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How to Prepare For and Profit From St. Valentine's and Mother's Day Traffic

For many restaurants, St. Valentine's Day and Mother's Day are the two biggest days of the year. With a little planning and forethought these holidays have the potential to turn an otherwise ho-hum February and May into real bright spots in your yearly sales picture, while also earning you some new, regular clients.

On the other hand, if executed poorly, they'll just be two more days of the week at best, or actually leave a bad taste in the mouths of both new and old clients. Realize that when customers choose your restaurant on either of these days, they're giving you a chance to impress both them and their guests on what they consider to be a very important meal out.

Let's look at what several veteran operators who have mastered these holidays say about how they consistently make the most of them for both themselves and their guests.

A Nice Variety

Robin's of Cambria, California

Shanny Covey is the owner of Robin's, a restaurant with a charming seaside setting in Cambria, California. Although Robin's does a brunch every Sunday, Mother's Day is consistently the biggest of the year. Even after 26 years in business, Shanny never underestimates the importance of executing the basics to perfection.

To accommodate the extra volume on Mother's Day, she opens an hour and a half earlier, at 9:30 instead of 11. As with her other Sunday brunches, she doesn't offer a buffet; everything is ordered off an à la carte menu. To stack the deck in both her kitchen and wait staff's favor in light of the extra volume, she offers a more limited, streamlined menu. This helps to ensure that both the food and service will be as great as her guests have become accustomed to on every other Sunday.

She is attentive of the need to offer a nice variety of both brunch and lunch-type items to make sure that every one of her guests will find plenty to choose from. One family of dishes she has found to be popular are various types of eggs Benedict. She offers three variations on the theme: one on puff pastry instead of an English muffin, a vegetarian version, and one served on a crab cake. To make the last version extra special on Mother's Day, she substitutes a lobster cake for the crab cake.

Other popular choices are various crêpes, including smoked chicken, crab and a very interesting version containing heirloom squash with cumin, spiced yellow lentils, winter greens, spiced pear butter and yogurt. Omelets don't need to be boring, and at Robin's they aren't. Two popular choices there are the shrimp, avocado and goat cheese omelet, and the Italian sausage-marinara omelet. Another crowd-pleasing egg dish is Robin's huevos rancheros, which feature fried eggs, tomatillo salsa, cumin-spiced black beans, feta cheese, avocado, applewood-smoked bacon and fresh fruit. Sopaipillas, Peruvian-style fried doughnuts that Shanny serves with cinnamon sugar, honey and local apricots, are a great way to end a great meal.

Shanny takes notes every year to make sure that hard-earned lessons are not forgotten, but are put to good use next Mother's Day. Knowing your numbers in everything from covers to food to linens to staff, both front and back, can make all the difference in maximizing both your profits as well as your customers' enjoyment of the day. It's important to have everything and everyone you'll need on hand to ensure that your guests have a good enough time to come back and tell their friends how great it was, but having too much of anything is throwing money down the drain. Pay attention to the details and always make any necessary adjustments to your plan.

After so many years in operation and with so many regular customers, Shanny says that she doesn't need to advertise Mother's Day to get a full house. She does say, however, that everyone who comes in needs to be thrilled to be there. That starts with no one having to wait for a table. It's a special day and guests want to get right to the fun, not wait around while others finish theirs. To that end, Shanny is careful not to overbook. She knows she'll get some walk-ins in addition to the reservations on her book, and wants to do everything she can, from the minute her guests walk through the door, to give them every reason to celebrate Mother's Day at Robin's for many years to come.

In many ways, Valentine's Day is a different animal. Since it is a night of almost all deuces, Robin's changes as much of their seating as possible, both inside the restaurant and on the enclosed patio, into two-tops. This is easy because their four-tops are really two deuces put together.

Shanny doesn't do a whole different Valentine's menu, but does make sure that her specials that night truly are special. A really great chocolate dessert is always featured, as are complimentary roses on each table. A brilliant idea that Shanny has come up with to spread the love over more than just one night is something she calls "Love Can't Wait." This promotion consists of a special four-course prix fixe menu, along with an optional pairing of a perfectly matched flight of wines. Depending on which day that Valentine's Day falls, she does this on either the Sunday before Valentine's, the day before, or the day after -- in which case she dubs it, "Love Can Wait."

As with Mother's Day, she finds she doesn't need to spend much effort promoting Valentine's Day itself. By showing her guests a perfect evening time after time, a guest's date might change from year to year, but their choice of restaurant won't. It can be a lot of fun, and really make you feel like you are being proactive, to come up with interesting holiday-specific ideas to capitalize on these special days. However, never forget that your customers will always expect and appreciate the basics, done well. No matter how sexy or pan-generational your menu, or how perfect your special decorations and touches are, if guests have a long wait before they are seated, it takes forever to get their first drink or the food is late to arrive to their table and it's cold, overcooked or both, everyone loses.

