· Codemax · 5 min read
Three-day weekend, three-day rush: an outlet checklist for Deepavali
Deepavali on Sunday 8 November gives most of Malaysia a three-day weekend. A practical checklist for outlet managers on rosters, stock and on-the-day monitoring, state by state.
TL;DR
Deepavali falls on Sunday 8 November 2026, and most states take Monday 9 November as a replacement holiday, so outlets face a three-day weekend. Kedah, Kelantan and Terengganu break from Friday 6 to Sunday 8 November, and Sarawak has no public holiday. Outlets should lock rosters early, set temporary par levels by outlet type, bring supplier deliveries forward and name one person to watch each day.
- Most states break Saturday to Monday; Kedah, Kelantan and Terengganu break Friday to Sunday.
- Lock the roster before leave requests lock it for you.
- A long weekend lifts some outlets and empties others. Set pars by outlet type.
- Confirm supplier and central kitchen delivery days before raising any par level.
- Reset on Tuesday 10 November: 11.11 follows on Wednesday.
A Deepavali long weekend checklist for outlets covers three things: who is working, what is on the shelf, and who is watching each day. Deepavali falls on Sunday 8 November 2026, and most states take Monday 9 November as a replacement holiday, so most outlets face a three-day rush from Saturday 7 to Monday 9 November. Settle rosters, temporary par levels and supplier deliveries this week, and the weekend becomes a matter of running the plan.
Production for festive catering orders is its own job, covered in our Deepavali and year-end catering guide. This checklist is for the outlets: the people running counters, kitchens and delivery stations over the three days.
When is the Deepavali long weekend in 2026?
The long weekend is not the same everywhere, which matters for any group with outlets in more than one state. According to Wego’s state-by-state guide, the pattern is:
| Where | Days off | What it means for outlets |
|---|---|---|
| Most states and federal territories | Saturday 7 to Monday 9 November (Monday is the replacement holiday) | Three-day weekend; Monday trades like a Sunday |
| Kedah, Kelantan and Terengganu | Friday 6 to Sunday 8 November (Friday–Saturday weekend, so no replacement Monday) | The rush starts a day earlier; Monday is a normal working day |
| Sarawak | No public holiday for Deepavali | Normal trading; staff who celebrate need leave |
For a national chain, that means three calendars in one week. Rosters, delivery schedules and par levels should follow the outlet’s state, not head office’s. Anyone searching for cuti Deepavali 2026 will find the same split, and your staff will have read it too.
What is a festive outlet checklist?
A festive outlet checklist is a short, dated list of the decisions each outlet must make before a holiday peak — rosters, stock levels, deliveries, equipment and who monitors trading — so the outlet manager is not making them during service.
It works because festive rushes fail in predictable ways. A cook’s leave was approved without cover. A supplier closed on Monday and nobody knew. The chiller was full of the wrong things. None of these is a forecasting problem, and all of them can be settled a week ahead.
Staffing: settle the roster before leave requests settle it for you
Deepavali is a celebration for many of your staff, and some will want to travel home. That is reasonable, and the roster should plan for it rather than discover it on Friday.
Agree leave early. Collect requests this week, give priority to staff who celebrate, and confirm the roster in writing.
Roster by hour, not by shift. Put people where the peaks will be. A neighbourhood outlet may be busiest at dinner on Saturday and lunch on Sunday; an outlet near offices may be quiet for all three days.
Borrow from quieter outlets. Office-area and business-district outlets often slow down over a long weekend. Their staff can cover neighbourhood and mall outlets that get busier, if they are briefed on the menu and station layout before the day.
Confirm part-timers and cover in writing. A verbal yes on Tuesday is not a roster on Saturday.
Check holiday pay with HR. Ask how the holiday and the replacement day are treated in each state before the roster is final. If you are short-handed generally, our piece on getting more output per man-hour covers what to change in the kitchen itself.
How should you set par levels for a three-day rush?
Par levels for a long weekend should move by outlet, not across the network. Work through these steps before Thursday.
- Group outlets by how a long weekend affects them. Use POS sales from your last long weekend: neighbourhood and mall outlets that get busier, office-area outlets that get quieter, and outlets on travel routes or in hometown areas that may change most.
- Set temporary par levels for each group, for the top-selling items and their components, with an end date of Tuesday 10 November. If the everyday pars are already out of date, fix the base levels first.
- Confirm delivery days. Ask every supplier, and the central kitchen, which days they deliver over the weekend. Bring Friday deliveries forward if Monday’s are cancelled.
- Check storage before raising pars. A higher par is useless if the chiller can’t hold it. Clear space, check temperatures and confirm the freezer can take the extra.
