ALLENTOWN, Pa. – Valentine’s day falls on a Saturday this year, which means big business for restaurants.
69 News reporter Amelia Sack has more about how local eateries are preparing for the holiday weekend.
Local restaurants are gearing up for a busy Valentine’s Day weekend.
“It takes weeks of planning weeks of prepping, making sure the staff is all informed on everything we’re doing so it’s a group effort, but we feel pretty confident on it,” says Zach Smith, General Manager at Grille 3501.
Eateries are eagerly preparing some new specials and stocking up on their inventory.
“As we get closer to the weekend, we will be increasing our order by quite a bit,” says Kayla Duke, Assistant General Manager at Youell’s Oyster House.
Youell’s Oyster House is almost at a record breaking 700 reservations for Saturday, and those calls started coming in early.
“Honestly, I feel like we probably saw a few before Thanksgiving, we do have a lot of people that are well prepared for a busy evening. And I think that a lot of people, knowing that it was a Saturday this year, chose to book up their reservations if they could early on,” says Duke.
At Grille 3501 it’s a similar story.
“Last I looked we had over 320 on the books for Saturday, which is a very big number for us, so it takes weeks of planning weeks of prepping,” says Smith.
Both spots say Saturday is almost entirely booked but if you’re willing to celebrate Valentine’s Day early, Friday is a bit more promising. You can also call to check on cancellations.