Happy Valentines Day At Restaurants
With Valentine’s Day fast approaching, restaurants everywhere must prepare for one of the busiest days in the foodservice industry. Valentine’s Day dinner is the second most popular meal in the restaurant industry behind Mother’s Day brunch. Because of this, the holiday presents a great opportunity for your restaurant to provide unique services to new and existing customers. Below, we’ve included a variety of Valentine’s day restaurant ideas to make the most of this important holiday.
Advertise Your Valentine’s Day Specials Online
As the New Year rolls around, couples begin to make plans for the next big holiday. Whether you’re marketing to your usual customers or trying to attract new faces, the internet is a valuable tool to improve your reach.
If you’re planning a prix fixe menu, holiday desserts, or discounted meals, be sure to effectively advertise your specials on social media and your restaurant’s website. Because Valentine’s Day is such a popular night for dining out, it’s a good idea to provide potential customers with easily accessible information about your offerings ahead of time. This allows them to weigh their options as they choose where to have their special night out. When it comes to busy holidays, developing a strong online presence is essential for staying one step ahead of your competition.
Plan a Valentine’s Day Menu
To attract customers who are looking for a special Valentine’s Day experience, try creating a new menu just for the occasion. Your menu should be centered around exclusive Valentine’s day dinner specials including a starter, main course, dessert, and a signature cocktail or bottle of wine. Not only does this cut down on your customers’ waiting time, it also makes purchasing ingredients ahead of time a simpler task. Additionally, consider developing Valentine’s day promotions for your menu, such as discounts and combo meals, to generate interest.
If you don’t know where to start when planning your Valentine’s Day menu, try bringing some of the holiday’s colors into your food options. Consider serving foods that feature a bright pink or red color. For your dessert menu, try romantic heart-shaped cakes or chocolate-covered strawberries. Below, we’ve provided a list of Valentine’s Day menu ideas to get you inspired:
- Pasta in a pink vodka sauce
- Crabcakes with a beet risotto
- Beef medallions with red potatoes
- Oysters and champagne
- Heart-shaped margherita pizza
Alter Your Beverage Service for Valentine’s Day
Whether you offer a complimentary bottle of wine to every couple or have assembled a specialized cocktail menu, alcoholic drinks don’t just create a romantic atmosphere for your customers, they also help to boost your sales and profits. Consider training your servers to make sure that everyone is prepared to suggest a bottle of wine that complements the guests’ meals.
If you decide to serve Valentine’s Day cocktails, consider creating drinks that match the theme of the holiday. Fruit flavors like cherry and raspberry give your drinks romantic hues, and your guests may appreciate playful cocktail names like “Cupid’s Cosmo” to add a little fun to the occasion.
Create a Romantic Atmosphere
To make the evening special, encourage your staff to show extra care towards your guests. If your hosts and servers make them feel especially welcome during their romantic dinner, guests will have more to remember than just their food at the end of their visit. A calm music selection and intimate lighting create a romantic mood in the dining area. Consider providing a memento for the couple, like a single rose or a customized wine glass with the date and your restaurant’s name.
Encourage Reservations
Due to being the second busiest holiday of the year for restaurants, it’s crucial to encourage customers to make reservations well in advance of Valentine’s Day. Nothing ruins the romantic mood more than a long wait before being seated. By offering discounts or other promotions to guests who book ahead, you can reduce the number of people anxiously waiting for a table. Plus, knowing how busy your restaurant will be helps your staff to prepare beforehand.
Offer a Valentine’s Day Cooking Class
An easy way to offer something a little extra to your customers, as well as draw more business, is to host Valentine’s Day cooking classes. For couples looking to stray from tradition, attending a cooking class on Valentine’s Day allows them to get creative, work together, and enjoy eating something made with their own hands.
If you expect your restaurant to be busy, offer cooking classes in the weeks leading up to the 14th. This creates less competition with other restaurants and gives more customers the chance to partake in your classes. Many potential customers opt-out of celebrating on the day because of how busy it is, so earlier cooking classes could be enticing to them.
As Valentine’s Day approaches, bring out the red ribbon, romantic music, and heart-shaped everything. Don’t forget to promote your offerings online before the holiday, and consider taking reservations to help the night go smoothly for both your staff and customers. As you begin your planning, refer to our Valentine’s Day ideas for restaurants to make the most of this busy holiday.
Happy Valentines Day At Restaurants
Valentine’s Day is centered around love, but it’s also very much about food. If you really want to celebrate all that the holiday has to offer, then start your day off with breakfast-in-bed with your sweetheart, power through the afternoon with homemade treats and round out the evening with a romantic dinner for two. But if you don’t love the idea of spending all day in the kitchen preparing something for your valentines, then consider these restaurants with Valentine’s Day specials.
Whether you’re spending the day with your better half, your friends, your kids or flying solo, you’ll want to know where to go to score the best deals on Valentine’s Day dinners, heart-shaped pizzas and delicious desserts. Even if you’re planning on spending February 14 at home to adhere to social distancing guidelines, you can still support local restaurants by opting for carryout or delivery. Some of these deals are so incredible that you may be tempted to celebrate all week — albeit, month — long. We don’t blame you, these specials are too sweet to pass up!
As a reminder, please call your local restaurant beforehand to confirm that they are participating in the deals below. Make sure to get their most up-to-date hours and policies too.
