February is a busy time for local Madison businesses Rocky Rococo’s, Kilwin’s Chocolate shop and  Tutto Pasta as they prepare for one of the busiest days of the year – Valentine’s Day.

This year’s Valentine’s weekend is especially busy with both Winterfest and the Madison Symphony Orchestra at the Overture Hall all weekend.

Valentine’s Day is the busiest day of the year for Rocky Rococo, owner Sam Brown’s family said.

“My father founded Rocky Rococo’s in 1974, and Valentine’s Day has been our biggest day since we rolled out the heart-shaped pizza promotion in the 80s,” Brown said.

Crews are in the kitchen at 6 a.m preparing pizzas and about 30 to 40 employees are on staff during Valentine’s Day, Brown said.

“All of our stores are overwhelmed,” Brown said. “However, it’s our finest hour, even if it’s a bit difficult to keep up on.”

Rocky’s isn’t the only business in Madison to see a large increase in the number of sales around Valentine’s Day.

During the winter season, the average day at Kilwin’s is relatively slow compared to the week leading up to Valentine’s Day when there’s a huge influx of customers coming into the store, Kilwin’s Chocolate Shop co-store owner Nick Pastermack said.

“The days start to double, then triple and eventually quadruple throughout the week leading up to Valentine’s Day,” Pastermack said. “Saturday, especially, is expected to bring in a significant amount of people in the store.”

The Kilwin’s specialty for Valentine’s Day is freshly-made strawberries dipped in chocolate, Pastermack said.

The strawberries are brought in each morning and continuously throughout the day so they are not only fresh, but plentiful enough to meet popular customer demands, Pastermack said.

“By Friday we should have a huge shipment of  hundreds of fresh strawberries ready to be dipped in chocolate,” Pastermack said. “By Saturday we’ll be up early dipping hundreds and hundreds of strawberries in the morning and all day long.”

Although they are made continually throughout the day, sometimes Kilwin’s runs out of particular types of the dipping chocolate, Pastermack said.

It is best to order early so the strawberries are made fresh in the morning and are specially refrigerated and ready for pick up later in the day, Pastermack said.

All orders for Kilwin’s are in-store pickup, to ensure there are always people to help customers in the store, Pastermack said.

Tutto Pasta is also ready for the big day on Saturday. Several of their rooms are set up to accommodate the many dates they are expecting, restaurant owner Pamela McCord said.

Tutto is always busy and full during Valentine’s Day, McCord said. However, with the holiday falling on a Saturday, this year will be especially busy.

“We are always completely full as we get so many walk-ins, and do not let reservations stay waiting over five minutes for [customers] who have not shown up,” McCord said.

However, Tutto Pasta is prepared for the upcoming weekend with their Valentine’s Day specials as well as their desserts, which they will be preparing all day, McCord said. The restaurant plans for Valentine’s Day a year in advance, McCord said.