Peak season is won early. By the time the summer and Christmas rush arrives, the venues that cope best are the ones that sorted their gear weeks before. The ones that leave it late end up patching problems mid-service, which is the worst possible time.
Use this checklist to get ahead of it.
Start with the gear that fails under pressure
Peak trade puts the most strain on the machines that run hardest: the coffee machine, the dishwasher or glasswasher, the fridges and the cold room. If any of these are already struggling on a normal day, they will not cope with a full house. These are the first to check.
Walk the venue station by station
Go through the space the way service flows:
- Kitchen line: ovens, cooktops, fryers and prep gear
- Cold storage: fridges, freezers and the cool room
- Coffee and bar: machine, grinder, glasswasher, taps
- Front of house: seating, POS and payment tech
- Outdoor: heaters, furniture and the alfresco setup for summer trade
Decide: patch it or replace it
For each item, be honest about whether it will make it through the busy months or whether it is living on borrowed time. Nursing failing gear through peak season is a gamble that often costs more than replacing it would have.
Mind the lead times
This is the one that catches owners out. Good equipment can take weeks to arrive and install. If you want it working before the rush, the time to order is now, not when the old one dies.
Sort the finance before the rush
You do not have to drain your account to get ready. Financing the gear before peak season means you go into your busiest, best-earning weeks with your cash intact and your equipment reliable. A little planning now is the difference between riding the rush and fighting it.
