Restaurants don’t prepare much more food on Valentine’s Day, but some make a lot more money

As hard as it may be to get a reservation on Valentine’s Day, restaurants prepare virtually the same amount of food, increasing the number of dishes they serve on that date by only 1% over the daily average. But while the chefs and dishwashers may not be much busier, the checks the servers drop are heftier, with the dollar value on food alone 34% higher.

The data was prepared (and finished with a drizzle of truffle oil) by Toast, the digital platform used by ~99,000 US restaurant locations. It’s based on February 14, 2023, totals from all full-service restaurants on Toast’s platform in 11 cities, including Chicago, New York, and Los Angeles.

Either because diners were ordering more expensive items off the menu than usual, or were more inclined to order pricey daily specials as they were making googly eyes at Smoocheykins, they spent more on individual dishes last Valentine’s Day:

• Diners spent 108% more on steak dishes than on an average day; the average cost of a steak dish was $44.56, compared to the daily average of $30.78.
• Desserts, similarly, were attacked with two spoons, with diners overall spending 90% more on what the report called “desserts, baked goods, and pastry items” than an average day; the average cost of a dessert was $9.21, compared to the daily average of $5.96.

If some of those menu prices strike you as particularly low or high, that may be a function of your zip code. While the average total check in 12 cities for Valentine’s Day in 2023 was $121 (including tip but not tax), the regional differences were stark, with Phoenix ($93) being the cheapest and—you’ll never guess—New York ($156) the most expensive, according to a 2023 Toast report.

Glug glug glug: While, as noted above, the volume of food dishes sold was only 1% higher for last year’s Valentine’s Day, alcohol saw an increase that was—much like some who imbibed—staggering, with a 19% increase in the number of drinks served.

Beer, apparently, is not Cupid’s tipple, and was ordered 40% less frequently last Valentine’s Day than the daily average. Sales of wine, on the other hand, were totally uncorked, rising 242%.