If you want to stand out this Valentine’s Day, add a little extra to your restaurant’s experience. Here are some ideas to get you thinking beyond the usual hearts and flowers.
1) Single Out the Single
Your playlist includes “Love Stinks” and “These Boots Were Made for Walkin.’” Your floor is covered in wilted rose pedals. Your specials include triple garlic pasta and spinach dip. Your “Cupid is Stupid” event could even have an old relationship memorabilia give-away. Make it fun. After all, at last count, the US had 86 million single adults.
2) Play Their Song
Music can be powerful and personal, so take a cue from KFC. They’re not hiring a DJ, but this fast-food player is taking song requests, nonetheless. KFC is encouraging its audience to go online and choose a special tune, name the day, time, and KFC location, and KFC will make sure to honor the request.
3) Send Them Home
For guests who would prefer a quiet time at home, offer the take-out to surpass all take-outs. London’s Mount Street Deli offers a four-course dinner to bring home that includes Beef Wellington and decadent chocolate cake, or a breakfast-in-bed hamper with snuggle-worthy fare including champagne, ginger biscuits and organic fruit purees.
4) Turn Off the Lights
Founded in Paris, and now with locations in London and New York, the Dans le Noir Restaurant offers guests a pitch-dark dining room with a visually impaired wait staff. The three-course gourmet meal is “intimate and sensory.” And for Valentine’s Day? A community table for singles makes it possible to truly set looks aside for the night.
5) Host a Date Auction
Gather the bachelors and bachelorettes, choose a great cause, and make Valentine’s Day a charity event. Use social media to spread the word, including a Facebook event page on which you post pictures of the contenders. Let media outlets in on the action, too. When the bidding ends, donate a meal to the winning couple.
