This article is sponsored by our partner, Ghirardelli.
For coffee shops, Valentine’s Day is a bit of an anomaly among popular holidays. Unlike Thanksgiving or Christmas, which have seasonal flavor associations that cafes can easily capitalize on, February 14 is a bit of an outlier. After all, there’s no pumpkin spice equivalent for Valentine’s Day.
But the holiday can still be a lucrative opportunity for the cafes and roasters that are willing to be playful and get creative. Coffee shops are already well positioned to turn the day into a revenue-driver with little luxuries like coffee, chocolate, and pastries. Maximizing that opportunity—and extending the window of a potential V-Day boost—can be as simple as adding limited time offers (LTOs) and specials to your menu.
Of course, it wouldn’t be worth the trouble if those promotions didn’t move the needle. But as the following four cafes demonstrate, well-chosen touches—from thoughtful drink-and-flowers pairings to limited-time treats—can turn a fleeting holiday into something more memorable (and profitable).
Update Menus With Popular Flavors—and Premium Ingredients
Valentine’s Day promotions don’t have to be big events. As these coffee brands show, elevated and flavor-driven drinks are great ways to capture the excitement and romance of the holiday.
Chocolate is an unsurprisingly popular drink component during Valentine’s Day. Dave Dulyx, vice president of professional products at Ghirardelli, notes that creating drinks to celebrate the holiday doesn’t have to be complicated, so long as you use a quality chocolate. “Simplicity allows the quality of the chocolate and flavor pairings to shine,” he says. According to a 2024 Technomic Brand Equity Study, 89% of people are willing to pay more for beverages made with premium chocolate.
Katrina Sarovich, chief of staff at Stan’s Donuts—a donut and coffee brand with locations in the Chicagoland area—has found that pistachio pairs beautifully with premium chocolate. Stan’s is continuing to offer a popular Dubai-style mocha made with Ghirardelli Sweet Ground Chocolate & Cocoa Powder, pistachio syrup, espresso, and steamed milk, topped with pistachios through Valentine’s Day, which feels celebratory and premium, without requiring extensive recipe development or operational adjustments.
Every year, Stan’s plans its Valentine’s Day drinks around its current inventory. It communicates availability clearly, while still leaving room to meet day-of demand. “That balance helps us reduce risk while continuing to deliver fresh, exciting offerings for our guests,” Sarovich says.
Game Shack Cafe in Dunlap, TN leans into premium ingredients for both their Valentine’s Day and year-round offerings: “We love [Ghirardelli] for our frappes,” owner Sara Black says. “And their Dutch process cocoa is one of the two special ingredients that make our no-bake cookies so very popular.”
Marcus Young, executive vice president of coffee at Goodboybob in Los Angeles, encourages baristas to explore seasonal ingredients that feel Valentine’s-appropriate, without compromising on quality. “There’s beautiful things you can do with strawberries and cherries and Luxardo” versus red food coloring and artificial flavors, Young says. “You could do really fun stuff.”
Young gives baristas at Goodboybob’s two locations room to experiment, with guidance to keep it simple. “It doesn’t have to be a huge, major investment in your team,” Young says. This year, Goodboybob baristas will serve Cupid’s espresso, a “double shot of espresso mix mixed with our house made mocha syrup poured over ice, topped with strawberry cream, sprinkled with dried strawberry dust and sugar”.
For operators who are short on time or want to experiment with something low-lift, Dulyx suggests adding a small, new element to existing drinks. “A small ‘surprise and delight’ element—such as adding a Ghirardelli chocolate Square to each order—can make the promotion feel premium and thoughtful,” he says. “Customers notice the added care.”
The Coffee-and-Flowers Bundle Is Everywhere (For Good Reason)
Flowers are a Valentine’s Day staple—and more coffee shops are choosing to partner with local florists to provide romantic bundles for the holiday. These can take the form of a specialty drink paired with a small bouquet, though it’s also possible to add other elements, like chocolate bars or special pastries. As part of our research, we commonly found bundles ranging in price from $25 for a drink and flowers to $60 for a larger drink and scaled-up bouquet with delivery included.
Black’s Game Shack Cafe has spent the last few years refining her approach to Valentine’s Day bundles. This year, the shop will offer a package that costs $40.99, and includes a handmade bouquet (provided by another local business, Dunlap Flower Shop) and an any-size drink. It will also deliver the bundle to that special someone.
“We started this promotion a couple of years ago,” Black says. “We have made changes each year to what we offer and how we run it. We learn something new each year that seems to make the next year run smoother.”
