The classic Christmas dinners at companies are giving way to midday get-togethers. This year, lunches will account for 62% of corporate celebrations, according to data from the CoverManager reservations and events management system.
This shift in consumption habits is not something specific, but the consolidation of a trend that has been coming for a long time. In 2025, lunches already made up 58.3% of company Christmas meetings, compared with 49.5% recorded in 2019, so in six years they have gone from representing practically half to nearing six out of every ten meetings.
At gatherings among friends and family, the dominance of daytime hours is even clearer, as they concentrate nearly seven out of every ten reservations formalized for 2026.
This change in format is also reflected in the time slots chosen. At present, one in every three company celebrations is scheduled for 14:00 hours, a proportion that practically doubles that of 21:00 hours. This nighttime time slot, which in 2019 brought together 25% of reservations, is now around 16%.
In addition, those who continue to opt for the night shift have decided to move the time to sit down to the table earlier than in 2019: 16 minutes on average for corporate dinners and up to 22 minutes on average for gatherings among friends and family.
"The traditional company dinner is changing its time and, in many cases, also its format. First we saw how Spaniards moved their dinners earlier, and now we find that many companies go one step further and move the celebration directly to midday, planning with more advance notice," explained the general director of CoverManager, Toni Escribano.
In a context of strong demand in the hospitality sector during these dates, companies have decided to extend their planning deadlines. Against the usual margin of about 21 days in 2019, in 2025 50% of companies made their reservation with at least 25 days’ notice, and one in four did so with more than a month.
By contrast, get-togethers among family and friends continue to be organized more spontaneously, with reservations being finalized with about seven days of margin. For that reason, the hospitality sector anticipates a new wave of requests as the month goes on.
With regard to the calendar, November is consolidated as the start of the holiday campaign in restaurants, by concentrating four out of every ten celebrations, with special intensity in its last week, which groups 44% of the meals of the month.
Despite this, December maintains its position as the preferred month for this type of events, with six out of every ten bookings. The 2025 data also confirm Saturday as the standout day of the week, followed by Friday, Thursday and Sundays.