By Kelly Grogan, Founder of CRUMBS
The holiday season is the biggest opportunity of the year for catering revenue. Corporate offices are celebrating, hybrid teams are coming together, and families are gathering in ways they do not at any other time. It is also when ezCater sees a surge in search traffic, new buyers, and high-value orders. If your profile is optimized, this window can generate a meaningful lift that carries into the new year.
This article walks through the practical adjustments that help restaurants rise in ezCater’s rankings, win more orders, and deliver a smooth experience during the busiest stretch of the calendar.
The Holiday Advantage on ezCater
From November through December, ezCater sees a 30 to 60 percent increase in corporate group orders. Guests are searching for holiday lunch ideas, quick catering packages, and last-minute options they can trust. ezCater invests heavily in ads during this period, which brings thousands of new customers into the marketplace.
Your competition is likely stronger than you think. Even in smaller cities or suburban areas, it is common to see over one hundred catering options within a few miles. Understanding this environment is the first step in making sure your brand stands out.
Optimize Your Menu Filters
A well-coded menu is the foundation of being discovered on the platform. ezCater’s search filters rely on the attributes assigned to each item, and if they are not set correctly, your restaurant will not appear for important customer searches.
Key areas to check include:
- Individual packaging: If a menu item is not marked as individually packaged, it will not display in group ordering searches.
- Dietary options: Gluten free and vegetarian filters matter even for a single person in a larger order. If an admin cannot add one allergy-friendly meal, they may choose another restaurant.
- Keyword alignment: Make sure the words people search for actually appear in the menu title or description. If you want to be found for hot chicken, tacos, wraps, or Greek salads, those words need to be in the item text.
Browse your ezCater page as if you were a customer. If you do not appear for the terms you want, update your descriptions and filters.
Build Easy Holiday Packages
Guests want speed and simplicity during the holiday rush. Offering preset packages helps them click once, check out, and move on with their day.
These packages do not require special seasonal dishes. Simply group your most popular items into a starter, protein, sides, drinks, and dessert. ezCater already surfaces recommended combinations on your page, making it easy to choose what to bundle.
When you add a seasonal package, you automatically qualify for ezCater’s holiday filter, which appears prominently at the top of the page. This placement is free visibility you should not pass up.
Adjust Your Order Minimums and Lead Times
Lowering your minimum to around 50 dollars opens the door to a wave of small but valuable orders from pharmaceutical reps, small offices, hybrid teams, and admins feeding only the people who show up that day. There is no cost to lowering your minimum, and the increase in order volume can be significant.
Lead time flexibility is equally important. A large number of ezCater orders come in within 12 hours of pickup time. If you can produce a catering order for 10 to 20 people with short notice, reduce your lead time and capture those last-minute opportunities.
Turn On Auto Accept
Auto accept ensures you do not miss orders or respond late, which hurts your reliability score and ranking. It also gives customers immediate confirmation, improving their experience.
Pair this with an internal process to review new tickets, whether through an integration like Olo or through a designated team member.
Update Your Hours and Holiday Closures
Correct hours prevent cancellations and improve your ranking. Check your ezCater hours now and set them for the holiday season. If you are not open on Thanksgiving, Christmas, or New Year’s Day, make sure your listing reflects that.
You can also expand your ezCater hours beyond your restaurant’s operating hours. If your team is in the building earlier prepping food, consider opening your pickup window earlier to capture breakfast meetings and early office gatherings.
Platforms like Marquee make it easy to update hours across Google, Yelp, Apple Maps, Waze, and more with a single step.
Strengthen Accuracy and Packaging
Accuracy is one of the most important factors in customer satisfaction. A great experience during the holidays can produce repeat business throughout the year.
A few simple best practices:
- Ensure each package component prints as its own line item
- Prepack bags the night before for the next day’s orders
- Build emergency catering kits with plates, napkins, and cutlery
- Prepare handwritten holiday notes or small gift cards in advance
These steps help your team stay organized during peak periods and improve the overall guest experience.
Improve Delivery Tracking and Driver Tools
Delivery tracking is becoming a core expectation. Customers want to know if their order is still at the restaurant or already on the way. If you use internal drivers, make sure they are set up inside the ezCater driver portal so customers can see accurate updates.
Tools like Cartwheel can provide a fully branded delivery experience and help manage routes, overflow deliveries, and last-mile challenges.
Convert Marketplace Guests to Direct Customers
One of the biggest long-term advantages of a strong ezCater presence is the ability to convert marketplace guests to direct catering clients. This reduces commission costs and builds loyalty.
Include bag stuffers or business cards directing guests to your own online ordering platform. If you need a simple system to get started quickly, Family Meal can help you launch a direct-order site without heavy development work.
Gather Reviews and Follow Up
ezCater does not push customers aggressively to leave reviews, so you need a system in place to capture feedback.
Use QR codes, note cards, or tools like Ovation to make it easy for guests to share their experience. Follow up every order with a thank you message, ask if they have upcoming events, and reconnect in January to plan for the new year.
If it is not scheduled, it will not happen. Build follow-up routines into slow periods and make them part of your weekly workflow.
Manage the Platform Actively
ezCater provides sponsored listings, rewards programs, and preferred partner options. These tools are powerful, but they need to be used strategically.
If you are the only restaurant in your category, you likely do not need to spend extra to rise in rankings. Use boosts and rewards only where they provide a clear advantage. Monitor performance regularly and adjust your strategy based on demand patterns.
Final Thoughts
Holiday season brings more traffic, more new buyers, and more large group orders than any other time of year. With the right setup on ezCater, you can capture that demand, improve your ranking, and build relationships that last long after the season is over.
About the Author
Kelly Grogan is the Founder of CRUMBS and a highly accomplished hospitality executive with deep experience in driving revenue growth across B2B and B2C channels. Known for building strong relationships, developing high-impact catering strategies, and leading by example, Kelly brings a hands-on approach to helping restaurants strengthen their catering programs. She is also the host of Restaurant Catering Crumbs on CaterLinked, where she shares practical insights to help operators grow.
