Home /Blog /Managing Delivery Orders During Holidays And Weekends Can Be Easy With The Right Strategy

May 01, 2025

Managing Delivery Orders During Holidays And Weekends Can Be Easy With The Right Strategy

Mari Melikyan

55 articles

May 01, 2025

10 min read

Managing Delivery Orders During Holidays And Weekends Can Be Easy With The Right Strategy

Know Your High-Demand Days (And What To Expect From Each)
Create A Delivery-Ready Menu (And Adjust It When It Counts)
Build A Realistic Staffing & Driver Coverage Plan
Set Order Limits Before You’re Overwhelmed
Communicate Proactively With Your Customers
Prep Your Delivery Space And Workflow
Use Promotions And Loyalty Tools (But Time Them Smartly)
Review What Worked (And What Didn’t) Right After The Rush
Holidays Don’t Have To Be Chaos
FAQ

Holidays and weekends bring more orders—but they also bring more stress. For restaurant owners, that can mean long shifts, overwhelmed staff, and a kitchen under constant pressure.

Delivery orders during busy holidays can boost revenue, but only if your operations are ready for the rush. Without a solid plan, juggling dine-in, pickup, and online delivery can quickly lead to delays, errors, and unhappy customers.

You’re not alone in feeling the pressure. 77% of consumers plan to order from restaurants during the holidays, and 50% will choose takeout or delivery. That’s a major opportunity—but only for restaurants equipped to meet demand.

This guide will walk you through practical, proven ways to stay organized and efficient during the busiest times of the year.

Key Takeaways

Delivery orders during busy holidays are manageable with the right prep and tools.
Plan ahead by reviewing previous holiday performance and adjusting staffing accordingly.
Simplify your delivery menu to speed up prep and reduce mistakes.
Create a dedicated space in your kitchen for delivery order handling.
Use order limits and smart pacing to avoid overwhelming your team.
Communicate clearly with customers to manage expectations and reduce complaints.
Leverage loyalty programs and well-timed promos to drive repeat orders.
After each holiday, review what worked and what didn’t to improve next time.

Know Your High-Demand Days (And What To Expect From Each)

Handling delivery orders during busy holidays starts with knowing when to expect the rush—and what kind of demand you’re really up against.

Some of the busiest days for food delivery include Christmas, New Year’s Eve, Mother’s Day, and Thanksgiving. But don’t overlook dates like:

If you’ve ever asked, “Are restaurants busy the day after Thanksgiving?”—the answer is yes, especially for delivery. This is when families skip cooking again and go straight to the apps.

Use your own data to plan smarter. Check your order history, staffing logs, and delivery times from last year. Identify where the pressure points were, and build a plan around them.

Tip: With Orders.co’s reporting tools you can view past holiday order volume, filter by provider, and even identify what menu items had the most delays—so you know what to prepare and what to adjust.

Create A Delivery-Ready Menu (And Adjust It When It Counts)

A big part of managing delivery orders during busy holidays is knowing what your kitchen can actually handle and setting your menu accordingly.

Your regular menu might work well for dine-in guests, but high-volume delivery days call for a tighter, faster approach. The goal isn’t to serve less. It’s to serve smarter.

Start by identifying dishes that:

Travel well (think: no soggy fries or delicate plating).
Cook quickly and consistently.
Use ingredients you’ll have in large supply.

You don’t need to reinvent your menu—just prioritize what you know performs best during a rush. If you’ve asked yourself, “When are restaurants the busiest?”—the answer is during peak meal hours on holidays and weekends. That’s when your team faces the most pressure, and when every minute counts.

Managing Delivery Orders During Holidays

And if you’re managing multiple platforms, consistency is key. Orders.co’s Menu Management tool lets you make a change once and have it show up across all your delivery apps. So when you run out of a dish or want to highlight a holiday special, there’s no need to bounce between dashboards.

Saving your team even 30 seconds per order adds up fast, especially on the busiest days for restaurants.

Build A Realistic Staffing & Driver Coverage Plan

Regarding delivery orders during busy holidays, nothing slows you down faster than being short-staffed or scrambling to find a driver at the last minute.

Start by reviewing your past high-volume weekends and holidays. Look at what went well, what didn’t, and where delays happened. The busiest holidays for restaurants often create unexpected pressure, especially if one person is juggling phone orders, third-party apps, and in-house deliveries all at once.

