Valentine's Day Menu Ideas for Pubs and Restaurants: Set Menus, Sittings and Promotion

Valentine's Day 2027 falls on a Sunday, and at 3.10pm that afternoon England play France in the Six Nations. That changes the shape of the whole weekend. Monday is a work day, so plenty of couples will celebrate on the Friday or the Saturday instead; Sunday splits into a rugby afternoon and a candlelit evening; and Saturday is Galentine's Day, the night for friends.

A pub that plans for one night gets one night. A pub that plans for the weekend gets three. This guide covers the Valentine's Day menu ideas, the sittings and deposits, the bar nights for everyone else, and the promotion plan that fills them.

Valentine's weekend 2027 at a glance

Plan a weekend, not a night

• Run the set menu from Friday to Sunday. One menu, three nights. The kitchen prepares once and sells it three times.
• Sell Saturday hardest. It is the night most couples can stay out late, and the night your best tables go first.
• Decide what Sunday is. If you show the rugby, England v France will finish around 5pm, so either keep the match in the bar and the diners in another room, or turn the whole pub over for evening sittings from 6pm. If you do not show the rugby, say so: some couples will choose you for exactly that reason.
• Offer the match and the meal. For the couples where one of them wants the rugby: a table for the match, then dinner straight after. One booking, two halves, and nobody has to choose.

Valentine's Day menu ideas

The best Valentine's set menus in pubs are the pub's own food done a little better, not a fine-dining menu the kitchen has never cooked before. Keep it to three courses, with a choice of three at each, and put a vegetarian dish on every course.

Starters to share

• A baked camembert with bread and chutney, one between two.
• A sharing board of cured meats, cheese, olives and bread.
• Something light and single: soup, a salad, or scallops as a supplement.

Mains

• A steak to share. A chateaubriand or a large sirloin for two, carved at the table or on the board, is the classic Valentine's supplement and the dish that lifts average spend.
• Your best pie or your best fish. The dish your regulars already order, plated a little more carefully.
• A proper vegetarian main. A wild mushroom Wellington or a risotto, not the one option that is always on.

Puddings

• A chocolate fondant, or a pudding to share with two spoons.
• Strawberries or raspberries with cream, or a cheese plate for the couples who prefer it.

The set menu and the price

A Valentine's Day set menu works at a fixed price for three courses, with a supplement for the premium dish. Cost every dish first, then set the price, and put the supplement on the menu rather than leaving it to the server to explain. Our guide to menu engineering covers where to place the premium dish.

Take each guest's allergies and dietary needs at booking, and take the allergen information for every dish from your recipes and your suppliers' specifications. Giving accurate allergen information is a legal requirement (GOV.UK).

Two sittings and deposits

Valentine's is the night of the year when the number of tables, not the number of people who want them, sets your takings. Two sittings at fixed times let you sell every table twice.

• Fix the times. For example, 6pm and 8.30pm on the Friday and Saturday. On the Sunday, start after the rugby if you are showing it.
• Tell guests the table time. An early sitting is two hours. Say so when they book, on the confirmation and on the reminder, so nobody feels rushed on the night.
• Count your tables for two. Valentine's runs on two-tops. Count how many you can lay without pushing couples into each other's conversations, and sell that number twice.
• Take a deposit per person at booking. Set clear terms: when it can be refunded, and when it becomes part of the bill.
• Confirm, then remind. Send a confirmation when people book and a reminder a few days before. Confirmations and reminders were part of how we cut booking no-shows by 89% at The Anchor, our own venue. On a two-sitting night, a no-show costs you a table you turned somebody else away from.
• Consider pre-orders for the busiest sitting. If the kitchen will be stretched on the Saturday, take the main course choice at booking.

Our guide to walk-ins and reservations covers when a booking beats a walk-in, and Valentine's is the clearest case of the year.

Bar ideas for Valentine's Day: a night for everyone else

Not everybody wants candlelight, and the people who do not are still looking for somewhere to go.

• Galentine's on Saturday 13 February. A night for friends: sharing boards, a cocktail of the weekend if your bar does them, a playlist, and tables for groups of four to eight. Galentine's Day began as a television joke and became a real night out, and it books in groups.
• Anti-Valentine's. A quiz night with a break-up round, a burger and a pint, darts or pool, and no hearts anywhere. These are the anti-Valentine's Day bar ideas that work because they are the pub doing what it does best. Our quiz night ideas have formats to borrow.
• The rugby on Sunday afternoon. England v France at 3.10pm is one of the biggest matches of the championship, and it is on ITV. Run it as a match day at the bar, with its own menu, and our Six Nations guide covers the screening and the bookings.

Keep the bar nights apart from the dinner sittings, in a different room or at a different time. A table of eight celebrating Galentine's is the wrong neighbour for a proposal.

Business marketing ideas for Valentine's Day

Couples book Valentine's well ahead, and the best tables go first, so open bookings in January.

1. The week of 18 January. The announcement: the set menu, the price, the sittings and the three nights. Post it, email the guests who have asked to hear from you, and update your Google Business Profile with the details and the booking link.
2. The week of 25 January. The food: photos of the steak to share and the puddings. Announce the Galentine's and anti-Valentine's nights.
3. The week of 1 February. Last tables for the Saturday late sitting. Offer gift cards for people who want to give the night as a present.
4. The week of 8 February. Final reminders, the menu again, and the Sunday plan: "England v France at 3.10pm, dinner from 6pm".
5. Monday 15 February. A thank-you post, and the next date: bookings for Mother's Day, Sunday 7 March.

Our guide to planning your spring with AI has copy-and-paste prompts that write these posts, the email and the poster for you.

Keep it responsible

• Check any drinks offer against your licence. A glass of fizz on arrival or a cocktail of the weekend is a promotion, so check it first. In Scotland, free or cheaper drinks when someone buys a drink, unlimited drinks for a fixed charge and alcohol as a prize are all banned (Licensing (Scotland) Act 2005, Schedule 3). A changed price must also stay the same for at least 72 hours, so in Scotland set your weekend drinks prices on the Friday and keep them. In England and Wales, the mandatory licence conditions ban irresponsible promotions such as drinking games.
• Give the drivers something worth ordering. Plenty of couples drive. An alcohol-free cocktail or a good alcohol-free fizz on the menu means they celebrate too.
• Ask before you post anyone. Photos of the room are good promotion. Photos of a couple's faces need their permission, tonight more than any other.

When you are ready for more

Everything in this guide works on its own, and you can run all of it yourself.

When you are ready for change, and want your busiest nights to fill themselves, with bookings that take their own deposits, send their own reminders and show you what each sitting earned, that is what Orange Jelly builds. At The Anchor, our own venue, we grew table bookings by 403%.

If that is what you want for your pub, call me on 07990 587315 or email peter@orangejelly.co.uk. The rest of the season, from Burns Night to Easter, is in our Spring Pub Playbook.

Sources

• Men's Six Nations 2027 fixtures (Six Nations Rugby)
• Six Nations Rugby confirms new free-to-air TV deal until 2029 (RFU, 14 March 2025)
• Running a food business: allergies (GOV.UK)
• Licensing (Scotland) Act 2005, Schedule 3 (legislation.gov.uk)
• The Licensing Act 2003 (Mandatory Licensing Conditions) (Amendment) Order 2014 (legislation.gov.uk)

Sources checked on 19 October 2026.