{"id":25527,"date":"2019-10-15T09:10:37","date_gmt":"2019-10-15T13:10:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dev-gordon-food-service-canada.pantheonsite.io\/ideas\/holiday-ltos-plan-early-for-success\/"},"modified":"2025-07-01T11:14:03","modified_gmt":"2025-07-01T15:14:03","slug":"holiday-ltos-plan-early-for-success","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gfs.ca\/en-ca\/ideas\/holiday-ltos-plan-early-for-success\/","title":{"rendered":"Holiday LTOs: Plan Early for Success"},"content":{"rendered":"

Encourage indulgence and encourage repeat business with limited-time offers.<\/h2>\n

The holidays are a time to celebrate, and limited-time offers (LTOs)<\/a> get customers in the mood to splurge on themselves. To make the most of holiday LTOs, planning makes perfect.<\/p>\n

LTOs are a two-part process. First, you need a step-by-step plan. Second, you need to focus on the guest experience, gathering data to improve your efficiency, better understand customers and create excitement that drives repeat business.<\/p>\n

Six Steps for Creating Holiday LTOs<\/h3>\n
    \n
  1. Choose<\/strong>. Decide what holiday creations you\u2019ll offer as LTOs.<\/li>\n
  2. Test<\/strong>. Make each item to confirm kitchen capability.<\/li>\n
  3. Price<\/strong>. Do a cost analysis to determine your margin and set a price.<\/li>\n
  4. Action<\/strong>. Select the dates to feature your LTO.<\/li>\n
  5. Communicate<\/strong>. Promote four weeks before the LTO is featured.<\/li>\n
  6. Train<\/strong>. Coach your front-of-house staff on how to talk about your LTO.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    Build excitement for after the holidays<\/h3>\n

    LTOs help test new flavour profiles or showcase items that might get added to the permanent menu. That makes your holiday LTOs the perfect opportunity to talk about what\u2019s next. <\/p>\n

    Even though you\u2019re focused on Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year\u2019s, don\u2019t forget to talk to your LTO audience about the upcoming months. Add a notice inside the check holder, create a placard near the host station or have servers talk it up.<\/p>\n

    Benefits of LTOs<\/h3>\n

    Done right, holiday promotions make money. But there\u2019s more to gain:<\/p>\n

    Build data.<\/strong> Tracking LTO success creates a baseline and sets expectations for future offerings.<\/p>\n

    Collect feedback<\/strong>. Comment cards or online reviews provide insight about what worked and what didn\u2019t.<\/p>\n

    Boost sales<\/strong>. Incremental LTO sales on days with smaller crowds add revenue, plus they provide an experience that can increase weekend traffic.<\/p>\n

    Create awareness<\/strong>. Diners curious about holiday LTOs may be interested in your January, February and March plans.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Encourage indulgence and encourage repeat business with limited-time offers. The holidays are a time to celebrate, and limited-time offers (LTOs) get customers in the mood to splurge on themselves. To make the most of holiday LTOs, planning makes perfect. LTOs are a two-part process. First, you need a step-by-step plan. Second, you need to focus […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":19,"featured_media":26831,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[122,68,123,112,69],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-25527","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"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nHoliday LTOs: Plan Early for Success | 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\/holiday-ltos-plan-early-for-success\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Holiday LTOs: Plan Early for Success\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Encourage indulgence and encourage repeat business with limited-time offers. The holidays are a time to celebrate, and limited-time offers (LTOs) get customers in the mood to splurge on themselves. To make the most of holiday LTOs, planning makes perfect. LTOs are a two-part process. First, you need a step-by-step plan. Second, you need to focus […]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/gfs.ca\/en-ca\/ideas\/holiday-ltos-plan-early-for-success\/\" \/>\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=\"2019-10-15T13:10:37+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-07-01T15:14:03+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/gfs.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/holday-LTO-Plans_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=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Holiday LTOs: Plan Early for Success | 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\/holiday-ltos-plan-early-for-success\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Holiday LTOs: Plan Early for Success","og_description":"Encourage indulgence and encourage repeat business with limited-time offers. 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