Pausing Everyday Menu During Holiday Week

Holiday week is the busiest time of year in your kitchen, and the last thing you need is a custom cake order landing in the middle of it. This guide shows you how to pause online orders for your everyday menu during the days you choose, using two seasons as "bookends" around your blackout dates. Customers can still order those items before and after the holiday, and your holiday menu stays open the whole time.

Pausing Your Everyday Menu During a Holiday Week (Bookend Holiday Availability)

Use this setup to stop online orders for your everyday products (custom cakes, custom cookies, or anything else you're pausing) for the days around a holiday. Your holiday menu stays open the whole time.

When to use this

  • You don't want to take everyday orders the week of Thanksgiving, Christmas, Easter, or another busy holiday.
  • You want customers to still be able to order those same items for dates before and after the holiday.

How it works

Seasons usually make items available for a set window. Here, you use two seasons as "bookends" around your blackout dates, so your everyday items are unavailable in between.

Season

Start date

End date

Season 1 (before)

Today

Your last day taking everyday orders

Blackout (no orders)

First day you're pausing

Last day you're pausing

Season 2 (after)

The day you reopen

As far out as your Pre-Order setting (for example 180, 365, or 1000 days)

Products assigned to both seasons can be ordered for any date before or after the blackout, but not during it.

Set it up

Step 1: Pick your blackout dates
Decide which days you won't take everyday orders. For example, Tuesday through the Saturday after Thanksgiving.

Step 2: Create Season 1 (the "before" bookend)

  1. Go to Seasons and create a new season.
  2. Set the start date to today.
  3. Set the end date to the last day you'll take everyday orders.
  4. Name the season. Customers see this name on your products online, so make it clear. For example: Not available for order 11/24–11/29.
  5. Save.

Step 3: Create Season 2 (the "after" bookend)

  1. Create a second season.
  2. Set the start date to the day you reopen for everyday orders.
  3. Set the end date as far out as your Pre-Order setting allows.
  4. Name the season with just a period ( . ). Every product will show both season tags online, and the period keeps the second tag nearly invisible.
  5. Save.

Step 4: Assign your everyday products to both seasons

  1. Open each product you're pausing.
  2. Assign it to both Season 1 and Season 2.
  3. Save.

Don't assign your holiday items to these seasons. They stay in your holiday season and remain open for orders.

Before the holiday

  • Check your dates. Preview your online store and try a date on each side of the blackout so no day is accidentally left open or closed.
  • Tell your team. Let your counter and phone staff know the dates so everyone gives customers the same answer.

After the holiday

  • Clean up. Remove both seasons so the tags come off your products.
  • Repeat as needed. Set it up again for the next holiday.

Need help?

Reach out to the BakeSmart team and we'll walk through it with you. Help@bakesmart.com

Prefer to watch a click through of how it works: https://youtu.be/2N21XNLf0Os

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