyes… and with their phones, taking photos and sharing the experience.

The same happens with drinks. A good selection of wines, sparkling wines, special beers and Christmas cocktails relies on a fast and well-equipped bar with professional ice machines and ice crushers for premium drinks that increase margins.

6. Breakfast, brunch and continuous service: Christmas is not only dinners

If your business opens in the morning, December also impacts breakfasts, brunches and mid-morning coffees. Companies meeting, families enjoying days off, tourists filling the city.

Equipment like industrial toasters , professional microwaves or electric grills become essential for sandwiches, snacks and fast-turnover dishes.

Sometimes you don’t need to change the whole menu; it’s enough to have the right equipment to serve faster, with better presentation, and without overwhelming the staff.

7. Marketing, bookings and organisation: the other half of success

The best machinery in the world means nothing if the dining room and bookings are not well organised.

• Define your group menus in advance and communicate them on social media.
• Set a maximum number of diners per shift to avoid overwhelming the kitchen.
• Establish clear arrival times for company dinners.
• Design a simple, profitable and easy-to-execute Christmas menu.

Every decision made in October and November is one less problem in the intense nights of December.

8. Final checklist for Christmas 2025

Before December starts, ask yourself:

Do I clearly know what kind of Christmas I want to offer in my business?

1. Does my kitchen have the necessary production capacity?
2. Do I have enough refrigeration and freezing space for all the stock?
3. Am I leveraging dessert and beverage presentation to sell more?
4. Is my bar prepared for cocktails, drinks and continuous service?
5. Have I organised bookings, menus and service shifts properly?

If any answer is “no” or “not entirely”, you still have time to adjust your strategy and equipment.

Christmas 2025 can be the year when your business is not only full, but also organised, profitable and enjoyable. And if you need to renew or expand equipment, at MBH - Maquinaria Bar Hostelería you will find refrigeration, cooking and preparation equipment designed specifically for the real pace of hospitality.

The Christmas 2025 campaign starts today.