LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — In the spirit of Valentine's Day, hundreds of couples will be heading to central Arkansas restaurants to show off a little love and affection.
But before you head out to your favorite spot, there is something you should keep in mind this year. Many restaurants are still feeling the impacts of COVID-19.
At Cache Restaurant, event coordinator and assistant manager Bonna Sanathong told customers Friday that they were closed during the lunch hour.
"I think this will probably be our busiest [Valentine's Day] in the sense of COVID," Sanathong said.
The group closed in order to prepare for the nearly 300 customers that will fill the seats this weekend.
Cache Restaurant continues to deal with inflation issues, and unfortunately that's something many other businesses are also facing.
"We've had to increase some of our prices, but we try to not overdo it too much," Sanathong said. "But there's nothing we can do when beef, seafood or any item increases," said.
If you are looking for love in the air or at a dinner table this weekend, general manager of The Faded Rose, Zac David has a message. He said they're still anticipating a busy four days, despite the price adjustment to items on their menu.
"I'm expecting around 4:30 p.m. to be full and probably on a wait throughout the night," David said.
David added that the price increase is not just because of the pandemic, there are also other factors.
"Some of it is seasonal too. Beef prices are very seasonal. Through the holidays, they go up [and] right after the holidays they'll drop down, and they'll start coming back up this time of year around Valentine's Day," he said.
For the time being, David expects prices to remain higher than usual.
"I don't think all of a sudden you're going to go from having everybody selling $10 hamburgers to $4 hamburgers in two years," David said.
He believes those issues won't have much of an impact on business this weekend.
The feeling is mutual as Sanathong, along with her staff of about 20 employees at Cache Restaurant, are also ready for the rush.
Management and workers are hoping that customers are understanding of the the price increase, as it's something they have to do to stay afloat.
It not something they want to do.
"In the end, the only way we can make a profit is if we do charge more because the cost of goods have gone up so much," Sanathong said.
Ahead of Valentine's day on Monday, they said they only have a few reservation spots open.
Both Cache and The Faded Rose said your best option is to get to your restaurant of choice as early as you can.