Holiday drops can be some of the busiest and most profitable of the year. They can also become overwhelming very quickly if you're still making decisions in December.
September is a good time to decide your menu, quantities, pricing and order deadlines. Here's what to plan now, and what I'd leave open until later.
Cut the menu before you're busy
Keep the holiday menu smaller than you think you need. Every additional item adds ingredients, prep, packaging and another production schedule to manage.
Choose the items that travel well, can be partly prepared ahead, and already sell reliably.
December isn't the time to add something you've never made at scale. Save new recipes for a quieter drop.
Pick your close dates and then defend them
Decide your order deadline for every holiday drop now, then stick to it.
Work backwards from pickup. If a batch needs two days and you want one buffer day, orders close three days before pickup. That is your date. Write it down.
You'll almost certainly get requests after the deadline, often from good customers. Having a firm close time means you don't have to make that decision case by case when you're already busy.
Cap it at what your oven can actually do
Think in terms of what you can bake, package and hand over in a single day, not what you can bake.
Start with the largest drop you've handled comfortably. Increase from there conservatively.
Holiday demand may be higher, but your kitchen capacity hasn't changed. Set an inventory cap you know you can deliver. Selling out early is much better than taking orders you can't fill.
Price for the work involved
Holiday baking often costs more in both ingredients and time. Make sure your pricing reflects both.
Decorated items and custom orders are easy to underprice because the extra labour adds up quickly. If a customer wants a specific colour, message, size or design, price it as a custom product rather than absorbing the additional work.
Announce earlier than feels necessary
Start talking about your holiday menu in November. Customers are already making plans for parties, gifts and Christmas meals, so waiting until December can put you behind.
Send your subscribers the dates first. Tell them when each drop opens and when pickup will be. Remind them again when ordering opens.
Build in one buffer day
One day, in the middle of the season, with nothing scheduled on it. Not a rest day. A catch-up day.
Something will go wrong. A delivery will be late, equipment will fail, someone will get sick, or something at home will need your attention. A buffer day gives you somewhere to put the work without pushing everything else later.
Leave one thing loose
Plan the menu, dates, quantities and prices for your main holiday drops. Consider leaving your final drop flexible.
By mid-December you'll have real sales data. You'll know what sold fastest, what customers asked for again and what moved more slowly. Use that information to decide what goes into the final drop.
The actual goal
The goal is to finish December still wanting to bake in January.
Plan the decisions now so that December can be busy without becoming chaotic.
