How to ensure that your business doesn’t break hearts this Valentine’s Day

Valentine’s Day is often hailed as a capitalist, ultra-consumerist marketing scam. And while that is somewhat true, it’s also a time when many couples hope to enjoy some bearable wine and freebie chocolates over dinner. However, it’s also a time for all kinds of horror stories from restaurateurs that have not so much fired cupid’s arrow as shot themselves in the foot. So here’s my advice on how to avoid a total bin fire of what is for many the busiest night of the year.

Unless you have an incredibly efficient and shiny operating system in place, chances are that you will be overbooked. If you’ve assumed that everyone wouldn’t end up coming to their booking, that’s a risky move. More people will just turn up without bookings and it’s hard to work out who is just late and who is actually coming. Even if you take every precaution, sometimes overbooking just happens. The trick here is not to panic or send everyone away without thinking it through, but to establish a plan B.

If you can, call customers ahead to make them aware of the situation. Give them the option of having a discounted meal on an alternative date; while a bit less romantic, this is an appealing and sensitive gesture to couples who are perhaps on a tighter budget and can’t afford to find another meal out last minute at peak season. Another great option to generate goodwill is to offer to help them recreate the experience at home, and send them a meal via home delivery with candles and champagne. This will almost definitely generate some positive online attention, which is a lot more appetising than a viral hashtag on how your chain turned down 400 furious couples in one evening.

If you’ve done your job right with advertising and not given anyone chronic food poisoning, you will be busy. This is a good thing, but don’t mistake volume for success. Remember to treat each couple with the same attention and service as you would on any other night. If there are massive wait times for food – I’d aim for less than half an hour – then offer free drinks and provide appropriate entertainment (no clowns, snake handlers or drunk comedians weeping over a break up).

If you want to manage the space and ensure that it’s not so crowded that you have a human jenga situation, plan ahead. What times do couples want to come in? Allow them to book into separate slots: possibly one at 7pm or 9pm, for example. Take the time to talk through a plan with your waiting staff. How will they prioritise orders? What dishes will take the longest to get to the table? How will they make sure that details aren’t missed in the flood of gluten-free, vegan, extra avocado orders?

Ultimately, remember what your job as a restaurant is: to give people a good time. The food is not wholly why you go out for a meal. You want to communicate, spend time with someone you love (or at least begrudgingly put up with) and enjoy a different experience from cooking yourself at home. You can have fantastic chefs and beautiful decor, but if the wait times are ridiculous and the soundtrack unbearable, you will lose custom.

Plan ahead, and you should probably avoid the blame for a nasty pasta-related break-up.