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Eight marketing ideas for making the most out of Valentine’s Day

Valentine’s Day is a big deal for restaurants, bringing 25 percent of all Americans out to eat, according to the National Restaurant Association. Even more so than other special evenings, Valentine’s Day is about getting all the little details right — from the food to the playlist — and going the extra mile to make guests feel special. Learn how to best capitalize on this busy holiday, from the weeks before to the night of.

1. Offer other add-ons for early bookings. The earlier someone books a reservation, the better prepared your restaurant managers will be. Encourage diners to book at least two weeks out by offering specials such as a free glass of wine or dessert on the house if you make your reservation by a certain date.

2. Give departing guests a special treat. Valentine’s Day is a big gifting holiday, so leave guests with a lasting impression by sending them home with a thoughtful token of appreciation. Whether it’s homemade chocolate truffles, granola for breakfast the next morning, or you get more creative, make sure it’s a memento that exemplifies your restaurant to a T.

3. Partner with other local businesses to cross-promote your offerings. Get to know the neighborhood florists, jewelers, and musicians, and come up with ways that you can each advertise for one another. For example, give out roses from the neighborhood florist to all outgoing guests; in exchange, the florist could include a special discount card for your restaurant in each flower order in the weeks leading up to Valentine’s Day. Both parties benefit, and you won’t have to spend a cent.

4. Set the mood. Creating the right atmosphere is vital. And we’re not just talking about dim lighting. Make sure that every aspect of your restaurant — from the flowers on the table to the music playing and the attire of your servers — captures your desired tone. Go the extra mile in making a custom playlist or add special tablecloths to guarantee guests pick up on the best possible vibes when they come in for dinner.

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Beyond the two-top: how to market to all Valentine’s Day diners

Parties of two make up the bulk of reservations on Valentine’s Day, but not every diner is part of a couple, and restaurants are increasingly finding ways to make this ever-romantic occasion inclusive for all guests. After all, that’s what hospitality is all about.

In fact, nearly one-fifth of Valentine’s Day reservations* in 2019 were for parties of more than two people. We asked restaurants how they leverage a festive season to attract groups and singles, from Galentine’s Day celebrations to brand partnerships. Try these tips to win over guests and fill your books beyond the 14th.

Encourage communal dining

Like many restaurants, Chicago’s Sunda New Asian is filled with couples on Valentine’s Day, but the most energized areas of the restaurant are the communal tables and sushi bar, says director of operations Brett Shane. “Communal-style dining allows large groups to still enjoy the evening interacting with other diners next to them,” he explains, adding that “single diners are a fan of our sushi bar.” There’s entertainment for everyone: Communal seatings sparks conversation and engagement, and singles at the bar can watch sushi masters at work.

Show off shareable plates

Restaurant operators agree that when it comes to group celebrations, shareable dishes are key. Charleston’s Parcel 32 chose Bubbles and Pearls as their 2019 theme, serving Champagne specials (half-off select bottles) and $1.50 oysters. This time around, they will pair half-bottles of wine with cheese plates. “Smaller, shareable plates make for a much more social experience,” says Brittany Miller, the group’s director of marketing.

At Sunda, the kitchen developed new dishes specifically for sharing, including baked oysters with uni lobster butter. For Washington, DC’s Urbana, last year’s Galentine’s Day included $10 pizza and prosecco. “Instead of bottles of wine, offer drink specials or large-format cocktails that can be shared with friends,” advises Ryan Brewster, the restaurant’s general manager.

But don’t forget your regular hits

In addition to Valentine’s Day specials, many restaurants offer their full dinner menu on Valentine’s Day, so single and group diners don’t feel limited by the set menus that tend to rule on holidays. “If you’re celebrating Valentine’s Day, great. If you’re not, we have you covered, too,” says Brewster. Shane swears the format (something familiar, something new) pays off: “Year after year, Sunda has always been booked by couples and large group parties.”

Miller recommends highlighting relevant shareable dishes from your regular menu instead of developing an entirely new repertoire for Galentine’s Day—especially if your kitchen is already learning a new Valentine’s Day menu.

Make it playful and fun

Whether as singles, couples, or groups, guests are out to celebrate the week of Valentine’s Day – themes and gimmicks are welcome. Along with Parcel 32’s Bubbles and Pearls, the restaurant served decadent chocolates and petit fours. This year, Sunda will serve a Bleeding Heart sushi roll and “umelicious” pink plum sake. “These dishes are not just for couples, they’re great options for large groups and single diners as well,” says Shane.

