NOTEBOOK: You don’t buy me dinner, anymore… (Business Record) »

Iowans are getting even less likely to take their sweethearts out for dinner for Valentine’s Day, Womply reports. 

Could it be to avoid the crowds? Are we sending roses instead? Are we — gasp! — actually cooking something at home? Getting take out? Not hungry?

Those questions aren’t answered in Womply’s latest analysis of 42,000 small local restaurants around the country. But we know this: Last year, the software company serving small businesses listed Valentine’s Day as the 109th-best sales day of the year for small Iowa restaurants based on 2017 data. 

The 2018 numbers dropped Valentine’s Day to 123rd-best in sales, 9 percent more than any old less-romantic day. That’s even worse than the national average of 120th-best sales for Valentine’s Day, but perhaps that’s because the restaurants in Lincoln charge more. We have no idea. Iowa ranks 29th-best in sales nationally for small-restaurant meals, candles or no, Womply reported. 

St. Patrick’s Day and Cinco de Mayo both bring more restaurant traffic at these small venues than the Valentine’s Day, the survey found. Because there’s nothing like green beer or guacamole to say, “I love you.”