Olive Garden's Biggest Take-Out Day Occurs On Valentine's Day

Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE: DRI)'s Olive Garden chain's busiest takeout day of the year isn't Super Bowl Sunday, nor does it occur in the days leading up to Christmas when families don't feel like cooking as oven and fridge space may be limited.

According to Gadfly's Shelly Banjo, the answer is Valentine's Day - the one day a year when couples feel the most pressure to go out.

"[A]round certain times of the year convenience becomes more important," Eugene Lee, Darden Restaurants CEO, was quoted as saying during the firm's earnings call on Tuesday. "Valentine's Day, believe it or not, is… the biggest takeout day of the year for Olive Garden."

This is a problem for restaurants, according to Banjo, who pointed out that if Americans aren't dining out on the one day a year where they're most expected to, when exactly are they going to restaurants?

The answer is simple: fewer Americans are actually going out to eat in the first place. The eat-at-home trend resulted in restaurant traffic declining by 3 percent in 2016 which marks an acceleration from last year's 0.8 percent decline.

While Olive Garden's take-out sales are posting double-digit gains, 2016 also saw the largest number of bankruptcies and closures of public and major private restaurants since 2011.

For example, Ruby Tuesday, Inc. (NYSE: RT) is struggling to get consumers into its doors and plans on closing nearly 100 under-performing restaurants.

Banjo did note that Darden is doing a few things right. After a battle with activist investor Starboard Value resulted in the complete overhaul of Darden's board of directors, the restaurant chain invested in new technologies, digital ordering, tabletop tablets, labor scheduling and simplified its menu and operations.

Now Olive Garden is testing delivery in certain markets to better capitalize on the eat-at-home trend.

"It's the right instinct," Banjo concluded. "Given changing consumer habits, restaurants should lust after Amazon's ordering and delivery capabilities, just as retailers have started to do. Who said romance was dead? "