The kitchen staff at our hotel have been going above and beyond lately. In the last few events and holidays, there has been nothing but positive reviews from hotel guests and customers. So, the rest of the staff is getting ready to celebrate them on Kitchen Staff Appreciation Day! Kitchen Staff Appreciation Day happens every year on September 25th. It's the perfect holiday to show your team how much you appreciate their contribution to the workplace (and the delicious food they cook!)

We recently did something small for the team during Food Service Appreciation Week in February. The hotel team got together and spent an entire morning cooking a meal for the food staff to enjoy. Now, I'll be honest - none of us knew what we were doing in the kitchen. It was all.. kind of a mess! But the kitchen staff loved and appreciated everything we did. There were no complaints, only smiles all around. When Employee Appreciation Day 2023 in March, they returned the favor for us!

Now, it's time for us to take things one step further... and throw a party for them! The room attendants and concierge will get some fresh baked goods from the bakery while the spa manager and receptionist decorate the ballroom. The managers will purchase gifts for the entire team and maybe even some fun party favors for the celebration. Everything will be perfect, and we can't wait to see the smiles on all the kitchen staff's faces when they come in and see what we put together for them. 

We want to keep everything a surprise, so we'll need to work quietly and be careful not to give too much away. We have just a few weeks to get everything together - let's get started!

Every party needs food service appreciation gifts! So, before the big celebration, we set up a Google Sheet and included all the names of the kitchen staff. We have roughly ten cooks and eleven servers that the manager needs to get gifts for. Luckily, we have everyone's shirt sizes from when they got their uniforms when they first started. So I added all the information we already had into our Google Sheets. 

Next, I started brainstorming food service appreciation day gift ideas that everyone would like. Should we get them custom shirts or jackets? Would they appreciate a water bottle with our logo or a custom backpack they can use for their daily commute?

When you're keeping everything a surprise, it's hard to find the perfect food service appreciation day gifts for everyone. That's why we cooked for everyone on Food Appreciation Week rather than looking up food service week gift ideas. 

We decided to put together a gift basket filled with branded items. We ended up shopping at our company store through SwagMagic. There's a variety of items available on their site. Whether you want to add your logo to a high-end jacket or a fun design to a t-shirt: They are your one-stop shop for everything you need! 

Ordering our Kitchen Staff Appreciation Day gifts online was a seamless experience. With over 2000+ items to choose from, we knew we were sure to find something everyone would love! The process is so easy. Whether you're shopping for Cafeteria Worker Appreciation Day 2023, National Lunch Lady Day, or Kitchen Staff Appreciation Day: SwagMagic has you covered.

We placed our order for custom water bottles, hats, and jackets. We even went out and purchased blue gift bags for the items and wrote everyone's name on their own bag. The manager will write a personal thank you note to each team member as a final touch. 

Everything was coming together perfectly! All we needed to do was plan for the big celebration and to get everyone on board without ruining the surprise. Which is harder than it seems. Especially since the receptionist and the room attendants tend to gossip and talk to the kitchen staff about everything. We would need to stress the importance of it being a surprise and ensure everyone knew what they needed to pull off the surprise.

On Food Service Appreciation Day, we got ready for our big party. Thankfully, September 25th is on a Monday, so it's a relatively slow day at the hotel. I reserved the ballroom in advance. I purchased streamers, decorations, plates, and napkins to set on all the tables. I also spent some time researching other food service appreciation day ideas. 

I decided to create fun rewards for everyone and hand them out during the celebration. I made sashes for everyone, with funny gag rewards written across the middle like, "most likely to call out sick" or "most likely to burn a dinner." All the kitchen staff are lighthearted and fun humor, so I knew they'd love wearing their awards around the kitchen for the day!

We also purchased a cake, cupcakes, and other sweet treats for the celebration. Everything was perfect, and the gifts from SwagMagic arrived just in time. So I got all the presents into their bags and got the ballroom ready for the big celebration. 

When everyone arrived to work on the day of the celebration, I blocked off the ballroom. All of the staff were asked to meet there, except the kitchen staff. I walked into the kitchen while everyone prepped the food and got ready for the busy day cooking for our hotel guests. I told them there was a problem in the ballroom and we needed everyone's help to fix it. They had skeptical looks on their faces. They know I was behind the big food service week 2023 celebration this year, too.

To pull off our food service week ideas, I had to get everyone out of the kitchen for nearly an hour so the rest of the team could attempt to cook a meal for them. It was much harder than it seemed... and I almost spoiled the happy food service week celebration. 

Thankfully this year, I got everything store-bought, so we wouldn't need to push everyone out of their workspace. (It will probably taste better this way, too!)

The kitchen staff walked into the ballroom, and everyone yelled surprise! There's a big banner with the words Happy Kitchen Staff Appreciation Day hung from wall to wall. The kitchen staff smiled, and each grabbed their gift bag full of goodies with their name on it. 

It was a perfect surprise. I can't wait to do the same for Custodian Appreciation Day coming up! I'll also create Custodian Appreciation Day posters and Custodian Appreciation Day cards for all of them and put together a surprise party, too! (This might be my new favorite hobby!)

After the big party, the kitchen staff came, and each chef came up to me and gave me a big hug. They were already wearing their custom jackets and hats in their gift bags. They loved all of the custom swag and appreciated the time I put into the celebration more than anything. 

Recognizing your staff for all their contributions is the best way to show you care about everything they do. I can't wait to start planning for the next.