Valentine’s Day pros talk about their busiest day
According to history.com, it was at the end of the 5th century when Pope Gelasius I declared Feb. 14 St. Valentine’s Day. However, during the Middle Ages in France and England, it was commonly believed that the date was the beginning of birds’ mating season, which added to the idea that it should be a day for romance.
Fast forward to 2016 and Valentine’s Day is an occasion for love and romance often coupled with procrastination and stress for those who place a premium on making things perfect — and those who do not take it seriously enough to suit their partners.
While most everyone who has a significant other knows what it’s like to either be planning or, in some cases, hoping for a memorable Valentine’s Day, few are aware of the behind-the-scenes maneuvering it takes to make things appear seamless.
For this occasion, we spoke to the owner of a busy bakery, the owner of a unique flower/gift shop and a man who is recognized in the DFW hotel industry as one of the top concierges in the business about how they prepare for the most romantic day of the year.
While it may seem like it , they are not miracle workers, they are just really good at their jobs.
Tom Ward
Owner of TCU Florist, 3131 S. University Drive, Fort Worth; 817 924-2211; www.tcuflorist.com
TCU Florist is not a typical florist as it has a wine permit, allowing wine deliveries in Tarrant County. They also have relationships with bakeries like Daddy Ray’s Famous Gingerbread on Bluebonnet Circle, allowing it to deliver bakery-fresh items along with the flowers that are being ordered. Normally closed Sundays, this year it will open 8 a.m- 3 p.m. on Valentine’s Day.
Is Valentine’s Day far and away your busiest day annually?
It is our biggest day of the year. We will do a month’s worth of business in three days.
The only thing that really compares to it for us is Mother’s Day, which is essentially Valentine’s-lite. Christmas is a marathon from the day after Thanksgiving to Christmas Eve, every day gets progressively busier.
How did you get into the flower business?
I was a banker for 26 years and in 1995, I was disenchanted with banking and decided I wanted to own my own business. I was 49 years old, so if I was ever going to do it, that was the time.
I had no idea it would be in retail and didn’t really know one flower from another, but having a banking background, I understood the financial [part of it] and I was looking for a solid business that I didn’t have to fix. I went through a business broker who found this, and I analyzed it and bought it. The business has been here since the ’40s and had about four different owners.
Is there anything special you do, like adding extra staff or working extra hours in preparation for Valentine’s Day?
We use a lot of extra delivery drivers at Valentine’s Day just because the volume is so great.
I’m in a networking group with local companies that includes an air conditioning company and this is the slow time of year for them so they have drivers with vans that aren’t being utilized. If they’re not working, they don’t make money, so they’ve been kind enough to ask their drivers that are available to help us out.
They’re able to make an income during a period of time that is slow for them and it works out great for us because they provide the vans and they know customer service.
How far in advance do you start preparing for Valentine’s Day?
We think about it all year because the goal is to improve every year, but actually planning on it, we start about a month out with the ordering of flowers from the wholesalers. We will order about 7,500 roses and once we reach our capacity in the building, we cut off our orders to the suppliers.
Since you have been in this business for over two decades, is there any advice you have for guys with Valentine’s Day approaching?
Girls love flowers. My advice to guys has always been, don’t just give them flowers at expected times like birthdays or anniversaries, if you want the most bang for the buck, do it for no reason at all.
Girls also love for people to know they got flowers, which is why Friday will be be such a big day for us this year.
Do you have a lot of guys coming in at the last minute in panic mode with hopes that you can save them for Valentine’s Day?
They all do. As a general rule, guys always wait to the last minute.
We will have a minimum of 10 drivers, seven or eight designers, five or six sales people all going full speed. By Wednesday of Valentine’s week, things are in full bloom.
Kevin Alderman
Chief concierge at Four Seasons Resort and Club in Las Colinas, 4150 N. MacArthur Blvd. Irving; 972-717-0700; http://www.fourseasons.com/dallas/.
Alderman has been a concierge at Four Seasons in Las Colinas for more than 20 years.
He is a member of Les Clefs d’Or USA, a concierge organization with close to 1,000 members worldwide (but only five in the Dallas area). To apply for this organization, you must work in a hotel lobby for a specific amount of years, get letters of recommendation and go through a process of tests and interviews. It is an elite status similar to a becoming a master sommelier in the wine world, one that provides international connections.
How far out does a concierge generally have to start preparing for Valentine’s Day?
I start getting calls around Halloween. Then again, there are some people out there that don’t realize what a busy day Valentine’s Day can be and there are others who have this expectation that I am a miracle worker, so that adds extra pressure.
If there is such a thing, describe what a “normal” Valentine’s Day like for you?
Every Valentine’s is different and that is part of what makes it special. I may have someone walking by with his golf clubs who says he needs a dozen roses sent to his room while the next gentleman will stop and describe exactly what he wants, how he wants its and why it is so important.
Sometimes I’ll get an entire backstory about stuff the couple may have just gone through that was a life-changing or life-altering event.
It is more enjoyable for me when the sender is more involved in what is going to the recipient, but in the end, both ladies are getting flowers. To me it represents something totally different and I am here to accommodate both requests.
Being a concierge is essentially like being an out-of-town guest’s best friend when they visit the Dallas-Fort Worth area. On Valentine’s Day, I would assume most guests live within a few hours of the property, so how does your job translate to this particular holiday?
You nailed it. Our motto through Les Clefs d’Or is “service through friendship” and for Valentine’s Day, a majority of our guests live within three hours of the hotel, so rather than describing a restaurant or getting tickets to an event, it is more about the experience.