Think through these meals from every angle, from start to finish, long enough in advance to really be ready to shine. This starts with your promotions and goes through your reservation process, staffing decision -- both front and back -- menu writing, ordering and everything else that applies to your situation. If you add your special holiday touches on top of an already solid, basic performance, you'll be setting the stage for a long run of successful celebrations.

Reach Out to Existing Customers

Angelo's Restaurant of Washington, Pennsylvania

Angelo's Restaurant in Washington, Pennsylvania, has been building on a family reputation of running the venue of choice for Mother's Day and Valentine's Day since 1939. Michael Passalacqua, the third-generation owner/operator, is proud to report that people return to his restaurant year after year for these occasions, and he is happy to explain why.

Although Angelo's Restaurant has been in business for 73 years, Michael says it is always a good idea to reach out to his customers and remind them of their relationship with Angelo's, and just how much they like his restaurant. Even though the restaurant has a long and venerable history, Michael still appreciates the importance of making excellent use of the latest technology to promote and grow the business.

His database contains information on more than 28,000 individuals. In addition to religiously keeping it up to date, he uses it to send emails to about 7,000 people per week. He writes these emails as if they were a personal letter. For example, "Dear Joe, Valentine's Day is only six weeks away. Book now..." When reminding customers of any event, he sends the message from six to eight weeks ahead of time. He will send reminders of birthdays, anniversaries and other special days he has listed in his database. For events like Christmas parties, he'll make sure he mentions which dates are already booked or filling up to create a sense of urgency.

He also makes sure that the emails always have something of real interest in them, like the proper way to store coffee, or a description of a new and exciting menu item. He's decided that the best time to send them out is either Thursday evening or Friday morning. To reach a younger audience, he is also active on Twitter and Facebook. For his next step, he plans to get more involved with text messaging. Not to forgo more analog methods of communication, he remains a fan of using table tents to advertise special days at the restaurant.

For Valentine's Day, Michael doesn't do a whole different menu. He does three or four specials. One popular option is a mixed grill with a filet mignon, lobster tail, risotto and salad. Another is pasta for two consisting of lasagna, linguini with clams and fettuccine Alfredo. He makes the point that in many cases the customers who come in on Valentine's Day don't eat out as frequently as his normal customers. Because of that, he makes sure to offer items that will appeal to the widest potential cross-section of diners, to make it as easy as possible for everyone to be happy. He says you can't go wrong with dishes like fried shrimp or lasagna. The quality, in every case, is as high as in his most sophisticated dishes.

In past years Michael had noticed that, although his restaurant seemed busy as could be on Valentine's Day, it was only half full. This was because many of his tables can't be reconfigured to become small two-tops. To make up for this, he began what has turned into a very popular Valentine's Day promotion: "Celebrate with another couple, and I'll buy dessert!" He says that many people are happy to celebrate the event with friends and family, and now the restaurant is really as full as it seems.

On Mother's Day, Michael offers a slightly abbreviated menu to facilitate the increased business. Also, all mothers get a free dessert. This often consists of homemade chocolate cake with sweet cream gelato, or a combination of one of his 18 flavors of gelatos, all made on the premises. The gelato counter is very popular with children, which is another reason Angelo's is a perennial Mother's Day favorite.

He says that by reaching out ahead of time to remind customers to celebrate their occasions at Angelo's, and then showing them a great time when they do, they'll always be happy to come back. And, Michael has found, it's easier to get people to return than it is to find new customers.

It is interesting to note that, in menu planning, Mother's Day and Valentine's Day are diametrically opposed. For Mother's Day, the goal is to provide a variety of dishes that will satisfy three generations of diners, some of whom are leaning toward brunch items, and others favoring lunch, all for the sake of facilitating a great family celebration. For Valentine's Day, you try to come up with dishes that two people in the prime of their lives (or at least imagining that they are at that moment) will enjoy in an intimate setting, helping them to temporarily block out the rest of the world and experience a near-perfect moment together as a couple.

Again, don't forget to excel at the fundamentals, but it couldn't hurt to keep in mind the basic reason your guests are coming in to begin with.

An A La Carte Menu

Rainbow Lodge of Houston

Donnette Hansen is the owner/operator of Rainbow Lodge, a wild game and Gulf Coast seafood restaurant in a 100-year-old log cabin in Houston. The restaurant has been in operation for 30 years and is beautifully decorated with fireplaces, antique collectibles, comfortable decks, patios, four private rooms and pastoral creek views. In short, it's the perfect place for a Mother's Day or Valentine's Day celebration. In spite of that fact, Donnette takes nothing for granted in her preparations for either holiday.

Donnette says that since the economy has softened, her customers have become less excited about prix fixe menus. Possibly because they don't want to feel like they're being coerced into getting things they might prefer to do without, she offers an à la carte menu, even on Valentine's Day.

To assist her kitchen and wait staff in doing a top-notch job for the 500-600 covers that they will serve on Valentine's Day -- as contrasted with a normal night of about 250 guests -- Donnette shortens the menu from about 15 entrees to five. She says that a shorter à la carte menu actually encourages guests to order multiple courses. She stresses the importance of finding out just what her customers want. The old-fashioned way of spending a lot of time in the restaurant, talking with customers and really listening to what they are saying, and encouraging them to say more, still works wonders. You can learn a lot from listening to the staff as well.

