How to Prepare & Profit on Thanksgiving Eve
Thanksgiving Eve is one of the biggest pizza days of the year, behind the Super Bowl and Halloween.
FACT: Shops on Slice see a 68% increase in order volume on Thanksgiving Eve versus a typical Wednesday.
68%.
With this volume increase, you need to be prepared. We’ve given you 5 tips on how your pizzeria can capitalize on Thanksgiving Eve. This year, we’re taking it further.
Here’s exactly how to prepare, promote, and profit so your shop is successful the day before Thanksgiving and into the long weekend.
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Pre-Thanksgiving Eve Preparation + Promoting Your Pizzeria and Pushing Preorders
Free Social Media and Preorder Assets for Your Pizzeria
Pre-Thanksgiving Eve Preparation
To really profit on Thanksgiving Eve, you need to make sure you have your shop and your marketing plans in place.
Preplanning checklists, a social media promotional plan, and preorder reminders will help make the pre-Thanksgiving Eve marketing and preparation run smoothly.
Organization + Proper Planning = Profit
While Halloween was chaotic, Thanksgiving Eve is much the same.
Whatever you can do to prepare is going to help a lot.
How’s your inventory look?
Is your staff ready?
Is your oven functioning the best it can?
Have you prepared and promoted bundles?
Grab your free copy of this Pizzeria Planning Checklist with pre-stocked to-do items and space for you to add your own tasks.
If you don’t prepare, you’ll be overwhelmed by 5 PM. If you do prepare, it’ll be one of your most profitable nights of the year.
Get Ahead of Delivery Chaos
Long delivery times are the number-one Thanksgiving Eve complaint.
The fix: plan for it now.
Tighten your delivery zones slightly for the night to keep orders on time.
Update your prep times in your Slice app as volume ramps up.
No more angry calls about late pies.
Encourage early pickup. A simple “Pickup before 6 PM and get a free soda” can ease the delivery crunch.
Your Slice dashboard makes these adjustments quick, so you can stay in control even when tickets are flying in.
Use These Free Social Media and Preorder Templates
Preorders are the difference between a smooth night and total stress.
Dough shortages, order overload, and staff fatigue; they’re very real. This is why preorders are so important.
Since social media is where your customers live and make decisions, push preorders hard on Instagram and Facebook so your customers know to order early and schedule pickup or delivery before the rush hits.
Grab these free preorder fliers and social media templates you can start using right now.
Preorder fliers
Social media templates
Social media best practices for pizzerias
Social media questions? Follow Slice on Instagram, or call our team, standing by 24/7 to help.
Suggested uses of preorder fliers:
Post a preorder reminder daily. Example: “Thanksgiving Eve = Pizza Night. Preorder now on Slice and skip the wait 🍕.”
Print and display the fliers on your counter and pizza boxes starting this week.
Note: Slice helps automate texts and emails your regulars letting them know they can schedule their orders in advance through your Slice link.
Every preorder you secure now means one less last-minute scramble later.
Preparing Bundles & Upsells
Make your shop feel like the local tradition everyone returns to and increase order size while you’re at it. Here’s how…
Build Simple, Shareable Bundles
Bundles are your best friend on Thanksgiving Eve. They simplify ordering and make it easy to upsell without feeling pushy.
Create 1–2 themed bundles. Keep them easy to understand:
Friendsgiving Feast: 2 large pies + 10 wings + 2-liter soda
Home for the Holidays Combo: 1 large specialty pizza + garlic knots + dessert
Far from Home Cravings: 1 medium cheese pizza + chocolate chip cookie + large soda
Price them slightly below à la carte. Customers love a “deal,” even if the difference is just a few bucks.
Make bundles preorder-friendly. Use clear language like “Preorder your Friendsgiving Feast now to skip the rush.”
Drive a sense of urgency by saying “available only Wednesday” for faster decisions and higher sales.
Train Your Team to Suggest the Easy Upsell
Your staff can make a huge difference just by asking the right questions.
“Would you like to make it a Far From Home Cravings Meal tonight? It comes with a cookie to hopefully remind you of home.”
“You’ve got a few pizzas. Want to add a dessert or salad for the table?”
“If you’re feeding a crowd, our bundles save you a few bucks and come with everything.”
Small adds like wings, garlic knots, or drinks can boost your average ticket by 15–25%. Multiply that by your Thanksgiving Eve volume, and it’s a serious bump in revenue.
Pro tip: Print a one-page cheat sheet of your bundles and upsell items and tape it near the register or phone line. Or add them to the Preparation Checklist you already snagged.
Make It Easy to Order, and Easy to Say “Yes”
The goal is to make your bundles so visible and so simple that customers default to them.
Here’s how:
Feature your bundles in your Slice menu. Put them at the top with clear names and short descriptions.
Promote them in your preorder fliers. Add a line like: “Beat the rush — preorder your Friendsgiving Feast on Slice now.”
Post your special daily on social media. Use your Slice Thanksgiving Eve templates to remind followers that these bundles are available for preorder.
People aren’t scrolling for coupons. They’re looking for an easy dinner. Show them exactly what to order, and make it one tap away.
Finally, do NOT not “Pause” on your online orders!
During busy times, the instinct for many independent pizzerias is to pause or turn off online ordering to catch up.
This approach can backfire. Pausing makes customers think your shop is closed, creates a flood of orders once you reopen, and weakens communication about wait times.
Instead, smart pizzerias use buffering: adjusting estimated wait times, staggering orders, and leveraging tools to manage capacity without ever going offline. This keeps your shop visible, maintains customer trust, and prevents lost orders.
By staying online and using strategies like realistic ETAs, scheduled orders, and targeted promotions, you handle peak demand while protecting revenue and building loyalty.
Pausing orders completely is a temporary fix with hidden costs, but buffering gives you control over busy nights and keeps your best customers engaged. Read more about Pausing in our Knowledge Hub.
Turning One Big Night Into Long-Term Wins
Thanksgiving Eve brings new business: locals, visitors, and people who might not have ordered from you before.
It’s important to keep them around after the holiday.
Here’s how:
Include a “come back soon” offer with every order.
$5 off when they order again on Slice next week!
Ask for reviews.
Thanksgiving Eve buzz can lift your visibility for the entire holiday season.
Follow up with fans.
Everyone who orders through Slice is part of your customer base, and you OWN that data.
Next time you run a deal, they’ll hear from you, not a third-party app.
Add More Personal Touches That Brings Them Back
Small gestures go a long way on a busy night.
Slip a short note in every box: “Happy Thanksgiving from your hometown pizzeria. Thanks for making us part of your tradition.”
Or, if you’re short on time, print a message on your flier or pizza box sticker. That little touch reminds customers that they’re supporting a local shop (not a chain), and it plants the seed for repeat orders all season long.
Make the Entire Experience Shareable
Thanksgiving Eve is a social moment. People are home, snapping photos, and tagging their hometown favorites.
Encourage it.
Repost local photos of friends sharing pizza or their preorder feast.
Use your name as a hashtag (#ThanksgivingEveAtTonys).
See our Social Media Best Practices checklist for more.
Tag customers back to keep the momentum going.
The more your shop shows up in their feeds, the more it becomes part of the community’s Thanksgiving Eve ritual.
And if you want to make your posts look clean and on-brand, grab the Thanksgiving Eve Social Templates. They’re designed to help your shop look professional without hours of design work.
The Final Slice
Thanksgiving Eve can be a good kind of chaos, and the more preorders you lock in now, the better.
This is one of those nights of the year where everyone wants pizza.
Start promoting now, get your preorders live, and make your shop the go-to pizza spot before Thanksgiving.
Questions? We’re around.
