How Popular Are Restaurants On Valentine's Day?

NATIONAL RESTAURANT ASSOCIATION  //  FEBRUARY 11, 2019

Love is in the air, as Americans get ready to celebrate Valentine’s Day on Feb. 14. As the holiday approaches, restaurateurs should get ready to welcome an influx of diners, research suggests.

According to data from online reservation platform OpenTable and point-of-sale software company Toast, more than 30 percent of consumers will celebrate the holiday by dining out with their loved ones. In 2018, 32 percent of Americans visited a restaurant on Valentine’s Day, and 50 percent of those reservations were booked via mobile technology. In addition, Italian food was the No. 1 selected cuisine while contemporary American food ranked as the second-most popular choice.

Here are some reasons why restaurateurs love the holiday:

• Last year, 40 percent of reservations were booked in the week leading up to the holiday. On average, customers made their arrangements 11 days in advance.
• Fine-dining restaurants saw the biggest increase in Valentine’s Day sales – 5 percent   which was more than any other segment.
• The most popular reservation time was 7:00 pm.
• Online ordering increased 7 percent on the holiday, compared with other weekdays in February. The average tip was 20 percent, a gift that servers could love, too.
• Restaurant sales in several metropolitan cities also increased on Valentine’s Day. Boston experienced an increase of 36 percent, while Chicago’s sales were up 28 percent, and New York saw an uptick of 22 percent.

It looks like Valentine’s Day 2019 should be a day everyone can love.