THE HISTORIC FOOD TRENDS OF VALENTINE’S DAY BRYAN CORSINI - BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT MANAGER – Italian & center of the plate
Valentine’s Day started in 500 A. D. It was started by Pope Saint Gelasius I, the third pope of the Catholic Church. He named the day after Saint Valentine or Saint Valentinus. The name Valentine is derived from a Latin word “valens” meaning worthy, strong or powerful. In ancient Rome a Pagan festival was celebrated and to Christianize the same, the festival was renamed as “Saint Valentine’s Day” by the church. The Valentine day took a totally different shape in the 18th century. The businessmen started generating profits by making cards associated with the festival. The festival changed to romance. The famous English poet Chaucer wrote a beautiful poem to mark the first anniversary of the engagement of King Richard II of England. The earliest cards were handwritten and by 19th century the market was flooded with printed cards containing love verses for young men and women. In Japan this festival started in 1935 and was named giri choko meaning obligatory chocolate. Another legend says that a priest named Valentine defied the orders of the Roman Emperor Claudius and and continued to perform marriages, as Claudius had forbidden them, believing that the young men after getting married did not join the army out of love for their wives. When Valentine was caught performing marriages, he was sentenced to death and the day was 14th February.
NEGATIVELY IMPACTED RESTAURANTS RESTAURANT TYPE
DAILY RANK
All Restaurants Hamburger Diners Bar and Grill Vietnamese Mexican Barbecue American
94 214 212 210 166 147 144 125
CHANGE VS AVERAGE DAY 30% -3% 0% -5% 10% 17% 0% 21%
POSITIVELY IMPACTED RESTAURANTS
8
RESTAURANT TYPE
DAILY RANK
All Restaurants Sushi Thai Italian Japanese French New American Steak House
94 1 2 3 3 5 18 23
CHANGE VS AVERAGE DAY 30% 76% 51% 85% 64% 131% 67% 101%
When we think of the restaurant industry, we consider how strong a holiday is represented by the increase in sales. We see that the Valentines Holiday affects different genres of restaurants differently. The first chart shows that there are certain restaurants that DO NOT benefit from Valentines Day. Burger Restaurants, Diners, Bar and Grill, and Barbecue Restaurants actually see a decline in sales. We also see that Sushi, Italian, French, New American and Steak House style restaurants see a significant increase in business for the Holiday. Some of them seeing over 100% increased sales. This tells us that this is a calendar event that should be used to capture profitable sales growth for both you and the operator.
