Valentine’s Day gives 87% of SF restaurants a 119% boost on average [infographic]

Valentine’s Day should be the second biggest holiday on a restaurateur’s radar after Mother’s Day. The NRA estimates one quarter of Americans dine out on Valentine’s day. For restaurants in the Copilot Network, this meant an average 82% boost in revenue on Valentine’s Day.

For the week of February 11 – 17

The majority of restaurants (73%) were up for the week of February 11 – 17. Those that were up saw gross sales increase an average of 22%.

The 27% of restaurants that were down for the week saw gross sales dip an average of -14.5%.

For Valentine’s Day

On Valentine’s Day itself, when 60 Million American adults dine out, an expectedly high 87% of restaurants were up. What’s more, that 87% saw a 119% boost in gross sales on average.

Valentine’s Day vs. a typical Thursday

If Valentine’s Day merely hit the eight week average for Thursdays, only 3% of restaurants would have been up (compare to 73% up on Valentine’s day). For a restaurant that makes $50,000 a week, Valentine’s Day contributed as much as $14,765 more gross sales than a typical Thursday. < Tweet this

Valentine’s Day infographic: Time window heat map

Look at the time window heat map in the infographic below. The columns are groups of restaurants. The ‘Top Third’ is the group of restaurants with the busiest Valentine’s Days, and the ‘Bottom Third’ is the group of restaurants with the slowest.

For all groups, 8pm was the most popular time window, although note that restaurants with a successful Valentine’s Day were busy all night.