Here’s how to avoid that:

Schedule based on real data — not guesses. Use your POS or Orders.co’s reporting to forecast which shifts need more hands.
Cross-train staff to help with order packing or delivery coordination, especially during peak hours.
Build in flexibility. Plan for call-outs or last-minute driver cancellations by having a backup list of trusted third-party drivers—or use a hybrid model where your staff covers nearby deliveries and third parties take the rest.

If you’ve ever wondered, “Are restaurants busy the day after Christmas?” or “Are restaurants busy the day after Thanksgiving?”—the answer is usually yes, especially for delivery. That means you can’t afford to wait until the morning to figure out who’s running orders.

Tip: Orders.co lets you view all incoming orders from one screen, so your team isn’t toggling between apps. This makes it easier to assign orders, manage timing, and avoid double-booking drivers.

Set Order Limits Before You’re Overwhelmed

When delivery volume spikes, your kitchen, and staff can only move so fast. One of the best ways to stay in control of delivery orders during busy holidays is by setting realistic limits before the rush begins.

That’s where order throttling and capacity management come in. These tools help you control the number of orders that come in per time slot, so your team isn’t buried during peak periods.

Here’s what to do:

Adjust order pacing during high-demand hours (e.g., 5–8 p.m. on Christmas Eve or game day Sundays).
Extend prep time automatically when the kitchen starts backing up.
Pause ordering on individual platforms if needed, without taking your entire system offline.

If you’ve ever been hit with a last-minute surge and thought, “We can’t keep up,” you’re not alone. The restaurant holiday rush has caught even the most experienced operators off guard. Setting order limits is a simple way to protect your team and reputation.

Also, read:

Communicate Proactively With Your Customers

When you’re managing delivery orders during busy holidays, clear and timely communication is just as important as cooking the food right. Customers want to know their order is on track, especially when they’re hungry, stressed, or hosting guests.

Here’s how to keep them in the loop:

Set realistic delivery and pickup times based on your current volume. Don’t be afraid to add a few extra minutes during peak hours—accuracy matters more than speed promises.
Use automated order status updates via text or email. A quick note saying, “Your order is being prepared,” goes a long way in building trust.
Post holiday-specific updates on your ordering page, Google listing, or social profiles. Let customers know if you have a limited menu, cutoff times, or modified hours.

Customers tend to be more understanding during busy holidays, but only if they’re not left in the dark. If you’re wondering why the busiest days for food delivery often result in negative reviews, it’s often because of communication breakdowns, not just late food.

Prep Your Delivery Space And Workflow

During delivery orders on busy holidays, your back-of-house setup can make or break the shift. If your team is stepping over each other to bag orders or searching for the right ticket, things will slow down fast.

If you’re managing a high volume of orders, this “delivery lane” should function like its own section of the restaurant. It needs space, roles, and flow, just like your line does during a dinner rush.

A cluttered setup leads to delays, especially during the busiest holidays for restaurants. This kind of physical prep can save minutes per order and reduce errors that lead to refunds or complaints.

Use Promotions And Loyalty Tools (But Time Them Smartly)

Delivery orders during busy holidays are a great chance to win new customers and reward loyal ones—but only if your promotions are well-timed and realistic for your team to handle.

Instead of offering broad discounts during your peak hours (which can overwhelm the kitchen), focus your promos where they can do the most good:

Offer early bird deals for customers who order ahead of peak times.
Reward loyalty with points or discounts for repeat orders, especially through your direct ordering site.
Run post-holiday bounce-back offers to keep the momentum going after the rush.

If your restaurant gets slammed on days like Mother’s Day or Valentine’s Day, you might wonder whether to promote at all. The answer? Promote strategically. Use quiet days before or after major holidays to drive traffic when you need it most.

This tactic is especially useful when navigating the busiest days for restaurants, where small operational tweaks can prevent burnout and missed tickets.

Orders.co’s built-in loyalty and marketing tools allow you to:

Set up automated SMS or email offers tied to customer behavior.
Limit redemptions by time or order channel.
Track promotion performance with real-time reporting.

You don’t need flashy marketing to boost delivery volume—you just need the right offer at the right time, in the right hands.

