How Grocers Win the Holidays: Lessons from 3,000 FoodStorm-Powered Stores

How Grocers Win the Holidays: Lessons from 3,000 Stores Running FoodStorm

The festive season is the ultimate opportunity for grocery retailers to delight customers and drive unparalleled revenue growth. Demand for fresh meals, bakery items, and floral gifts peaks — and customers want it all fast, convenient, and custom. Q4 is the golden quarter for grocers, with up to 40% of annual catering revenue generated during the festive season. Retailers need effective strategies to succeed.

But succeeding during this peak requires more than just great products — it takes the right technology. Here’s how 3,000+ FoodStorm-powered stores are winning the holidays with catering management software built specifically for grocery.

‍

November: The Month When Catering Demand Skyrockets

In a recent Grocery Dive survey, 75% of grocers reported high or moderate demand for catering. That number spikes during the holidays, when customers are planning office parties, family gatherings, and festive dinners.

Top-selling offerings in Q4 include:

• Holiday meal bundles (turkeys, hams, heat-and-eat sides)
• Custom cakes and seasonal pastries
• Floral centerpieces and gift arrangements
  

The challenge? Scaling to meet demand while keeping operations smooth and margins strong. That’s where FoodStorm comes in.

‍

‍

Why Customers Choose You: The Power of Convenience & Customization

Today’s holiday shopper isn’t browsing — they’re buying. And they expect:

• Fast, easy online ordering
• Customizations for dietary needs and personal touches
• Pickup or delivery options timed to their schedule
  

With online catering software, grocers can offer holiday SKUs like meal kits, custom cakes, trays, and floral bundles, all from one centralized platform. FoodStorm enables this with menu management, real-time kitchen display systems (KDS), and automated production logs.

‍

The Standout Holiday Performers

Bakery: Seasonal Sweet Spot

• Holiday baked goods account for up to 40% of annual bakery sales
• Bestsellers include pies, donuts (+6.5% YoY), and croissants (+6.6% YoY)
• Custom cakes drive repeat high-margin orders
  

Customers want personalized cakes featuring holiday themes like reindeer, snowflakes, or even family names. FoodStorm supports bakeries with dynamic pricing, real-time inventory syncing, and Instacart menu publishing to reach more customers.

‍

Floral: Margin Magic

• Grocery floral hit $9.1B in 2024, with a 6.5% YoY growth
• Impulse bouquets and bundled arrangements increase average order value
• Holidays like Thanksgiving and Christmas drive emotional purchases
  

With FoodStorm, florists can bundle with bakery and catering, offer custom bouquets, and manage all orders from a single dashboard.

‍

Full Meal Bundles: The MVP

• Full holiday meals with mains, sides, and desserts
• Trays and ready-to-serve items reduce prep time for both grocer and customer
• High-margin, low-labor SKUs perfect for automation
  

Popular bundles include turkey with sides like mashed potatoes, stuffing, green beans, and ready-to-bake desserts. FoodStorm’s order management system allows grocers to easily configure and fulfill these bundles, all while capturing upsells and reducing admin.

‍

How FoodStorm Makes Holiday Catering Scalable

Scaling operations during the holidays is challenging for grocers dealing with siloed systems and manual order tracking. FoodStorm bridges these gaps with its purpose-built software, becoming a revenue-generating machine. 

Here’s how grocers use it to dominate Q4:

• Centralized Ordering across kiosks, Instacart, online, and phone
• Custom Holiday Menus with lead times, capacity limits, and prep rules
• Kitchen Display Systems (KDS) that coordinate departments
• Order Management Dashboards for live tracking and reporting
  Automated Upsell Triggers to suggest add-ons like floral and dessert
  

With these features, FoodStorm retailers report:

• 10%+ increase in holiday order volumes
• Up to $152,750 saved annually in admin costs
• Double-digit gross margins on holiday catering programs

‍

The Bottom Line

Holiday success doesn’t come from chaos — it comes from control. With FoodStorm’s catering CRM software and online ordering tools, grocers can offer premium holiday products, simplify production, and deliver a seamless customer experience.

Whether you’re managing 1 store or 1,000’s, FoodStorm gives you:

• The tools to scale
• The data to optimize
• The confidence to own the holidays
  

Ready to elevate your holiday strategy? Book a demo today to see how 3,000+ FoodStorm-powered stores are driving up margins and creating memorable customer experiences this holiday season.