AT one Glasgow venue, the chefs have been preparing for the Christmas office-party food rush by ordering more than 800 fillet steaks and one tonne of turkey.
At Hampden Park, bookings, especially for large groups, are 'sky high'.
The signs are that, after several years of recession, and scaled-down, or cancelled, office parties, festive bashes for staff are back in fashion.
Many pubs, too, are reporting good business for the festive season.
Eddie Gershon, spokesman for JD Wetherspoon, whose Glasgow venues include the Counting House next to George Square, said: "We're pleased to report that advanced booking figures are high and we are certain that this will continue in the coming weeks."
The nearby Corinthian Club in Ingram Street, where the chefs will be ankle-deep in fillet steaks and turkey, is staging a 'record-breaking' number of Christmas parties this year.
Jules McKim, Corinthian sales and marketing executive, said: "It seems fair to say that the office Christmas party is back."
The venue has recorded 'corporate bookings of all shapes and sizes' and says its diary is packed, 39 days before Christmas.
"Numbers of bookings are very healthy at this stage and indicate that people and businesses are financially in a much better position this year," she added.
"The demand has been so high for bookings that most of Friday and Saturday nights in December were snapped up during the first half of the year."
The 5pm.co.uk website, which offers consumers free online booking for restaurants, hotels and spa offers, said: "This year so far, the restaurants on our website have 14% more advance December bookings for parties of eight or more compared to last year, and 46% more compared to December 2011."
Some 80% of the restaurants on the website are in Glasgow, with the remainder elsewhere in Scotland.
5pm's marketing manager Ruth Broers added: "There does seem to have been a rise in economic and business confidence but there has also been an increase in confidence when it comes to booking online.
"Most the users who've made Christmas party bookings this year through us have booked a dining offer, so while more businesses are looking to celebrate, they're looking to do so on a budget."
The national football stadium says its 2013 figures for large bookings are markedly up on last year, while its bookings overall are the best since 2008. A 'significant' growth in group sizes has seen the average size grow from seven to 10 last year to 100-plus this year.
Ryan James, chairman of the Glasgow Restaurant Association, said: "Our members always have a great Christmas. Bookings are coming in thick and fast."
In Glasgow, the popular Walkabout venue said it was hosting a lot of Christmas parties this year and had beaten last year's figure.
At Rogano, head chef Andy Cumming said: "We're up almost 10% on 2012 and 2011 in terms of office-party bookings. We've noticed that the large corporate office party as such has been in decline these last few years but we do very well out of departmental-level parties, as with the banks. The big office Christmas night-out seems to have fragmented into smaller affairs. The weather is also a major factor in big night-outs."
Stuart Patrick, chief executive of Glasgow Chamber of Commerce, said: "Strong Christmas bookings are yet another indicator of the city's economy being back on track. Glasgow is a hive of activity, with business confidence really climbing, particularly as the Commonwealth Games approach."
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article