Exactly one week to V-day, as Valentine’s Day is popularly known nowadays. Needless to mention, this is one big day for restaurants after Christmas and New Year’s Eve. Big as in, a packed house and massive hustle-bustle. Who wouldn’t want that? We have seen in the past how restaurants have done brilliantly well with their service during Valentine’s Day – chauffeur-driven limo service with a romantic dinner for two followed by staying the night at the hotel and some not so luxurious but still good for a romantic night out with your partner. It’s a new year and a new Valentine’s Day. If you haven’t planned anything yet at your restaurant, you should right away.

Whatever you do, though, a few do’s and don’ts are in order. Just a few things to keep in mind so you don’t end up overdoing the celebration of love or not caring enough.

Do’s:

One for two, please

A great way to have couples get closer at the table is to have sharing plates on the menu. It’s a fun way to serve and have food. Have a special menu for the day and include a few of these sharing plates. From fries to hummus, there’s a range of dishes you could do sharing plates with. Not just food though, you can do one of those community drinks, but for two. Makes drinking a lot more fun. It’s basically one drink–usually a cocktail–in one large goblet kind of a glass, usually shared by groups of four. You could turn it into something romantic and make it one for two.

You are on candid camera

Well, not really. Many couples do post pictures on their social media when they’re at restaurants. More so when they’re celebrating an occasion. And when it’s Valentine’s Day they have a lot more reasons to play dress up and get their pictures taken. Have your staff be attentive and ask couples if they need any help with taking pictures of them. Even candid ones. Help them make memories they can later relish in their pictures.

Deliver food with love

Not all couples want to head out to restaurants for a Valentine’s Day dinner. Some of them prefer to stay home and cozy up to a romantic movie and dinner. You can sure make it easy for them with a special menu for home deliveries. Valentine’s Day combos with starters, mains and dessert make a great offer for couples to order in on the day. Get cheesy with heart-shaped pizza maybe? Or maybe not. But it’s a great opportunity to offer more to your customers than the usual. Add a couple of roses to their order and you’re sure to have made them smile.

All the single folks

With all the love in the air, don’t forget the single people. No need to sideline them. Instead let them have fun with some “single special” dishes. Maybe they’re in a relationship with food. If yours is a pub or a bar, even better. Have some fun drinks and food for single people. Have them come to your pub instead of staying home or going alone to a restaurant. An even better idea would be to cater to groups of singles. Friends would ideally hang out together and what better way to celebrate their love for one another than a night out at your pub?

Go big or go home

There isn’t a lot of time on your hands to plan something really big for your customers. But that shouldn’t stop you from making sure diners walk in through the door for a big Valentine’s Day celebration. You could have a gig at the restaurant – comedy, music or even a romantic quiz where you can keep things interactive. You could have cookies, chocolates and/or roses as return gifts for customers to win them over if you haven’t already. There’s lots you can do and this is a great opportunity to bring in new diners and old, and show them a great time.

Don’ts:

No tacky day

Don’t go overboard with restaurant decorations. You don’t want it to look like the Valentine’s Day scene from Sex and the City with balloons and strings all over the dining area. It’s distracting and tacky. You don’t want to end up on social media for the wrong reasons. Valentine’s Day is no excuse for you to recycle old Christmas decorations, neither is it a time for your restaurant to look like it threw up balloon and thermacol hearts in its dining area. Remember, less is more. Minimalistic decor for the day and keeping it classy is key. Candles on the table – yes. Heart shaped anything on the table – heck, no.

Down with the noise

This probably applies to restaurants and not pubs and bars. If people want music, they’d go to a bar or pub. The setting there is such that it allows them to have music louder than other eating establishments. At a restaurant, people sit across each other and engage in conversation. More so on Valentine’s Day. You don’t want to spoil that experience with love songs blaring in the restaurant. A great alternative is to have a live gig there with a musician. The next best thing is to have a feel good playlist at reasonable volume.

Getting over chocolate

Enough with the chocolate fountains, lava cakes, sinful chocolate cakes and all things only chocolate covered in more chocolate. Yes, it’s delicious. But it’s also a cliche. A bowl of melted chocolate to dip strawberries into and feed each other is very rom-com in nature and many couple would love it. However, have other interesting options that you might not have on your regular menu. It’s a great way to see if people like it. Try various combinations to make it two ingredients belong in that one dessert. Now, that’s romantic. Apple and cinnamon, pear and vanilla, strawberries and chilli, and so many more to experiment with.

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More than any of these dos and don’ts, remember to make sure your diners have a good time. It’s a special day for many and they love to celebrate it with food and gifts. If anything, your service that day should be top class.