The Holiday Preparation Playbook for Hotels, Resorts, and Leisure Operations

Holiday preparation often begins while properties are still managing peak summer travel, outdoor dining, and busy event calendars. Yet successful fall and winter programming requires hotel, resort, and leisure teams to begin planning well before the first holiday event reaches the banquet calendar.

Early holiday preparation gives you more time to coordinate purchasing, develop menus, train associates, and prepare outlets for increased seasonal demand. Whether you manage full-service hotels and luxury resorts or conference centers and leisure destinations, a proactive plan can help teams maintain consistent operations when the holiday catering calendar fills up.

The Foodbuy Hospitality Culinary Solutions Team, wants to help you get started on holiday preperations. That’s why we’re sharing recommended purchasing priorities, labor-conscious menu strategies, seasonal dining trends, and menu ideas for group celebrations with you. Read on for advice on a successful 2026 holiday season.

Start Holiday Purchasing Early

It’s important to keep holiday planning focused and begin as early as possible. Advance preparation can make it easier to source products, train teams, and promote offerings before demand increases. That way, you’re ready for tasks like adding seasonal features to menus, planning celebrations, and developing banquet packages.

Work closely with your distributor representatives and Foodbuy Hospitality partners to stay informed about seasonal availability, market conditions, and potential supply challenges. Our procurement teams support hotels, resorts and leisure venues with programs across food, supplies, equipment and services, helping Members coordinate purchasing across the broader footprint of their operations.

Some products are likely to play a central role across restaurant outlets, banquets, room service, catered functions and guest packages:

• Turkey, ham, and premium beef
• Specialty appetizers and desserts
• Seasonal flavoring ingredients
• Catering and banquet supplies

Make sure you place orders for these items before demand tightens.

When planning menus, consider where the same products can serve multiple applications. A seasonal ingredient used across a lobby bar feature, banquet entrée and restaurant special can help simplify purchasing and support more consistent execution.

Build a Labor-Conscious Holiday Menu

Holiday activity can place additional pressure on culinary and service teams. Advance preparation can help properties maintain service standards across outlets while managing increased banquet, group dining, and event demand.

Incorporate Frozen-to-Cook Items

Items that can move efficiently from freezer to oven may reduce preparation requirements for selected sides, appetizers, and desserts. This can allow culinary teams to focus their time on center-of-the-plate items and other high-touch components.

Prepared bases can also be elevated through thoughtful sauces, garnishes and plating that align with the property’s culinary identity.

Reduce Made-to-Order Complexity

Made-to-order dishes can support an elevated dining experience, but highly customized menus may become difficult to execute during peak holiday periods.

Consider limiting the number of complex preparations or incorporating more prepped components into seasonal specials, banquet menus and high-volume dining occasions. Streamlined menus can help teams maintain consistency across multiple outlets and service periods.

Train Teams in Advance

The earlier holiday menus, catering packages and event offerings are finalized, the earlier training can begin.

Make sure culinary, banquet, restaurant and purchasing teams understand:

• Menu components and preparation requirements
• Product substitutions or backup plans
• Plating and presentation expectations
• Service timing for events and group functions
• Ordering schedules and inventory priorities

Clear communication helps every department prepare for the operational demands of the season.

Consider These 2026 Holiday Dining Trends

Trends come and go. Luckily, Foodbuy Hospitality’s Culinary Solutions Team is keeping track. Our trend experts have identified five trends expected to influence holiday menus in 2026. Properties can use these ideas to refresh familiar celebrations while staying aligned with the needs of their guests.

Trend 1: Elevated Comfort

Guests can enjoy recognizable holiday flavors presented with an updated approach. Examples include short rib pot pie, truffle mashed potatoes and miso-glazed turkey.

These dishes retain the familiarity associated with holiday dining while giving hotel and resort culinary teams an opportunity to create a distinctive experience.

Trend 2: Social and Shareable Dining

Boards, platters, grazing tables and build-your-own bars can support group-friendly dining with less commitment than a traditional plated meal.

