Special Occasion Planning and Promotions Timeline and Checklist
6 Weeks Out
- Review SDLY sales, orders and labor needs for the event
- Collect any time-off requests and availability updates from your staff
- Discuss menu items and formats with your Food Fanatics® Chef
- Discuss product availability with your sales rep
- Discuss menu profitability
- Finalize menu and packaging needs
- Identify any special occasion plating and serveware needs
- Determine a marketing budget for the event or occasion
Resources
Contact the US Foods® Menu team or professionally designed menus and marketing pieces made custom for your brand.
For email, SMS, website and other marketing support, contact your website or online ordering partner. To upgrade your current system, visit Drive Traffic in CHECK® Business Tools for featured partners.
5 Weeks Out
- Plan a social media promotion strategy to drive customer orders
- Hold a photo shoot to gather at least 10 images of your offerings
- Determine marketing collateral and digital image creation
- Create partnerships for cross-promotion
- Bring in product to begin testing and training
- Determine available ordering methods and cutoff dates
- Determine any incentives or rewards associated with special events
- Talk to the landlord about creating designated curbside/pickup spots
Resources
To streamline in-house, catering and online orders, work with your POS and ordering partners. To upgrade your current system, visit Modernize Operations in CHECK Business Tools for featured partners.
4 Weeks Out
- Launch the social media campaign on Facebook, Instagram and Google
- Add a special event or menu splash page to your website
- Add items to POS and any online ordering platforms
- Make any needed adjustments to your reservation platform
- Provide FOH training for call-in orders and upsell opportunities
Resources
Staffing templates are available in the No-Cost Tools section. For staff scheduling, team management, payroll and training services, visit Simplify Staffing .
3 Weeks Out
- Continue social media campaign strategy
- Begin using printed marketing collateral
- Send email blast or SMS text message to your database
- Begin ordering product based on pre-orders
- BOH training on food safety and food packaging standards
Resources
To calculate theoretical food cost and make profitable menu decisions, visit Menu IQ™ .
Leverage Menu IQ, MOXē® Inventory and the Food Cost Calculator for deeper business insights — all at no cost to US Foods customers and available exclusively in MOXē .
2 Weeks Out
- Continue social media campaign strategy
- Begin to write thank-you cards for all orders
- Provide FOH training on special occasion workflow and expo
1 Week Out
- Continue social campaign strategy
- Post on Facebook and Instagram daily with a sense of urgency
- Send a reminder email to database
- Check inventory levels of needed products and place order
Day Before
- Ensure you are fully staffed and stocked with all products
Day of
- Post on social channels to move last-minute inventory
- Place a test order on your POS/online ordering/third-party platforms
- Review your daily order summary and print production prep sheet
- Provide BOH Pre-shift refresh training on critical temp checks and packaging
- Provide FOH Pre-shift refresh training on curbside/pickup process
Day After
- Thank-you post on social channels
- Share tagged content from customers on social channels
- Remove event content from website, if not automated