by Mackensy Lunsford / photos by Matt Rose

Traci Taylor, co-owner of Everyday Gourmet catering company and Fig Bistro in Biltmore Village, has decided that the pros of staying open on the holidays far outweigh the cons. First, it’s good business. “The bed-and-breakfasts didn’t have any place to send people,” she says. She started keeping Fig open on Christmas last year, and it turned out to be a lucrative day at her four-year-old restaurant. Then there’s the fact that many people are intimidated trying to feed large groups of people, even family, at the holidays, and Fig is happy to help. She knows that people who have to hang out with their families all day sometimes need a break. If a trip to her restaurant makes them feel good, “they’ll remember us in the leaner months,” she says.

She and her husband Treavis, both seasoned restaurant types with more than 30 years in the business, have gotten used to giving up their own holidays to serve food. They just celebrate a day or two early or late, depending on what works best. “It’s more about when you can be with your family,” she says. “I don’t look at it as a sacrifice.” Besides, being at the restaurant at Christmas or Thanksgiving can be fun. The Taylors put up a tree, and they often serve special truffles or have a Champagne toast. Some people come because they don’t have family to eat with, something the Taylors and their staff try to take into account.

Sometimes, even when the pros handle the holidays, there can still be catastrophes. The ultimate holiday meal faux pas? Trying to pass off a catered, delivered food spread as your own. Take it from a restaurant veteran like Taylor: it rarely works. Prepared food often doesn’t sit well, especially if the client wants it dropped off so early that no one catches a glimpse of the cook. “[People] don’t realize that if you let a piece of cooked salmon sit for four hours, it’s going to taste like a salmon’s butt,” she says.

If you end up with a huge holiday crowd in your house and decide you don’t feel like cooking, let Lisa Scanlan feed them. She’s the banquet chef de cuisine at the Grove Park Inn and usually works with a crew to feed between 1,500 and 2,000 people come Christmastime (the inn already has 2,000 reservations booked for Thanksgiving). Often, not all of them are staying at the Grove Park—some are locals, others file in from tour buses—and Scanlan feeds them anyway. The inn’s lavish spread is served old-school Continental buffet style, with chefs on carving stations, seafood displays and grandiose ice sculptures to wow guests. The whole thing takes weeks to plan and three to four days to prep and set up. By Christmas morning, Scanlan and a team of around eight people have been working together for days. “It’s like spending the holidays with your second family,” she says.

Is it hard for Scanlan to work Christmas? Yes and no. She makes sure to dote on her husband and 13-year-old son during other important days, like anniversaries and birthdays. “They know that Mom won’t necessarily be around, so it’s something they just adjust to. It’s a given. We miss certain days, but we always try to find others that are just as important.”