This is the second post in our 5-part series, Undivided December: A Holiday Survival Guide for Founders & Operators. Each week from now until Christmas, the Plumb team will explore how startup founders and operators can use AI and automation to get more done and be more present this holiday season. So grab a cozy sweater, a cup of hot tea or cocoa, and settle in around our figurative fireplace — it’s time for festivities! ☃️
Minimum Viable Feast 🌽
Thanksgiving and startups have a lot in common. First, there’s time management — and its twin-flame challenge, resource allocation: ensuring everything’s done on time (given the constraints of limited oven space and prep time) requires careful, sophisticated sequencing. Then there’s stakeholder management: your family and friends are your customers, for whom you’ve designed the whole experience. And your in-laws are basically your board — they show up with lots of opinions and expectations, and you’re keen to deliver. Finally, there’s the product itself: a meticulously orchestrated ensemble of features (dishes) that must be wonderful on their own, and work together to create something cohesive and memorable.
Without the right systems and tools in place, even seemingly simple operations can spiral into chaos — like that side salad you promised your mother-in-law, but left until the very last minute. Actually, now that I’m thinking about it, scaling a startup might be easier than planning the perfect Thanksgiving…
But I digress! The reason we’re here is to learn how to leverage AI to pull off a magnificent last-minute feast. So whether you’re spending the holiday solo, with family and friends, or at your in-laws’, our aim is to help you create a stress-free, impressive Thanksgiving spread that feels thoughtfully planned rather than hastily assembled — all with the help of AI as your sous chef and planning assistant.
Here are 3 ways we’re using AI this year to transform last-minute Thanksgiving planning from panic mode to peak efficiency, so we can focus less on logistics and more on what matters — creating memorable moments with the people we care about.
Menu Engineering: No Small Potatoes 🍠
You know what’s no fun, and no human has the time for? Navigating the complexity of a dozen different dietary restrictions! Here’s how AI can help.
I’m a little biased, but my first instinct is to deploy Plumb to this problem. Our Custom Meal Plan workflow template will design a menu for you in seconds that accounts for any number of guests, accommodates everyone’s allergies and preferences, and considers any other constraints you have (like a small oven or a tight budget).
The best part: it generates a complete shopping list, organized by store section. You can run the workflow while replying to those last few emails before signing off for the weekend, and have the output emailed to your partner who’s already at the grocery store. No more cross-checking recipes for oven capacity clashes or doing ingredient quantity calculus.
Plumb makes meal planning feel like magic.
The Perfect Recipe Remix 🔥
For more specific or precise menu adjustments, use ChatGPT or Claude to instantly scale recipes up or down, convert measurements, and create ingredient substitutions. AI can also help you combine multiple recipes intelligently, like merging the best elements of your grandmother's turkey brine with that modern spice blend you found on TikTok.
When it comes to recipe remixing, AI is like having a seasoned chef in your corner (or in your hat 🐀). Need to convert that generations-old stuffing recipe from "feeds an army" to "cozy dinner for four"? Or transform your aunt's famous cream-based green bean casserole into a dairy-free masterpiece that doesn't sacrifice flavor? AI can handle these culinary calculations and adaptations in seconds — so you can experiment without the risk of dinner table disappointment.
I asked Claude to adapt Vaughn Vreeland's Butterscotch Banana Cream Pie recipe (from New York Times Cooking) for non-dairy guests.
Your Seasoned Timeline Manager 🍗
Let's talk about the elephant in the kitchen: timing. Nothing strikes fear into the heart of a Thanksgiving host quite like the realization that you have one oven, eight dishes, and a complex web of cooking temperatures and times that would make a project manager weep. This is where AI transforms from helpful assistant to full-blown logistics coordinator, creating a minute-by-minute game plan that ensures everything arrives hot and ready at the exact right moment.
Think of it as your personal kitchen conductor, orchestrating a symphony of prep work, cooking times, and resting periods. Feed it your menu, cooking equipment constraints, and desired serving time, and it'll work backwards to create a detailed timeline that accounts for everything — from prep work you can knock out days in advance to the precise moment you should start warming the dinner rolls. It even factors in that all-important buffer time for the inevitable holiday curveball (like your cousin “forgetting” their contribution).
Bonus: Beyond the Bird 🎲
A successful Thanksgiving isn't just about the food — it's about creating an atmosphere that encourages connection and conversation, even when family dynamics are more complex as your cranberry sauce recipe. AI can be your secret weapon in crafting the perfect ambiance, from generating themed playlist suggestions that span generations to creating conversation starters that skillfully navigate around political landmines.
But perhaps the most valuable entertainment contribution that LLMs like ChatGPT or Claude can offer is help designing activities that keep everyone occupied (and out of the kitchen). Use it to craft a custom holiday trivia game, generate creative gratitude exercises for when dinner’s a little late hitting the table, or a scavenger hunt that keeps kids out of the kitchen. AI can help you create any flavor of entertainment, from thoughtful to silly to intellectual — even if you’re planning it all just hours before guests arrive.
Banned from the table: boring small-talk.
Time to Plate 🍽️
Will AI eventually be able to handle every aspect of holiday planning? Maybe. But I don't think that's the point. The goal isn't to automate the joy out of holiday hosting — it's to remove the stress that gets in the way of actually enjoying it.
Like any good startup strategy, success lies in knowing which tasks to delegate, which to automate, and which to lend your unique human perspective. AI can be your behind-the-scenes operational wizard, handling the mechanics of planning and calculations, so you can focus on the intangibles that make the holidays memorable — like capturing a video of your dog stealing turkey off Grandpa’s plate when he’s not looking. Whether you're cooking for two or twenty, tools like Plumb and LLMs like ChatGPT and Claude can help transform last-minute preparation into what looks like weeks of diligent planning and prepwork.
And from all of us at Plumb, have a happy Thanksgiving! 🦃
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