- Stock the consumables. Packaging, cleaning supplies and gas often run out before food does. Count them on Thursday.
- Plan Tuesday now. 11.11 falls on Wednesday 11 November, and its promotions will want different stock. Our 11.11 promo planning guide covers that side; the point here is not to let Deepavali leftovers become promo-week waste.
What should outlet managers watch each day?
Name one person per outlet as the duty lead for each day, and one person at head office or the central kitchen who answers their calls. Then keep the watch list short:
- Top items against plan at midday. If sales are running well ahead, ask for a top-up or a transfer from a quieter outlet before the evening peak.
- Stock-on-hand of the top ten items at opening and mid-afternoon.
- Chiller and freezer temperatures, checked and recorded more often when the doors open more.
- Hygiene during the peak. Hand-washing, gloves and hairnets are the first habits to slip when the queue is long.
- End-of-day wastage, recorded with a reason, every night of the weekend.
Where RMS and the AI-Kitchen Command Center fit
Codemax RMS (Resource Management System) gives every outlet the stock picture the checklist depends on. Purchase-order quantities are recommended from par levels and POS data, outlets order from the central kitchen on mobile, and live stock-on-hand shows which outlets are running short. Inter-branch transfers move stock from a quiet outlet to a busy one, and FIFO and expiry checks are enforced when stock is used, so short-dated stock goes first. Wastage records feed the review on Tuesday.
The AI-Kitchen Command Center watches every outlet against its own baseline and flags the ones drifting off pattern, with alerts by WhatsApp or Microsoft Teams to the duty lead. Over a long weekend, when head office is thinly staffed, that means the outlet that needs help shows up without anyone checking each dashboard.
A ten-minute check before Friday
- Do we know which days are holidays for every outlet, by state?
- Is every roster confirmed in writing, with leave approved and cover named?
- Which outlets get temporary pars, for which items, and when do they end?
- Has every supplier and the central kitchen confirmed delivery days?
- Who is the duty lead at each outlet each day, and who do they call?
If those answers are in one place by Thursday, the weekend runs on the plan rather than on phone calls.
Frequently asked questions
Is 9 November 2026 a public holiday in Malaysia?
Monday 9 November 2026 is a Deepavali replacement holiday in most Malaysian states, because Deepavali falls on Sunday 8 November. It is not a replacement holiday in Kedah, Kelantan and Terengganu, where the weekend is Friday and Saturday, or in Sarawak, where Deepavali is not a public holiday. Check each state's official holiday list for every outlet.
How do F&B outlets prepare for the Deepavali long weekend?
F&B outlets preparing for the Deepavali long weekend should confirm which days are holidays in each outlet's state, lock rosters and leave early, set temporary par levels based on how each outlet traded over past long weekends, confirm supplier and central kitchen delivery days, check equipment and storage space, and name one person to monitor trading each day.
How should restaurants roster staff over a festive long weekend?
Restaurants should roster a festive long weekend by agreeing leave early, giving priority to staff who celebrate the festival, rostering by hour against expected trade, borrowing staff from outlets that will be quieter, and confirming part-timers in writing. Ask HR how holiday pay applies to the holiday and the replacement day in each state.
Should outlets raise par levels for a long weekend?
Outlets should not raise par levels evenly for a long weekend. Neighbourhood and mall outlets often get busier while office-area outlets get quieter, so set temporary par levels by outlet type using past long-weekend sales, check chiller and freezer space first, and give every temporary par an end date so stock returns to normal afterwards.
What should outlets do after the Deepavali long weekend?
After the Deepavali long weekend, outlets should reset temporary par levels, record end-of-day wastage with reasons, use or move short-dated stock first, and note how each outlet actually traded against plan. In 2026 that review needs to happen on Tuesday 10 November, because 11.11 promotions follow on Wednesday 11 November.
Go into the long weekend with stock you can see.
See how Codemax RMS keeps outlet stock live, and how the AI-Kitchen Command Center flags outlets drifting off plan.
Sources
- Deepavali 2026 in Malaysia: travel plan and long weekend guide — Wego, 3 Sep 2026
Related reading
- Closing October: five ops numbers to pull before you plan 2027 October is the last clean month before the year-end peaks. Five operations numbers to pull from its close, how to calculate each one, and how to turn them into 2027 targets.
- 11.11 is coming. Can your kitchen handle the promo spike? Promotions are planned in marketing and paid for in the kitchen. A step-by-step way to turn an 11.11 offer into prep plans, par levels and packaging your outlets can actually serve.
- World Food Day: where food waste hides in your operation A stage-by-stage map of where waste hides in a central kitchen and outlet network, what to measure at each stage, and how to start a waste log that people actually use.