This format may work especially well for:

• Lobby and lounge gatherings
• Resort socials
• Casual dining outlets
• Corporate receptions
• Pre-function spaces
• Private holiday events

Trend 3: Global Influence

Traditional holiday dishes can be complemented with Mediterranean, Latin American, and Asian flavors. For example, you may want to try harissa-roasted vegetables or gochujang-glazed ham, both playing on popular ingredients.

Properties can incorporate global influences through sauces, sides and seasonal features without redesigning an entire menu.

Trend 4: Convenient Holiday Offerings

Heat-and-serve meals, take-home kits, and pre-order bundles extend holiday dining beyond the restaurant or ballroom. Plus, they’re especially popular during peak hosting seasons.

For hotels and resorts, these offerings could support local guests, family gatherings, corporate groups, and travelers seeking convenient meal options during their stay.

Trend 5: Balance Wellness and Indulgence

Holiday guests may look for both rich, nostalgic dishes and lighter, health-forward options.

Offering both styles on the same menu can accommodate a broader range of preferences. A banquet buffet, for example, might pair indulgent center-of-the-plate dishes with seasonal vegetables, salads and lighter sides.

Create Holiday Packages for Group Dining and Events

Pre-orders, catering menus and bundled offerings can help properties create clear, easy-to-understand options for celebrations. The following concepts can be adapted for banquet events, private dining, resort residences, local catering or guest take-home packages.

Classic Thanksgiving Feast

• Herb-roasted turkey
• Traditional stuffing
• Mashed potatoes and gravy
• Green bean casserole
• Roasted seasonal vegetables
• Cranberry sauce
• Dinner rolls with butter
• Pumpkin pie or apple pie

Hanukkah Celebration Bundle

• Slow-braised brisket
• Potato latkes with sour cream and applesauce
• Roasted seasonal vegetables
• Noodle kugel
• Challah rolls
• Mixed green salad
• Assorted rugelach and sufganiyot

Christmas Holiday Dinner Package

• Honey-glazed ham or herb-crusted prime rib
• Garlic mashed potatoes
• Roasted Brussels sprouts
• Glazed carrots
• Macaroni and cheese
• Dinner rolls
• Holiday cookies
• Pecan pie or cheesecake

Kwanzaa Family Feast

• Jerk chicken or braised beef
• Jollof rice
• Collard greens
• Candied sweet potatoes
• Black-eyed pea salad
• Cornbread
• Sweet potato pie

New Year’s Celebration Package

• Charcuterie and cheese board
• Shrimp cocktail
• Spinach and artichoke dip with chips
• Mini meatballs
• Assorted sliders
• Vegetable crudités with dip
• Bite-sized desserts
• Sparkling cider or mocktail kit

These concepts can also be adjusted into reception stations, banquet buffets or private event menus based on the property’s service model and guest needs.

Prepare the Entire Property for the Holiday Season

Holiday readiness reaches beyond individual menu items. Hotels, resorts and leisure venues may need to coordinate food and beverage purchasing with banquet supplies, smallwares, equipment, disposables, and other operational essentials.

Foodbuy Hospitality supports Members with procurement solutions across food, supplies, equipment, and services. Our Account Management, Category, and Culinary Solutions Teams work collaboratively with hospitality operators to identify programs that fit the needs of individual properties and multi-property portfolios.

By planning early, simplifying where appropriate, and maintaining clear communication across departments, we can help hospitality teams approach the holiday season with greater operational confidence.

Partner With Foodbuy Hospitality

From limited-service hotels and conference centers to luxury resorts and leisure destinations, every operation has its own seasonal priorities. Foodbuy Hospitality works with our Members to support streamlined procurement, back-of-house efficiency, and culinary planning across their operations.

Furthermore, our Culinary Solutions experts work alongside Member teams to evaluate back-of-house operational challenges and recommend strategies designed for hospitality environments. Our chefs combine culinary experience with procurement expertise to support hotels, resorts and other leisure operations.

Connect with the Foodbuy Hospitality team to discuss purchasing and culinary strategies for your upcoming holiday season.