The origins of Valentine's Day
As Monty Python’s “Life of Brian” famously asked: “What have the Romans ever done for us?” Well, for one thing, they gave us Valentine’s Day – or at least that’s what many historians think. One theory about the origins of this special day for love and romance goes back to the 4th century AD, when the Roman emperor Claudius II was fighting to resist the rising tide of Christianity. In Rome, a priest named Valentine was offering secret Christian marriages, his subterfuge was discovered and he was put to death, later martyred by the Catholic church, and is now remembered on St Valentine’s Day, February 14th.
Why Valentine's Day is important for restaurants
Fast-forward 1,700 years, and today Valentine’s Day is a big celebration – and big business, too. Last year total UK spending on Valentine’s Day was £1.9 billion. The biggest chunk of that spending went on restaurants, with £557 million, so Friday February 14th is clearly an opportunity for your restaurant to increase its takings – and also to encourage customers to return by offering them a memorable experience.
Make Valentine's Day a full weekend event for your restaurant
Wondering how to get more customers in your restaurant for Valentine’s Day? One great way is to extend it. The chances are that Friday evening itself will be heavily oversubscribed, so you could offer a Valentine’s lunch or even a specially themed Valentine's brunch. And you could offer Valentine’s specials on Saturday and Sunday too. In fact, it might make sense to ‘rebrand’ this year’s Valentine’s Day as ‘Valentine’s Weekend’, perhaps setting aside an area of your restaurant over three days for romantic dining. As an incentive, you could offer a discount to customers who book for Valentine’s meals, or ‘extras’ such as a free glass of fizz.
Create the right restaurant atmosphere for Valentine's Day
Couples will want to feel that this is a special day for them, so they will want an evening that’s intimate, warm and personal. What diners don’t want is to feel that they are being crammed in, processed and rushed through like airline passengers. While it’s tempting for restaurants to take this approach and squeeze in the tables to increase short-term profit, in the long term this could be counter-productive as it will discourage diners from coming back. So keep your restaurant furniture spaced out so that people can enjoy some privacy.
It is worth remembering, too, that the ‘pink pound’ is increasingly important; make sure that you are not just aiming at men and women but at gay couples too.
Promote your restaurant's Valentine's Day with quality advertising
If you are advertising or promoting your Valentine’s offering, make sure it’s done tastefully and professionally. A poorly designed A4 poster taped to your restaurant window will not make much impact. Find a good local designer or print shop who can make something elegant and unique to your restaurant.
If your restaurant plays background music, you could offer a ‘requests’ service: when your customers are booking a table, ask them if there are any songs they would like to hear (most couples will have track that’s ‘our song’). Someone on your staff with musical and technical know-how could compile a CD or a playlist with romantic tunes, and intersperse them with your customers’ requested tracks. Alternatively you could hire live musicians – an acoustic band, say, or even a string quartet (is there a local music college with young players keen to get performance experience?). But wherever your music is coming from, keep the volume at reasonable levels. People want to be able to talk to each other across the table.
Valentine's Day restaurant table decoration
The tables themselves need to be decorated, but keep it tasteful. A single red rose in an elegant vase, or simply laid across a plate, can have much more impact than a bunch of flowers (and remember, again, that people want to look and talk to each other without too many flowers getting in the way). You will need a specially-designed menu, which could feature famous quotes about love and romance. (Not all of them need to be slushy either; familiar lines such as Robert Burns’s ‘My love is like a red, red rose’ could be balanced by Dorothy Parker’s world-weary quips such as, ‘My own dear love, he is all my world - And I wish I'd never met him.’)
Romantic touches for Valentine's Day restaurant décor
Candlelight is very flattering, while scented candles will add to the atmosphere. Red and pink are the obvious colours for tablecloths and napkins, but don’t overdo it. A nice touch is to arrange cutlery and a small plate to spell out the word 'love'. Fresh rose petals and Valentine’s ‘confetti’ could be sprinkled across the table and napkins could be folded into heart shapes. But don’t clutter up the table: your diners will want to be able to reach out, touch and hold hands. Helium balloons are a no-no; strictly for children’s parties.
If you have offered your customers a complimentary glass of something fizzy, remember that today’s wine-drinkers are increasingly sophisticated and they know when they are being given cheap, over-sweet Cava, so give them something more sophisticated such as a pink Prosecco or a sparkling French rosé. Not everyone drinks alcohol, so perhaps non-drinkers could be given a special 'mocktail'.
Advice for Valentine's Day restaurant menus
As for the food itself: a set menu is fine; this is not a night when the food itself is the focus – people will be paying attention to each other. So a sharing menu is perhaps best, or a tasting menu with a succession of small dishes. There’s something romantic about two people sharing from the same plate. Heart-shaped food is obviously a big theme, but it is possible to overdo it, so keep it tasteful. French and Italian foods are the most popular among Valentine’s Day diners, according to research by the restaurant booking website Toptable. But whatever you serve, keep it light; there’s nothing romantic about reaching for the indigestion tablets.
Valentine's Day souvenir ideas for restaurants
At the end of the evening, send your diners on their way with some keepsakes. Offer them the menu, and perhaps a flower from the table, to take with them, maybe a couple of foil-wrapped heart-shaped chocolates too. This could all be stowed in a ‘goody bag’ for convenience. Does your restaurant have a website or a Facebook page? A picture of your customers on the way out, clutching their goody bags, could be taken at the reception desk and uploaded after the event (with their permission, of course).
If your customers have had a warm, romantic, memorable meal, the chances are they will be back for more – and not just on Valentine’s Day 2020 (which, if you’re interested, falls on a Friday).