With couples finalizing their Valentine’s Day plans this week, local restaurants are preparing for the Valentine’s dinner rush on Friday evening.
Those who do not have definite plans for the upcoming holiday might experience trouble when trying to get a dinner reservation for Friday. Some restaurants, such as P.F. Chang’s China Bistro in Eastwood Towne Center, began taking Valentine’s Day reservations as far in advance as January, if not before. As of Monday, Kelly Lawrent, manager of P.F. Chang’s in Eastwood, said the restaurant was fully booked.
Along with high school and college graduation weekends, Lawrent said Valentine’s Day is one of the restaurant’s biggest days of the year. She is estimating that P.F. Chang’s in Eastwood will serve about 450 people on Valentine’s Day, if not more.
Jon Trasky, manager of The State Room at the Kellogg Hotel and Conference Center, said Valentine’s Day is one of the holidays when the hotel receives a lot of reservations.
The Knight Cap steakhouse in downtown Lansing also is expecting a large crowd to accommodate this Friday. Every Valentine’s Day around 5 p.m., Chef Carl Davis said The Knight Cap fills up for three to four turns, meaning the restaurant will fill up three to four times every hour and a half. Davis said they are currently full for three turns and are starting to book the fourth.
“We’re a small restaurant with 12 tables, so we’re going to be full no matter what,” Davis said. “We just go from there and maximize what you can out of it.”
Lawrent said P.F. Chang’s is preparing for the high customer volume by slightly increasing their staff size to about 45 people for Friday evening.
Preparing for the Valentine’s Day rush involves cutting more steaks and processing more seafood for The Knight Cap, but Davis said it’s nothing more extreme than other Fridays or Saturdays.
Valentine’s Day can be viewed as an opportunity for restaurants to earn extra profits, but it’s hard to determine what the average couple spends while dining out on the holiday.
“We have steaks that start at about $17 and run up to $55,” Davis said. “Twin lobster tail might go on Valentine’s Day than any other day of the week – and that’s a $70 dish.”
Trasky said The State Room is offering Valentine’s Day promotions for this weekend, which are to include drink specials and a four-course meal specifically for Valentine’s Day weekend.
Neither P.F. Chang’s nor The Knight Cap have Valentine’s Day promotions going on. Davis said he expects The Knight Cap’s profits to be up about 10 percent higher compared to what they usually are on weekend nights.
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