Every year, and it always happens, a gentleman will book the room and forget to book the restaurant until they arrive. From being here over 20 years, I have been able to forge relationships at restaurants where we can get them in when a place may already be at capacity.
In this day and age with technology where people can set up anything they want or find out anything they want, does it make your job on a day like Valentine’s Day easier or more difficult?
Just like the people who still like to hold a newspaper and read it as opposed to reading it digitally, there are people that still want to talk to people about things, be it a certain restaurant or a special occasion.
You can read it online, but it makes a big difference when you talk to someone who has personal knowledge of things. As far as the online reviews, it just changes the dynamic where I can tell them from feedback I have received or a personal experience, that review is dead on or I totally disagree with it and give them reasons on either end.
This is obviously one of the more upscale hotels in the DFW area, so one would think you may have certain clientele to whom money is no object. What are some of the more extravagant things you have set up for Valentine’s Day?
You have the traditional Valentine’s with flowers. Some people like the rose petals on the floor and the bed with champagne and strawberries, some do the bathtub with tea lights and rose petals and others like for us to write a personal message out of the rose petals. That takes the normal thing and makes it a little more special.
As far as out of the ordinary, we have set up helicopter tours over downtown Dallas, AT&T Stadium and downtown Fort Worth ... people come back raving about it. Another traditional request is the horse-drawn carriage, so we set that up over in Highland Park Village and if it’s cold, they have blankets and hot chocolate.
Anything over-the-top romantic that you have played a part in for Valentine’s Day?
One in particular stands out. It was a number of years ago, a guy comes to me and says he wants to make it really special because he is going to propose.
The area out by the pool is really cool at night with the lighting around the waterfall and the bridge, so it’s always something I recommend to guys when they are looking for a special occasion.
I could tell he was looking for help, he knew what he wanted to do, but didn’t know how he wanted to do it. I had a small table set up and had in-room dining deliver some appetizers since they were planning on going out to eat afterward.
We also had a videographer set up and hidden on the back side of the main cabana to capture the moment for them.
Do you have guys coming to you in panic mode at the last minute on Valentine’s Day hoping you can save them with flowers or chocolates?
Happens every year. We started pre-ordering arrangements ... They are delivered the night before so they are fresh and we keep them in the back. Inevitably, someone will come to the desk and say ‘can I get them in the next 30 minutes?’ I’ll say ‘No problem sir, I can get them there in the next 30 seconds.’
It blows people away, but it’s something we have learned over the years with las- minute requests rather than trying to scratch and claw to get an arrangement from a florist that we know is in the weeds because it’s their busiest day.
For chocolates, we have our own pastry shop here in the hotel, so by virtue of having that on property, we can have it in a matter of minutes rather than having to reach out through channels and have an order delivered.
Convenience is my friend and in this society we live in today, they want it and they want it now, so we have geared our Valentine’s Day ideas and pitches in such a way to have them readily available.
Roshi Muns
Owner of Society Bakery, 3610 Greenville Ave., Dallas; 214 827-1411; societybakery.com.
Society Bakery has made The Ellen DeGeneres Show’s list of “Top 10 Cupcakes in America” and USA Today ranked it No. 1 on a list of “Top 10 Bakeries in Dallas.”
In addition to the Greenville Avenue store, another location is in Medical City in Dallas. They deliver in the DFW area. Normally closed Sundays, they will be open from 10 a.m.-3 p.m. Valentine’s Day.
What are your most popular Valentine’s Day items?
Sugar cookies, chocolate and strawberry tarts and people go crazy for petit fours this time of the year.
We bake at least 20 times more sugar cookies than a normal day and keep back-up dough in case that is not enough. Since opening in 2005, we have grown the business organically through a lot of word of mouth and every Valentine’s Day has been bigger than the previous year.
It will be interesting to see this year with it falling on a Sunday.
What makes your items special and unique that draws so many people to this bakery for Valentine’s Day?
I think the reason why our Valentine’s items are special is because we not only pay attention to the taste, but to the design and we change it up every year to make it something that someone would be proud to give to the recipient and the recipient would be overjoyed to receive, which is what makes Valentine’s Day such a memorable day for so many people.
Do you get any unusual requests for cakes or cookies around Valentine’s Day?
Sometimes people will have these “inside jokes” between themselves so we will be making a design on a cake from a picture or notes and we really have no idea what it means or sometimes what we are even making, but it means something to that couple.
We also make a lot of “message cakes” with mostly funny quotes or things that are really on the funny and cute side.
Compared to other holidays, how big is Valentine’s Day for you?
There are some years where it is our biggest day of the year. It’s always between Christmas and graduation weekend, but those are always the top three in some various order.
Do you have to add extra staff for Valentine’s Day or does your current staff get a large amount of overtime?
We are running on all cylinders, but the group that we have is mostly long-term employees and they understand and ‘get’ Valentine’s Day.
We all come together and prepare. There’s a lot of preparation that goes into it so we don’t really add any temporary staff.
Do you have any specific memories from customers coming in at the last minute on Valentine’s Day and needing some help?`
Oh yeah, every single year around 3-4 p.m., and especially at 5, the bakery is full of men and the line goes out the door. Many of them will have the look of panic written across their faces.
Funny thing is, we see a lot of the same men coming in at the last minute year after year with this wild-eyed look of desperation and hoping beyond hope that we can save them.
Since we know what is coming, we are ready for it and while lines are good in theory because it means you’re busy, I personally don’t like waiting in lines so we are staffed to make it as smooth as possible.
This story was originally published February 11, 2016 at 2:30 AM with the headline "Valentine’s Day pros talk about their busiest day."