25 articles
Seasonal playbooks
The dates that break the phone, and how to be ready for them.
- Holiday Hours and Schedule Overrides for Voice AIA phone agent quoting last week's hours on Christmas Eve is cheap to prevent. How holiday hours overrides work, who should own them, and what to check first.
- The Holiday Rush Phone Ordering PlaybookThanksgiving through New Year's compresses a month of phone volume into days. A playbook for holiday call surges that spares your staff and your kitchen line.
- Snow Days and Weather Surges: Handling the Delivery Call SpikeBad weather pushes delivery demand up and staffing down at once. How to handle the snow day call spike, quote honest waits, and know when to stop taking orders.
- Handling Super Bowl and Game Day Phone OrdersGame day compresses a week of pickup and delivery volume into four hours, most of it by phone. How to prepare for game day phone orders without overselling.
- Valentine's Day and Mother's Day Reservation CallsThe two biggest reservation days of the year bring more calls than seats. How to staff the surge, turn people away gracefully, and keep callers you can seat.
- Tourist season phone calls ask what locals never askVisitors call about parking, dress code, and reservations. Tourist season triples volume and changes the questions, breaking a phone plan built for regulars.
- Heat wave delivery surges and the driver mathA three-day heat wave moves demand indoors and thins out your driver pool at the same time. What that does to your phone, and how to quote times you can hit.
- Prom night group bookings: who is really calling youProm parties look like a headache and book like a catering job. The callers are parents, the risk is the no-show, and the fix is a prepayment rule stated up front.
- Easter brunch reservations: the phone is the bottleneckEaster brunch sells out on seating times, not on food. Here is how the call volume actually behaves that morning and what to decide before the phone starts.
- Home game days are the most predictable rush you haveThe schedule is published a year ahead, so a home game surge is the one spike you can plan down to the hour. Most restaurants still treat it as a surprise.
- Memorial Day weekend swings phone volume in both directionsTravel weekends do not raise call volume everywhere. Some restaurants get buried, some go quiet, and staffing the phone for the wrong one costs money.
- Restaurant Week fills your phone with menu questionsThe Restaurant Week spike is mostly people asking what the prix fixe includes. Answer that before it starts and the rest of the week gets much easier.
- Labor Day barbecue orders and pickup windows that holdBulk barbecue fails at the pickup counter, not in the smoker. How to sell by the pound, schedule real windows, and keep the phone from overbooking noon.
- Why July Fourth calls are mostly about hours, not foodOn the Fourth the phone asks two things: are you open, and can you still take my order. Both are answerable in advance, and most restaurants answer neither.
- Passover catering calls: lead times, kashrut, and depositsPassover callers ask about your kitchen before your menu. How to answer honestly on the phone, set real lead times, and take deposits without drama.
- Six Fridays of fish: what Lent does to your phoneAsh Wednesday plus six Fridays can carry a whole March. The phone problem is one narrow window, one menu, and a fish count that runs out mid-service.
- Ramadan iftar calls: every order wants the same minuteIftar pickups cluster on a sunset time that shifts every night for a month. How to take the orders, quote the times, and keep the kitchen from stacking up.
- School and office lunch accounts still start on the phoneRecurring August lunch contracts get decided on one call from an office manager. What that caller needs to hear, and why most restaurants lose the account.
- Graduation season is six weeks of catering leads by phoneFrom mid-April to early June, party tray calls arrive faster than anyone can qualify them. What to ask, what to write down, and which dates to turn down early.
- March Madness: your phone runs on the tip-off scheduleTournament wing orders arrive against tip-off times, not meal times, and the first two days are weekday afternoons. How to quote honestly and survive the run.
- Where a taqueria loses orders on Cinco de MayoOne day, roughly triple volume, and a phone nobody can reach. The four leak points in a Cinco de Mayo rush and what to fix in the two weeks before it.
- Halloween is an early dinner rush your phone can't absorbHalloween pulls dinner two hours forward, closes streets your drivers use, and lands on a thin crew. Here is what happens to the phone and how to plan for it.
- Prix-fixe questions and deposits on New Year's Eve callsNew Year's Eve calls are long, repetitive, and money-carrying. How to answer the prix-fixe questions at volume and take deposits without losing the booking.
- Your Christmas Eve phone plan should be set by December 1Christmas Eve compresses a day of orders into six hours with half a staff. What the calls ask for, and how to keep the line usable while everyone is cooking.
- Thanksgiving catering is decided on the phone in NovemberMost Thanksgiving catering revenue is booked in a two-week window of phone calls. What those calls contain, where they go wrong, and how to hold the deadline.
Other topics
See how phone ordering fits your business.
Run a restaurant or retail store? Talk to our 24/7 AI sales assistant about pricing, setup, and a walkthrough. You can also hear our restaurant demo line.