Key dates for Thanksgiving 2026
| Date | What to do |
|---|---|
| Now – early November | Publish menu, flavours, sizes, prices and pickup windows |
| 12–15 November | Close pre-orders (10–14 days before pickup) |
| 16–18 November | Final ingredient and packaging orders; confirm staff rota |
| 22–23 November | Make and chill or freeze pie dough; prep fillings that hold |
| 24–25 November | Bake in waves; Wednesday is usually the peak pickup day |
| 26 November | Thanksgiving Day — decide early whether you open at all |
Why pre-orders beat walk-in guessing
Pies are one of the few bakery products customers happily commit to a week or two ahead. Every confirmed order is a pie you do not have to guess about. Independent bakers on r/bakingpros and r/smallbusiness describe the same pain points: orders arriving by DM, phone and email, no single list, and a Wednesday queue where nobody can find order #47. The fix is boring and effective — one order list, one cut-off and one pickup system.
Set flavour caps from capacity, not demand
Your limit is the slowest resource: oven decks, fridge space for cream and custard pies, or the person who crimps. Work it out per day.
| Constraint | Example calculation | Cap |
|---|---|---|
| Oven | 2 decks × 8 pies × 7 loads per day | ≈112 pies per day |
| Fridge | 4 racks × 24 cream or pumpkin pies | 96 chilled pies |
| Hands | 1 person crimps ~40 pies per hour | Plan crimping blocks |
| Boxes | Order pie boxes plus 10% spare | No last-minute run |
Split the cap across flavours (for example pumpkin 40%, apple 30%, pecan 20%, a seasonal special 10%) and close each flavour when it sells out.
Pickup slots stop the Wednesday crush
Sell 30-minute slots with a fixed number of orders each. Stage boxes by slot the night before, label each with the customer name and order number, and keep one person on handover only.
Deposits and changes
Many bakeries take full payment for pies at ordering; for larger orders a non-refundable deposit plus balance at pickup also works. Put the change and cancellation deadline in writing. Our deposit policy template adapts easily to pies.
Pre-order checklist
- ☐ Menu with sizes, prices, allergens and pickup days
- ☐ Flavour caps per day written down
- ☐ Cut-off date announced on every channel
- ☐ Payment or deposit rule and change deadline
- ☐ Ingredient list scaled from confirmed orders
- ☐ Box labels printed by pickup slot
- ☐ Handover person and a late-pickup rule
How POS Bakery fits
In POS Bakery you can plan quantities with target ready times, keep customer orders separate from shelf stock, and see recipe ingredient shortages before work is dispatched to the Bake Board. Pickup tokens and ready status help at the counter. Online card payment is not integrated, so take payment the way you already do and record it. See production planning, bakery inventory and bakery POS.
Related: holiday staffing plan · Christmas cookie box pricing · par levels · reducing bakery waste
References
- Thanksgiving Day 2026 date — timeanddate.com
- How to keep track of holiday pre-orders — r/bakingpros
- FoodKeeper app (storage guidance) — FoodSafety.gov
Sources checked on 24 October 2026. Dates, rules and prices change; confirm with the original source before acting.