For example, Black says that Dunlap Flower Shop’s owner, Jennifer Barker, initially made every bouquet after bundle orders came in, requiring a quick turnaround . “We decided the next year to preorder a set amount of bouquets based on the previous year’s numbers. It helped both of us tremendously to have a preset amount.” Game Shack advertises the promotion as having a limited quantity starting in late January. “It just isn’t possible to make more bundles the day of if we sell out,” Black says. “But we can make adjustments if the preorder sells out before the cutoff deadline.”
The financial arrangement between the two businesses is a mutually beneficial one. Selling preorders lets Black know exactly how much revenue to expect, while Barker reaches new customers who might not otherwise walk into her shop. “After doing this for several years, I know what to budget for,” Black says.
Despite the complexity of coordinating flowers, drinks, treats, and delivery across a tight timeline, Black says the promotion has become one of her favorites. “I don’t actually have a hard time finding the extra delivery drivers; this is such a fun event, I get friends begging to come help every year,” she says. “One even bought us all matching shirts to wear.”
Building a Coffee Blend for the Occasion
Many roasters make festive holiday blends during the latter part of the year, and some are now taking a similar approach to Valentine’s Day. Every year, for instance, Goodboybob releases a Valentine’s Day–themed bag called Lover’s Blend, which features an approachable, classic coffee blended with a rarer coffee from its freezer library to add depth and nuance.
“We keep it special—we keep it Goodboybob,” says Young. “But I don’t want it to be too far in left field, if you’re giving it to someone who’s only ever had [super dark roasts]. Let’s not shock them with an oddity.”
Young says the Goodboybob team learned this lesson the hard way when a past wine promotion didn’t go as planned. When the Santa Monica location offered obscure wine varieties from notable local producers, sales lagged. When it switched to familiar varieties, like pinot grigio, sales improved dramatically.
“Having something that, at a glance, a novice wine drinker would be like, ‘Oh, I know that. I like pinot grigio. I’m gonna grab it.’ It definitely did much better,” Young says. “So not getting too esoteric on this stuff, making it very easy for people, is much better.”
An Extra Treat or Gift for Your Boo
Valentine’s Day is the time for little luxuries, and receiving a small but thoughtfully chosen treat or gift can mean more than something over-the-top and extravagant. Cafes can jump in by offering low-cost but limited-run pastries and keepsakes for the holiday.
For instance, Game Shack offers treats like chocolate-covered strawberries ($12 for a half dozen, $24 for a dozen), strawberry cheesecake scones ($4), and mini cookie cups ($6) during the lead-up to Valentine’s Day. These items can be purchased separately or as an add-on to its coffee and flowers bundle. The add-ons help raise the cafe’s average ticket during the promotional window.
Goodboybob, meanwhile, sells romantic greeting cards from local artists. It also stocks Blind Date with a Book gifts (a surprise book wrapped in plain paper that only reveals the genre), branded wine collaborations, and premium chocolates. “There is that element of surprise,” Young says. “Like, ‘Whoa, I never thought I would get this here—I don’t have to go to the gift shop now.’”
When To Plan Out Your Valentine’s Day LTOs
The Valentine’s Day promotional period is short and falls within a period of several smaller holidays, so it’s important to get a head start on planning.
PJ’s Coffee, the New Orleans-inspired coffee chain, for example, will go simple this year for their Valentine’s Day promotions with $2 off Frozen Hot Chocolates exclusively through their app. “It’s important to review our holistic marketing calendar,” Reid Nolte, executive vice president of marketing at PJ’s, says. “In 2026, Valentine’s Day falls right before Mardi Gras [February 17th]. As a New Orleans concept, we need to ensure promotions and product spotlights don’t overlap.”
Black advises operators looking to do a Valentine’s Day limited release lean heavily on preorders. “Start small and do preorders with a cutoff deadline five days to a week before Valentine’s Day,” she says. “This gives you time to organize and get any last-minute, missing ingredients. The first year we only did the bouquets and coffee drinks. It’s a good way to judge interest.”
Still, having a plan doesn’t mean things can’t go haywire. “Don’t be afraid to try new things, but make sure to offer limited quantities to create excitement and drive demand,” Sarovich says. “It’s a great way to test ideas while keeping the promotion special and memorable for your guests.”
Now several years into the promotion, Game Shack Cafe has a lot of systems to make the promotion run smoothly, but Black has learned she still has to lean into the chaos. “Even though it is crazy busy that day, enjoy it!” she says. “It is one of the most organized-chaotic days at the coffee shop, that is full of laughs and surprising people with flowers, caffeine, and sweet treats. Trust me, the smiles that day are contagious!”
Sponsored by GHIRARDELLI
