The biggest day for restaurants
Emailed on February 14th 2020 in The Friday Forward
If you've ever called a restaurant for a reservation within a week or so of Valentine's day, you likely got the verbal version of the above Elon Musk meme. Not happening.
Despite how hard it is to book a reservation, the holiday actually does relatively little for the restaurant biz according to Morning Brew.
Valentine’s Day 2019—a Thursday—ranked 94th in the year for consumer spending at local restaurants in the U.S., below even Cinco de Mayo.
That said, upscale restaurants do very well on Valentine’s Day, reporting a 30%–40% revenue increase from a typical day.
But, as Bloomberg reports, any old Saturday night is “invariably better” for local restaurants than a weekday Valentine’s. Average Saturdays generate 19.9% of weekly revenue and Fridays 18.9%.
And on Valentine’s Day, restaurants struggle to accommodate almost all two-tops that tend to linger longer than usual.
So what holiday takes the cake? Mother’s Day weekend, which accounts for the No. 1 and No. 2 top-grossing days of the year for local restaurants.