For love and money

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While restaurants are preparing the traditional trappings of Valentine’s Day, it remains to be seen whether this year the celebration, which falls of a Thursday, will live up to the financial expectations.

With Valentine's Day just around the corner, food and beverage teams around the region are getting to grips with the preparations that will help set themselves apart from the competition on this most romantic - and profitable - of evenings.

"Red roses and flowers need to be organised in advance. Heart-shaped cakes must be prepared a few days before in order to avoid delays," says Stephane Robert, food and beverage manager at the Sheraton Khalidiya Hotel, Abu Dhabi, which will host an aphrodisiac buffet at its La Veranda restaurant, as well as special Valentine's Day set menu in its Downtown & Third Avenue pub.

"The PR and marketing for the events is also important as advertisements must be booked in various weekly and monthly publications, and promotional flyers need to be sent to all our accounts, as well as an online marketing campaign through the hotel website and in the hotel newsletter," he adds.

Also organising special menus in all his restaurants, as well as a pool dinner in a Valentine's gazebo, and a Valentine's buffet - all of course sporting the obligatory Valentine's Day decorations - is Holger Jackisch, executive chef, The Ritz-Carlton Bahrain. For him, the Valentine's Day event presents vital commercial opportunities.

"We expect all outlets to be fully booked and we are buying special lights and gazebos for Valentine's Day.

"Obviously all food and beverage items are ordered and produced to the highest standard, as Valentine's Day allows you to build a strong reputation for your hotel and to increase our business in the future, for example in regards to wedding celebrations," he says.

"The hotel's atmosphere will completely change and the entire crew is geared up for making this day special for any couple who comes to the hotel. Most of all, we would like to create exceptional value and experiences for our guests. Because of this, we are not just focusing on a profit," he claims.

Thierry Kremper, restaurant manager at Le Meridien Dubai's Café Chic, agrees that the profitability of Valentine's Day should be secondary to the overall guest experience.

He hopes that superior service levels will set his outlet apart on the night, and will keep customers coming back for more throughout the year.

"For many of our guests there is a heightened expectation and Valentine's should be a night to remember. When couples come here for a special occasion it becomes part of their personal tradition and hopefully they will choose to come here for other special occasions and anniversaries," he says.

"Keeping this in mind, our team will be prepared to offer personalised service without being intrusive. As we will have many tables for couples, as opposed to long tables, time management between the service team and the kitchen is vital."

Nonetheless, with Valentine's Day ranking just below Christmas and New Year in terms revenue-generating potential, the financial impact of the occasion cannot be overlooked.

"The restaurant industry is a ‘live' business, so every day brings with it different challenges. We are always dependent on the timely delivery of our fresh, imported produce, so from an operational perspective it is not that different from any other day," he explains.

"[However], from a business perspective, Valentine's is a commercial success like many other holidays. We expect to be fully booked - approximately 56 covers - as it is one of the busiest occasions for our restaurant. We also expect to sell a lot of champagne," Kremper says.

Offering set menus from AED 550 to 750 per couple (US $150 - $204), and anticipating a total of approximately 300 covers in all the various outlets, Al Murooj Rotana's F&B manager Dominique Jossi is also expecting to cash in on the big night.

"Our average daily revenue within the F&B outlets will increase about 15% [on Valentine's Day], as we are selling set menus, and more wine and champagne. We will obviously generate more revenue at the end of the day - the client doesn't mind spending more than usual on a special occasion to impress his loved one," he says.

Not to be left out, Le Meridien Al Aqah in Fujairah has put together a special package for Valentine's Day, inclusive of accommodation, welcome treats, a moonlit beachfront dining experience and a champagne breakfast as part of the occasion.

"This romantic occasion brings a special highlight to our resort, since we offer a special trademark getaway from Dubai. We expect to serve 18 to 20 couples on the big night, and when it comes to profits, it's 40% cost and 60% revenue," explains F&B manager Gian Raffaele Sabbatucci.

For some, however, the fact that the celebration this year falls on a Thursday means that Valentines Day will not turn out to be the cash cow it has been in previous years.

Despite offering set menus at four of its restaurants, ranging in price from AED 195 to 295 ($53 - $80), as well as a Conception Valentine's Ball at Zinc nightclub on February 13, the Crowne Plaza Dubai's F&B director Robin Thornton believes the night could prove to be something of a let-down financially.

"We are expecting to do about 2000 covers across all outlets, but this year it [Valentine's] will have a negligible effect on sales due to the fact that it's on a Thursday. In fact, it may detract from actual sales as the dwell time will be longer even if the spend per check is higher," he says.

"It is approximately the same as a regular Thursday. The extra costs and slower table turns make it less attractive than if it were on a Sunday or Monday, when the extra benefit would be quite substantial."

So why go to all the effort for such a potentially poor return? "It's more of a PR/marketing opportunity to win new customers for the rest of the year," he says.

"Outlets with more flexible seating arrangements, [which can accommodate couples], benefit. For instance, Wagamama, which has bench seating, will still have one of its busiest days of the year."

"Also, the Crowne Plaza can deliver pre-dinner options such as Trader Vic's and Oscars wine bar, and after dinner we have two clubs open till 3am."

All this, Thornton hopes, will draw enough of the high-spending European and Australasian guests - the "white collar demographics", which he says are the primary patrons of Valentine's celebrations.

Meanwhile, alternative arrangements will be in evidence at the Aviation Club's The Cellar bar and restaurant on the evening of February 14, where a sound understanding of his customer base has led F&B manager Chris Van Rensburg to abandon the traditional hearts and flowers in favour of "a regular Thursday night set-up".

"For us as a company it's not feasible to have only 100 guests on a night when usually we've got 200-300. Thursday night is always busy and I don't want to do anything that's going to pull away from the regular clientele," he says.

"On Thursday nights the bar fills up by itself. We don't need to do anything special on those nights like functions or special deals to get guests to come into the restaurant."

For those that want romance, however, a set menu - complete with a violinist, a glass of champagne on arrival, roses for the ladies and cigars for the gentlemen - will be available in the venue's upstairs dining area.

"We will have space for 25 couples. Just good food and good service, no red hearts and roses or anything. We'll have yellow tulips and lots of silver stars, white tablecloths and white candles - still quite alternative," he explains.

If there are a lot of requests for bookings, says Van Rensburg, an extra 15 couples could be catered for in the downstairs restaurant area, with the special set menu being served in the "normal ambiance of The Cellar".

"Valentine's is usually great because it gives a boost to a normally quiet night, but now it's on our busiest night. But at least we didn't say that we wouldn't do anything - we're giving people the choice."

Opening an additional section of the restaurant will give The Cellar another revenue stream that would not normally be available on a Thursday night - and as Van Rensburg says, "We never say no to anything extra" - but he is still somewhat under-whelmed at the Valentine's Day prospects.

"If it had been on a quieter day then we would have pushed more bookings. We'd have used the bar area, the outside area and the dining section - then it might be one of the biggest days in the month, but it's not going to be," he says.

"It will be a very good top-up on our normal Thursday revenues, but overall, Valentine's Day is not going to make a big difference in profit this year."

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