If over-the-top romance isn’t on brand, consider the opposite extreme: Bar Pilar in Washington, DC, offered an anti-Valentine’s Day menu with offal dishes and bitter cocktails.

Alternatively, consider a female-centric approach. This Galentine’s Day, Urbana’s lead bartender will create three themed cocktails using spirits from Republic Restoratives, a local small-batch, women-owned distillery and bar. A DJ will spin from a power-themed playlist while guests make memories in a photo booth and everyone who visits the bar gets a complimentary glass of bubbles. [Read more…]

5 Questions to Ask Yourself When Planning a Valentine’s Day Menu

Valentine’s Day is one of the busiest dining nights of the year. For guests, it presents the chance to woo and romance a special someone. For chefs and restaurants, it’s game time with nonstop two-tops and the seemingly never-ending sound of champagne corks popping in the dining room.

The Manhattan chefs we spoke with — Mike Price of The Clam in the West Village and chef Aaron Bludorn of Michelin-starred Cafe Boulud on the Upper East Side — say Valentine’s Day is all about striking a balance between offering guests the dishes and luxury they expect and staying true to their typical , a la carte offerings.

“Our energy in the back of the house translates to the front-of-house staff, which translates to the dining room,” Bludorn says. “Make sure you’re keeping that festive atmosphere in the kitchen and it’ll get to your guests.”

Below, Price and Bludorn walk through their step-by-step process of creating and selling Valentine’s Day menus, which all starts with asking the right questions. Here’s what to ask yourself and your team as V-Day approaches, along with advice for chefs planning a menu for the first time.

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How to Create a Set Valentine’s Day Menu That Works

Valentine’s Day is one of the biggest dining days of the year, which makes it a huge business opportunity for restaurants. However, a fast pace, abundance of two-tops, and sky-high guest expectations require a kitchen that stays unfailingly efficient and precise. One smart way to pull off that execution is with a limited, fixed-price menu.

A set menu helps speed up turn times, because the kitchen has fewer unique dishes to prepare and can predict the time from ordering, firing, and serving a dish with unusual accuracy. With fewer options available, it also reduces guests’ decision-making time. You never want to rush guests through a special meal, but with planning and coordination, you can move them along and squeeze in an extra turn.

Set menus can also offer unique dishes and ingredients suitable for a special occasion. With the right approach, they can boost revenue – the trick is to streamline execution and present the dishes so guests see and appreciate their value.

We tapped two experts to share their best practices for set Valentine’s Day menus: Sherri Kimes, a revenue management specialist for the hospitality industry and Professor Emeritus at Cornell University, and Gregg Rapp, a menu engineer who develops and strategizes menus for restaurant professionals around the world.

Read on for tips on creating a Valentine’s Day menu designed to entice new guests, delight regulars, and boost your bottom line.

Keep menus short, sweet, and tried-and-true

Kimes advises creating a short menu of dishes that won’t take too long for the kitchen to execute. Limited menus also help simplify purchasing and reduce food waste, because you know exactly how much to order.

“What’s working now in the restaurant?” asks Rapp. “Find your stars – dishes that are high in profit and high in sales.” Many chefs may use Valentine’s Day to try out new dishes, but Rapp recommends studying what menu items are already benefiting the bottom line.

Offer the right amount of choice

For Rapp, three is the magic number when planning a menu, such as a choice of three appetizers and three entrees. Three gives you room for the obvious range of red meat, seafood, and vegetarian dishes, which provides plenty of choices for guests. Too few options may feel too restrictive, while too many adds complexity – “it’s easier for a person to choose from three items rather than two or five,” Rapp says.

Some restaurants may offer multiple fixed-price options, such as a four-course menu and a six-course menu, to give guests more flexibility and encourage them to spend more. Keep in mind, however, that greater guest choice necessarily puts more pressure on the kitchen. “There’s a lot more variability,” Kimes says. “You want to be getting people through in a timely fashion.” If you offer multiple menus, keep options limited so it’s easy for guests to make decisions.

Identify the right price point

When it comes to pricing, Kimes suggests two different approaches. The first offers a set menu demonstrating value in comparison to your regular menu, including a starter, main, dessert, and perhaps a couple of palate cleansers. “Regulars will compare it to your regular prices and see that it’s a good deal,” she says.

