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Historical Valentine’s Day Trends
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 All Restaurants Hamburger Diners Bar and Grill Vietnamese Mexican Barbecue American DAILY RANK
94 214 212 210 166 147 144 125 CHANGE VS AVERAGE DAY 30% -3% 0% -5% 10% 17% 0% 21%
POSITIVELY IMPACTED RESTAURANTS
RESTAURANT TYPE All Restaurants Sushi Thai Italian Japanese French New American Steak House DAILY RANK
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.
Now the question is “How do we help our customers maximize profits?” We do it by offering consultive ingredient suggestions and recipes that will present fine dining with a profitable twist. Let’s look at two items that we stock that can really pack a punch.
PFS ITEM #4491926 Beef Tenderloin Medallions
PFS ITEM #498267 Crab Meat Claw
If we combine these 2 products, we can execute an elegant dinner with a high profit margin for the operator.
2. Crab Cakes 2 pieces @ 3oz. ea. = $3.24
3. Total Estimated Cost = $9.49
4. $9.49 x 3 = $28.47
5. Menu Price = $29.99
6. PROFIT!
When we gather all of this information together the clear picture is that Fine Dining, Italian, French, New American, and steak house operators an capitalize on this basic and fundamental idea of a crab topped tenderloin medallion using any preparation techniques for the crab cakes / crab topping that they are comfortable preparing.
Grilling, pan searing, or even sautéing the tenderloin medallions are all perfectly fine preparations. Any Sauce that the operator wants to use to make it “their own” or to keep the plate in the genre of their restaurant is awesome!
