Love in Hospitality
Valentine’s Day is a $13B holiday. Almost two thirds (61.8%) of consumers will celebrate and a third of them (34.6%) will celebrate by going out for dinner at a restaurant. On average, the people who go out to dinner will spend $116.21. It’s no surprise that restaurants name the holiday has one of the busiest of the year.
So how do you maximize this holiday for your business?
Set the mood
Getting the mood right for Valentine’s Day is important—especially if you’re inviting regulars back to your establishment. Guests want to feel like this day is special.
The first step is to tweak the atmosphere. Want to amplify the low-light candle vibe? Try swapping your light bulbs for softer, warmer lights. You’ll want bulbs with 450 to 800 lumens for softer light, and 3000k (kelvins) for a warm but not red bulb. Want to add mood music? Whether you go with live music or a playlist, just make sure it’s soft enough to act as a backdrop, not the main event.
Since the decor is temporary, lean towards elegance and a ‘less is more’ approach, incorporating touches of red, pink, and white into the established color scheme of your location.
The next step: rethink your floor plan. Unless your strategy includes large groups, like families or singles, you’ll want to maximize your two-person tables. By optimizing for two-person tables, you increase your capacity, and ultimately revenue.
Create special offerings or upsells
What you offer guests can play a huge role in their Valentine’s Day experience. We’d suggest focusing on upsells or including free additions rather than discounting your prices. Part of the Valentine’s Day experience is elevated and luxurious. Upgrades make guests feel like you’re proving a better value, while discounts can cheapen the experience you’ve worked so hard to create.
Chocolate, wine, and flowers
There are the staples expected in a Valentine’s Day experience: chocolate, wine, and flowers. Consciously or subconsciously your guests will be looking for these.
Partner with a local chocolatier to provide chocolate as a sweet treat at the end of the meal. Leaving wrapped chocolate with the check is a sweet touch that helps you too—it can increase tips by 18%.
Whether your patrons are novices or budding sommeliers, why limit their experience to a single bottle? Offer wine flights to give guests a mini wine tasting. Make sure to include details about each wine and tips on how to taste them, either in a printed format or by a staff member guiding the tastings.
Planning a great Valentine’s Day can be a lot of work, plus carrying around a bouquet can be a bit of a hassle. Save your guest the headache and stress by partnering with a local florist to provide a bouquet for them at their table.
Photographer
How often do couples have the chance to have professional photos taken? Hire a photographer who can utilize your decor to its fullest with personal, high-end pictures. With your guests’ permission, post these photos on your social media channels. This gives you great content, promotes your location for next year, and guests can easily reshare, promoting your business to their friends and family.
Custom menu for the night
Create a prix fixe menu for Valentine’s Day. Limiting options make your kitchen more efficient, it’s easier for the serving staff to memorize the menu, and the average seat cover is easier to track. For guests, it creates a feeling of exclusivity, reduces decision fatigue, and keeps them focused on the experience and each other.
When it comes to the menu items, there’s nothing wrong with classics like lobster and steak—sales for these dishes go up 78% and 62% for the holiday. Want to stick to the theme? Make holiday-appropriate dishes like heart-shaped items, turn your foods red or pink, and emphasize dessert—guests are 50% more likely to order it on Valentine’s Day. Want to take the aphrodisiac route? Offer foods like oysters, chili peppers, avocados, honey, asparagus, banana, and chocolate.
Make it a full day experience
Partner with local businesses to create a package that can comprise an entire day. That could include a couples massage at a local spa, a cruise with a boat company, fortune tellers to predict guests’ futures, venue for a concert or show, or a hotel if you’re looking to offer an all-night experience instead.
Netflix and chill with your guests
With the rise of delivery and take-out, you’ll want to maximize your reach for Valentine’s Day. Create a date-in-a-box, with an appetizer, two entrees, and a free dessert pre-packaged and ready for pick-up on demand. Up the ante with decorative packaging and include flowers and candles with your kit.
Proposal package
A recent study showed that 21% of currently married or engaged couples got engaged on Valentine’s Day, and nine million more to come this year. Why not help happy couples by providing a proposal package?
What should you include? Consider complimentary champagne and flower bouquet as the bread and butter. You’ll want to loop your staff in too. The kitchen staff can arrange for the ring to be hidden in food or drink.
Don’t forget, each part of the day should be an extension of your brand. Keep your celebration on theme, but use it to your advantage. There may be specific, creative benefits built into your concept. Above all else, the more value you give to your guests, the more value you’ll give back!
Not Into the romance?
While it’s easy to think of Valentines as a couples-only holiday, there are plenty of other people who’d like to celebrate the day. Your concept may actually cater better to one of these groups!
Anti-Valentine’s Day
Done well, Anti-Valentine’s Day celebrations can be a bit hit. They may also extend the holiday, since many celebrate Galentine’s Day on February 13. Encourage singles to make big reservations with their friends.
Focus on friendship and self-love by partnering with beauty brands for blow-outs, mani-pedis, and makeovers, and wellness brands for guided meditation, and health tips. Have a saltier crowd? Start a competition for the best breakup story, include food you wouldn’t eat on a date (e.g. garlic, onions), and offer a place to destroy pictures of exes.
Family-Friendly
Make a Valentine’s Day that includes the whole family. Whether it’s couples traveling with kids or those looking to celebrate all kinds of love, there are easy ways to make the day fun for the whole family.
Offer a themed children’s menu that can include heart-shaped pizza, candy hearts, and more. Include games for kids can help keep them occupied too! Games like cornhole, board games, and family-style trivia can offer fun for all ages.
Let the world know
Having the right decor, menu, and activities only work if you have guests. You’ll need to incorporate a solid marketing plan into your Valentine’s Day.
Identify and prioritize loyal customers
According to research by Bain, repeat customers purchase more, refer more, and chip away at your cost-of-acquisition with each visit. It’s easy to get stuck on one method of communicating with your guests. Preferences can vary greatly. Taking a multi-pronged approach means you’re more likely to reach the largest audience possible. Let’s explore the channels available to you and how to use each one.
Now that you’ve identified your key audience, you can communicate with them via email. You’ll want to send at least two emails to your existing guest database. Make sure to include a link, phone number, and/or email to book their reservation. It’s not enough to share the information—guests are more likely to take action when you make the next step clear and easy for them to do so.
Snail mail
While digital promotions might dominate the modern marketing conversation, traditional methods are still effective. Since it’s the season of love, why not send your guests a love note?
Social media
Promoting your business on social media can reach your current fans, as well as their friends and family, and people similar to them—and are easy to share and reshare. You can also create social media-worthy moments at your location, to inspire guests to post about you. This means visually appealing areas where photos are encouraged, like a wall or archway covered in flowers, balloons, and/or greenery. Personalize it with props or large letters.
Partnership
An army of one can be tough going. There’s plenty of business who are looking to promote their services for Valentine’s Day. Some of them are certainly competition, but there are plenty more that could be your ally.
Website
Don’t forget your own website! Include a banner reminding any site visitors to book their table before it’s too late. Offering online bookings, either through your site or a third-party vendor will streamline bookings.
Final takeaway
No matter what you choose to do for Valentine’s Day, make sure you’re fully staffed. Your staff has the biggest impact on guest experiences. Being short-staffed or using inexperienced staff has a quick and negative effect on your quality and efficiency. Restaurant sales spike by 65% on Valentine’s Day, but last year saw a 147% increase in time-off requests compared to the average. This is the night to get staffing right.
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