Of course, all the listening and observing in the world will do you no good unless you actually act on what you've learned. Donnette also uses the Internet to learn what people like and what rubs them the wrong way. She studies reviews of other restaurants that she considers in the same league as her own, to see what her potential customers love about her competition, and what they can live without. It's great to learn from your own mistakes, but it's even better to learn from someone else's. She then takes that information, both good and bad, and uses it to help steer her own ship in the right direction.

The fact that Rainbow Lodge has fireplaces, candlelight, white linens and trophies on the walls, appealing to both women and men as a great place to enjoy dinner on Valentine's Day, is not lost on Donnette, or her loyal customers. Because Mother's Day is largely a one-shot opportunity, with a minimum of tables being turned, Donnette says that every seat must be profitable. To that end, she offers a special, à la carte Mother's Day Brunch menu.

With all the hotels in town offering a $29.95 Mother's Day Buffet deal, with children being discounted or even fed free, she sees no advantage to getting into a pricing war with any of them. Instead, she offers a menu with plenty of variety and something for everyone, all meeting her usual very high standards. Items like seared snapper over risotto, shrimp and grits and mixed game grill have proven to be very popular. She offers no separate kids' menu, but instead makes sure that the regular menu has plenty of things on it that kids like as much as adults do. Torn black forest ham with scrambled eggs are appealing at any age, as is Donnette's pain perdu, even if a 6-year-old might enjoy it more when it is called French toast.

Another point Donnette makes is the importance of not dumbing down the menu with the thought of possibly catering to a "less sophisticated" than normal crowd on special holidays. She has faith in both her food and her customers, and knows that they will all get along just fine given the chance. Even though there will always be customers who seldom eat out except on occasions like Valentine's Day and Mother's Day, she doesn't want to give any new potential regular customers the wrong idea of what Rainbow Lodge is all about.

Donnette also thinks that every restaurant should have some kind of specialty that helps them stand apart from their competition. Something that has proven very successful for her is 99-cent mimosas at brunch. Her cost for them is not high, her guests feel like they're getting a great bargain, and they just seem to put everyone in a fantastic mood and help them enjoy the experience even more.

In spite of the Rainbow Lodge's stellar 30-year track record, and the fact that they have no trouble filling up on either holiday -- even without marketing them -- Donnette never stops trying to figure out what other reasons she can give her guests to keep coming back year after year.

Words of Wisdom

"February for us is romance month and typically most of the business will come in, you know, seven to 10 days before Valentine's and then seven to 10 days after Valentine's. And we do a big campaign... basically a guaranteed private room with no kids, four-course dinner for two including a bottle of wine.

We want to build an experience and no discounting whatsoever. We're basically creating their romance for them for Valentine's Day. And we've been very, very successful. It takes our check average up another 10 bucks a head and we book X amount in and usually it makes February our best month of the year."

- Edmund Woo, owner/operator of Saskatoon Restaurant in Greenville, South Carolina

"Certain special events seem to follow patterns. For example, on Mother's Day I see grown children who want to take Mom out for breakfast, and, naturally, Dad and the siblings want to come along. We know that we need to set up more tables for 10-12 than usual. The same goes for graduation weekends. Valentine's Day, of course, is all about couples who want to gaze into each other's eyes, so two-tops are the rule.

In fact, over years, we have learned to double our available inventory of two-tops for Valentine's Day by renting them. "For the rest of the year, we try to stay light on our feet, as they say. One of the tricks we employ to keeping nimble is stockpiling 48-inch square tables with leaves that flip up to create 60-inch round tables. This allows us to go from a table of four to a table of eight, albeit cozy, at a moment's notice.

I've been in busy Chinese restaurants that store 60-, 72- and 96-inch round table tops against a wall. When large parties arrive, they put the appropriate tabletop on the existing base. Add a 'Lazy Suzy' and they're in business. "We also use 24-by-30-inch two-tops along a wall with bank-head seating. That way we can slide tables together and turn six two-tops into one table for 10-12. Also against a bank head you can squeeze three kids in space for two adults. "This is not an exact science, but a little common sense can go a long way in these decisions."

- Arthur Gordon, owner/operator of The Irregardless Café in Raleigh, North Carolina

Don't Neglect Your Website On February 15

You don't have to look far on the Internet to find websites that look as if their owners have abandoned them. Christmas specials still up in May, "Recipe of the Month" where the latest one is November 2008, and breaking news from 2009 are all testament to the fact that these site owners have not updated the information for months.

Not only would a visitor not return, but also your restaurant doesn't look vibrant, fun or up to date. What's more, you're missing marketing opportunities. Marketing your Valentine's Dinner one day past February 14 is a waste of space. When you update your site regularly, you have the chance to move on from Valentine's Day and market your Easter Brunch or Mother's Day Buffet.