The second approach involves a menu featuring items outside of your typical repertoire, with a different composition or ingredients only available on Valentine’s Day. Incorporating items such as crab and lobster can elevate your whole menu to a higher status, creating a halo effect around other dishes, says Rapp. This approach creates freedom to play around with pricing so you don’t lose money on the more expensive ingredients.

“When you have one price for everything, people are looking to build their best value,” he explains. Expect more guests to choose the expensive items, and look for ways to demonstrate the value of what guests are enjoying across the entire menu (see tips on that below). [Read more…]

Domestic Caviar: A Primer

Besides being California’s state capital, Sacramento is also the domestic caviar capital, with a combination of local producers – both large and small – supplying about 80% of caviar production in the US. Not surprisingly, given their proximity to the producers, Sacramento restaurants are particularly savvy when it comes to sourcing, selling, and serving domestic caviar.

This year many Sacramento restaurants participated in both National Caviar Day and the first Celebrate Caviar Sacramento, a weeklong promotion of domestic caviar to help educate consumers. In anticipation of the holidays, when caviar takes center stage — namely on New Year’s Eve and Valentine’s Day — we spoke to Sacramento chefs and beverage directors to learn how they recommend sourcing and serving this festive delicacy.

Sourcing

During Celebrate Caviar Sacramento, Chef Jay Veregge, the Director of Culinary Operations for Harvego Restaurant Group, hosted an event at The Firehouse in Old Sacramento with caviar served on canapés and a comparison of caviar from three different local purveyors: Tsar Nicoulai, Passmore Ranch, and Sterling Caviar.

Veregge’s recommends that chefs looking to purchase domestic caviar start by sampling. “Don’t buy from off brands – it’s just repackaged product. Buy it from an actual producer.”

Deneb Williams is the chef and partner at Allora, and like Veregge, he recommends learning as much as you can about caviar before adding it to the menu. “You want to know what the sturgeon’s diet is and the quality of the water,” he says. “Sturgeon are bottom feeders, so if they eat mud your caviar will taste like it.”

In addition to sampling, Williams recommends inspecting the product. “Eggs should be full and round, not deflated – no liquid in jar or tin. It’s salt cured, so when old, it bleeds into the jar. It should smell like the fresh water and no fishy odor.”

Serving

When considering introducing caviar, try it as a special to beta test it. The holidays are a perfect time – guests are more inclined to splurge.

A self-described traditionalist, Veregge’s preferred way to serve caviar is with corn blini, sieved hard-boiled egg, washed red onion, and crème fraiche. He suggests pairing caviar with seafood, or with a mild flavor like potatoes: “On smoked salmon or turbot or even Kennebeck potato chips if they are not too salted. Know what you can and cannot do with it.”

He also stresses that it’s important to use it in the appropriate contexts. “You wouldn’t want to put caviar on pizza with red sauce and olive oil. Your platform has to fit. But it doesn’t have to be completely upscale.”

While it may be tempting to add caviar to other luxury ingredients like steak, that can be a mistake, as well as using it with too much heat.

Veregge explains, “It’s so expensive, you should put it where it will be the feature – where the salt of the caviar is an enhancement of the dish. Use it as you would salt on lighter flavors such as scallop, lobster, or any of the white fishes, such as turbot, sole, halibut or haddock with beurre monté.”

For serving, Williams also favors pairing caviar with seafood, especially oysters and cold smoked hamachi crudo. His other suggestions? “Go seasonal with relatively neutral flavors — a lot of vegetables work. I try to not put it on something hot, and I like it to be the star of the show. I would be careful with stronger flavors.” At his restaurant, he showcased caviar in a multi-course brunch.

Can caviar work at a more casual concept? It does at Hook and Ladder Manufacturing Co. Beverage Director Chris Tucker takes a playful approach, adding it to cocktails to complement canapés (think caviar with potato chips, deviled eggs, and smoked salmon). Since there will be economies of scale, he suggests using it for multiple occasions, including happy hour and brunch.

Pricing

Setting the right price is crucial, too. Williams’ $55 caviar service includes 12 grams: eight grams on an oyster and four with hamachi.

“I want to keep the price down so I can sell it and keep it moving,” says Williams. “We make it approachable. I don’t want to scare people with $150 caviar service.”

Still, that doesn’t mean buying inexpensive product. He says to go for quality: “Make it fit with your restaurant’s brand. Choose your vendors and source your products from people you trust. Getting staff excited depends on being excited yourself. Talk to your staff and feed them information. Get them pumped up about new menu items.” [Read more…]

Eight marketing ideas for making the most out of Valentine’s Day