{"id":25468,"date":"2020-11-19T16:11:05","date_gmt":"2020-11-19T21:11:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dev-gordon-food-service-canada.pantheonsite.io\/ideas\/3-ways-to-make-your-holiday-menu-merry\/"},"modified":"2025-07-01T10:58:30","modified_gmt":"2025-07-01T14:58:30","slug":"3-ways-to-make-your-holiday-menu-merry","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gfs.ca\/en-ca\/ideas\/3-ways-to-make-your-holiday-menu-merry\/","title":{"rendered":"3 Ways to Make Your Holiday Menu Merry"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2>Add the indulgence customers want without breaking your budget and theirs.<\/h2>\n<p>The season calls for opulence and better ingredients. People want to indulge this time of year, so treat them with upscale ideas that fit your budget and theirs.<\/p>\n<p>To make it work, create new recipes using items already on your menu, or use plus-ones that elevate menu offerings without adding lots of inventory. Our Gordon Food Service Culinary Specialists suggest three easy ways to make it work.<\/p>\n<h3>1. Build a meal toolkit<\/h3>\n<p>Start with a menu basic and create a classic, elevated and trendy version. Chef Bobby Viel explains how it can work using common holiday foods:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Classic<\/strong>. Make a \u201cLeftover Sandwich Special\u201d using cranberry walnut bread, petite turkey, cornbread stuffing and cranberry jelly.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Elevated<\/strong>. Take the same sandwich and add a smoky aioli or cranberry relish and add texture and flavour appeal.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Trendy<\/strong>. Use a cranberry muffin mix and add corn and crab to turn it into a savory holiday pudding bread.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>\u201cThis helps aspiring operators aspiring to go to the next level by adding one element and creating a flavour bomb,\u201d Viel says. \u201cA good dessert also could fall under the classic, elevated or trendy concept.\u201d<\/p>\n<h3>2. Use simple cross-utilization<\/h3>\n<p>Adding a menu twist for the holidays doesn\u2019t have to be expensive\u2014for operators or their customers. Chef Rachel Mazur explains how to wow guests with creative ideas by cross-utilizing soup. She describes three ideas using a seasonal pumpkin apple bacon soup.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Pasta sauce<\/strong>. Fettuccini, topped with apples, hazelnuts, chopped bacon and use soup as a sauce.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Au gratin potatoes<\/strong>. Use the soup as a sauce for the potatoes and top with cheddar cheese.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Pizza sauce<\/strong>. Spread the soup on the dough, shingle some potatoes and sprinkle with more apple bits.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>\u201cNo matter what soup you choose, it becomes an ingredient,\u201d Mazur says. \u201cYou get three different applications without ever using it on the menu as soup.\u201d<\/p>\n<h3>Call on cheese or charcuterie boards<\/h3>\n<p>One way to feed a holiday crowd is with small bites, and cheese or charcuterie boards are a festive treat perfect for your restaurant table, at-home family gatherings or small office parties. \u201cCharcuterie boards are huge,\u201d Mazur says. \u201cPeople want to pick and graze, and they love the variety.\u201d Keep in mind:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Include variety.<\/strong> Whether it\u2019s cheese, meat or a combo, call on hard and soft textures and sweet, mild, salty and zesty flavours.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Make it visual<\/strong>. Cheeses and meats limit your colour variety. Add fruits, nuts, olives, spreads or pickled vegetables. Don\u2019t forget crackers and bread for serving.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Be unique<\/strong>. Try a seacuterie board, with tuna nduja, whitefish spread or smoked salmon or seafood pate. Because you\u2019re not presenting the entire fish, you can use tail pieces or less-desirable portions as profit-makers.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>The great thing about board builds, Viel says, is they work for the holidays, but also as a takeout\/delivery option. Another option is to display them in a grab-and-go area where people can see them when they come and go.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Add the indulgence customers want without breaking your budget and theirs. The season calls for opulence and better ingredients. People want to indulge this time of year, so treat them with upscale ideas that fit your budget and theirs. To make it work, create new recipes using items already on your menu, or use plus-ones [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":19,"featured_media":26752,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[122,68,123,112,69,111,113],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-25468","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-catering-small-business","category-culinary-ideas","category-hotels-hospitality","category-restaurant-bars","category-running-your-business","category-healthcare","category-university"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v22.9 (Yoast SEO v27.0) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>3 Ways to Make Your Holiday Menu Merry | Gordon Food Service<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/gfs.ca\/en-ca\/ideas\/3-ways-to-make-your-holiday-menu-merry\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"3 Ways to Make Your Holiday Menu Merry\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Add the indulgence customers want without breaking your budget and theirs. The season calls for opulence and better ingredients. People want to indulge this time of year, so treat them with upscale ideas that fit your budget and theirs. To make it work, create new recipes using items already on your menu, or use plus-ones [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/gfs.ca\/en-ca\/ideas\/3-ways-to-make-your-holiday-menu-merry\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Gordon Food Service\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/GordonFoodService\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2020-11-19T21:11:05+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-07-01T14:58:30+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/gfs.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/Make-Your-Holiday-Menu-Merry-Idea-Center-760x400_0.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"760\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"400\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Cody Rivers\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@cody.rivers@gfs.com\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@GFSDelivers\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Cody Rivers\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"3 Ways to Make Your Holiday Menu Merry | Gordon Food Service","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/gfs.ca\/en-ca\/ideas\/3-ways-to-make-your-holiday-menu-merry\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"3 Ways to Make Your Holiday Menu Merry","og_description":"Add the indulgence customers want without breaking your budget and theirs. 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To make it work, create new recipes using items already on your menu, or use plus-ones [&hellip;]","og_url":"https:\/\/gfs.ca\/en-ca\/ideas\/3-ways-to-make-your-holiday-menu-merry\/","og_site_name":"Gordon Food Service","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/GordonFoodService\/","article_published_time":"2020-11-19T21:11:05+00:00","article_modified_time":"2025-07-01T14:58:30+00:00","og_image":[{"width":760,"height":400,"url":"https:\/\/gfs.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/Make-Your-Holiday-Menu-Merry-Idea-Center-760x400_0.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Cody Rivers","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@cody.rivers@gfs.com","twitter_site":"@GFSDelivers","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Cody Rivers","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/gfs.ca\/fr-ca\/ideas\/trois-facons-de-bonifier-son-menu-des-fetes\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/gfs.ca\/fr-ca\/ideas\/trois-facons-de-bonifier-son-menu-des-fetes\/"},"author":{"name":"Cody Rivers","@id":"https:\/\/gfs.ca\/en-ca\/#\/schema\/person\/ac2dd585b10d08ce15daca230d897374"},"headline":"3 Ways to Make Your Holiday Menu Merry","datePublished":"2020-11-19T21:11:05+00:00","dateModified":"2025-07-01T14:58:30+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/gfs.ca\/fr-ca\/ideas\/trois-facons-de-bonifier-son-menu-des-fetes\/"},"wordCount":509,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/gfs.ca\/en-ca\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/gfs.ca\/fr-ca\/ideas\/trois-facons-de-bonifier-son-menu-des-fetes\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/gfs.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/Make-Your-Holiday-Menu-Merry-Idea-Center-760x400_0.jpg","articleSection":["Catering &amp; 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