Valentine’s day: one of the top holidays for dining out.

Competition rises in the restaurant business on Valentine’s day. In order for restaurants to succeed on Valentine’s day, strategizing promotional skills is crucial. Here are promotional strategies that the most successful restaurants use during this holiday:

1. Atmosphere: Turning your restaurant into a romantic atmosphere is fun and exciting for people celebrating Valentine’s day. Change is very intriguing especially on special events. Surprises are especially fun on holidays like this one. People tend to go to restaurants that they’re familiar with and that they know will serve delicious food. I recently read an article on POS Sector that discusses the ways restaurants can enhance their atmosphere. The article talks about how people are more likely to go to their favorite restaurants rather than going out of their box. During valentine’s day restaurants should embrace cheesiness. Hearts and flowers are encouraged.
2. The food: Fixed menus excite consumers. Often times restaurants provide couples with the chance to partake in a multiple coursed meal. Like I discussed before, surprises are exciting on holidays. Restaurants should take advantage of providing costumers with a menu consisting of unordinary foods that people typically would not splurge for. One of my favorite things to do on Valentine’s day is simply ordering a heart shaped pizza. Even though pizza is a very commonly eaten food, shaping it into a heart gives couples the “awww” factor.
3. Discounts: Who doesn’t love discounts? A way to promote discounts as discussed in the POS Sector article is through competition. For example, a restaurant that promotes making reservations early and those selected people receive some sort of discount or maybe one free course of choice. Consumers love friendly competition. This will also increase the amount of reservations due to people talking to their friends about this hot deal.

PR Week wrote an article on brands that soak up Valentine’s day promotions. Using social media is always beneficial for restaurant promotion however on Valentine’s Day it is especially helpful with getting the word out. This article used Panera as an example. Panera promoted themselves by using a picture with the caption, “Love is in the air. This Valentine’s day, get engaged at a Panera and we might cater your wedding, for free.” Panera is most likely not the first place someone would propose at but with this easy idea, customers would be excited to partake in this once a year deal.