Review What Worked (And What Didn’t) Right After The Rush

Every busy weekend or holiday delivery surge is a chance to improve. But only if you take the time to review it while it’s still fresh.

After the dust settles from delivery orders during busy holidays, block out 15–20 minutes with your team. Ask simple, direct questions:

What slowed us down?
Did we run out of anything?
Were there order errors or delivery delays?
What helped us move faster?

Then, look at the numbers. Did certain menu items create a bottleneck? Did wait times spike at a specific hour? Were loyalty redemptions worth it?

This isn’t about assigning blame—it’s about fixing friction points before the next big day. Whether you’re prepping for the busiest days for food delivery, like New Year’s Day, or a heavy weekend like Memorial Day, every insight counts.

Holidays Don’t Have To Be Chaos

Handling delivery orders during busy holidays doesn’t have to be overwhelming. With a plan, a focused team, and the right systems in place, these high-pressure days can become some of your most profitable ones.

Orders.co uses AI to make high-volume delivery days more manageable. From automated order routing to real-time updates and predictive tools that help you plan for rushes, the platform is designed to take pressure off your team without slowing you down.

Here’s how Orders.co can help you stay in control when it matters most:

Restaurant Online Orders Management

Consolidate all your delivery orders into one interface, no matter which platforms you use. Use our restaurant online orders management system for orders to come through a single device, reducing delays and tablet clutter. Your team can focus on fulfilling orders—not switching screens.

Local Business Optimization

Improve your visibility in local search results and business directories. Orders.co’s feature helps ensure your hours, menus, and ordering links are accurate everywhere. That means more customers can find you and order directly.

Menu Management

With Master Menu, you can make updates once, and they go live across all connected platforms. Your menu stays current, whether it’s pricing, availability, or new specials. No more jumping between dashboards.

Custom Ordering Website

Launch a branded, commission-free, direct ordering website in minutes. Built with AI, your site features mobile-friendly layouts and integrates directly with your menu and delivery tools. It’s your restaurant’s digital front door—without third-party fees.

Guest Feedback Monitoring

Track customer feedback in real-time with a guest feedback monitoring tool after each order. Spot trends, resolve issues quickly, and protect your online reputation. Every rating and review becomes a learning opportunity.

Integrations

Integrate with over 30+ POS systems, major delivery platforms, and business directories. Keep your operations in sync, reduce manual entry, and make smarter decisions with unified data.

Reporting

View real-time performance metrics by hour, day, or provider. See reports on top-selling items, busy periods, and fulfillment times—all in one place. Use data to plan smarter for the next holiday rush.

Dispute Management

Catch and contest 3rd party chargebacks with the help of an AI assistant. Orders.co monitors disputed transactions and helps recover lost revenue. You’ll be notified immediately when action is needed—no more surprises.

Ready to make your next holiday rush easier to handle?

Schedule a free demo with Orders.co and see how these tools can help you stay ready, even on the busiest weekends.

FAQ

1. Should I keep my full menu available during holiday delivery hours?
Not always. While a full menu gives customers more options, it can slow down your kitchen during peak times. For delivery orders during busy holidays, consider offering a limited version of your menu focused on high-margin, fast-to-prepare dishes that travel well.

2. How early should I start preparing for delivery-heavy holidays?
Ideally, you should start planning 2–3 weeks ahead. This gives you time to analyze past performance, test adjusted menus, coordinate staffing, and update your delivery systems. Early prep is especially important if your restaurant experiences high volume on holidays like Mother’s Day or New Year’s Day.

3. Are restaurants busy on Memorial Day for delivery or just dine-in?
Yes, they can be very busy, especially if the weather is poor or people are hosting at home. Are restaurants busy on Memorial Day? Definitely, and often more so in the days leading up to the holiday weekend. That includes both dine-in and delivery, with families looking for convenient meal options.

4. Should I pause third-party delivery services during holiday rushes?
Not necessarily. Many restaurants use third-party apps to handle overflow during delivery orders during busy holidays. What matters is having visibility and control,so consider platforms like Orders.co, which consolidate orders from multiple sources into one screen for easier management.

5. How can I reduce customer complaints during high-volume periods?
Focus on communication. Let customers know what to expect with clear wait times, real-time updates, and honest availability. Delays are easier to forgive when people feel informed. Syncing your ordering system with delivery status updates builds customer trust, even during your busiest times.