If your restaurant doesn’t have a daily lunch rush, you might be wondering how other establishments bring in midday customers. For many, lunch specials are the key. Great deals and delicious meals — paired with effective lunch promotions — help attract attention and get the orders rolling in.

6 lunch special ideas for restaurants

A fantastic lunch menu is essential to boosting daytime foot traffic. There’s no need to revamp all your offerings; delicious or exciting lunch specials can attract new diners and inspire longtime customers to stop by outside the dinner hour.

1. Brunch for lunch

Brunch is a beloved weekend tradition, but why limit it to just 2 days per week? If your restaurant is known for its exceptional brunch foods, transform it into a weekday lunch special. It’s a fun and unexpected way to attract customers who might not otherwise eat out in the middle of the day — stay-at-home parents with small children, groups of friends, or people looking for a boozy lunch. You might also bring in professionals who are looking to switch up their everyday lunch routine.

The secret to a great weekday brunch is to offer a blend of breakfast and lunch recipes that are packed with flavor. Foods including fried chicken and waffles, freshly baked peanut butter bread pudding, gourmet bagel club sandwiches, and hearty potato and egg skillets strike the perfect balance.

2. Lunchtime happy hour

Borrow an idea from happy hour and offer exclusive deals for a few hours in the middle of the day. Keep in mind that customers are hungry at lunch; instead of appetizer recipes, focus on meal-and-drink specials. You could offer a burger and a beer for a discounted price, for example, or serve a grilled chicken salad with a glass of white wine. For customers who don’t want to drink alcohol, offer mocktails or standard sodas.

A lunchtime happy hour is appealing to diners who need a relaxing break during a busy day. Whether they’re coming from the office or nearby shops, a great deal is always a big draw.

3. Mix-and-match deal

Instead of the traditional lunch combo specials, allow diners to create their own. Create three lists: entrées, sides, and drinks, for example, or sandwiches, soups/salads, and desserts. Then, set a reasonable price — $8 to $11 is a budget-friendly range — and give customers the freedom to choose one item from each list. Whether they’re in the mood for grilled cheese and a Cobb salad or a tuna sandwich with rice pilaf, diners will love the choose-your-own-adventure experience.

You’ll need to do a few calculations to select the right recipes and build a profitable menu. To maintain solid margins, consider offering smaller-than-usual portion sizes or choosing dishes that can be prepared in batches. Good options include chicken and arugula salad, pasta salad, tomato soup, chicken noodle soup, and pulled pork.

4. Delivery-only specials

Professionals who have a short lunch break often opt to order delivery. By eliminating the drive to and from a restaurant, they can maximize limited downtime. Attract these busy diners with delivery-only specials — a discount encourages people to choose your restaurant over competing establishments. With platforms such as Grubhub, it’s easy to add lunch specials to your delivery menu for a limited period of time.

5. Grab-and-go options

If your restaurant is located near local businesses, a grab-and-go selection can help you capture more orders from busy office workers. Focus on recipes that are easy to prepare and eat, such as sandwiches, sushi, and salads. Alternatively, offer individual portions of your best-selling dishes; lasagna, pasta, roast chicken, taco salad with sour cream, and buffalo chicken wraps are simple to package. They’ll also bring in customers who want something a bit heartier for their midday meal.

Near your grab-and-go display, put out everything diners need for a convenient lunch. Disposable utensils, napkins, and sauce packets streamline the transaction and get people out the door faster.

6. Quick-serve salad bar

A salad bar is a lunchtime staple, but a self-service option can be challenging to maintain during the lunch rush. Instead, elevate the experience by putting staff members behind the line. Customers can select the ingredients they’d like, and employees can plate it quickly. You’ll be able to control portion sizes, reduce spills, and ensure an attractive final result.

Want to surprise diners? Add a few gourmet items to your salad bar to complement the usual bell peppers and cherry tomatoes. Ingredients such as pomegranate seeds, seasonal berries, spiced chickpeas, fresh herbs, blackened chicken, roasted sweet potato, dried cranberries, and crumbled feta cheese can make an ordinary lunch feel like a special occasion.

How to promote your lunch specials

Lunch specials alone aren’t enough to get customers in the door — you need to get the word out. If you’re wondering why people aren’t ordering, it’s probably time to step up your restaurant promotions.

Here are a few ways to let customers know about your lunch specials:

• Marketing. Your lunch specials should feature heavily in your marketing campaigns. To start, post about them on social media, and announce them in your print and radio ads. Email marketing is particularly effective — send out the specials at the beginning of the week or every morning to attract attention from local diners who are searching for lunch ideas.
• Social media advertising. Many customers browse social media during the day, even when they’re at work. Get your lunch specials in front of these people by taking out ads on Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok. Include a link to your online ordering website or menu so people can click through right away. Make sure to target the ads to people in your local area to make the most of your budget, build brand awareness, and boost engagement. Has it been awhile since you refreshed your website? Upgrade your menu before running ads.
• Delivery deals. Encourage professionals to make the most of their lunch hours by offering delivery deals that include your most popular recipes. Print fliers and drop them off at local businesses to drum up interest; physical advertisements are a great way to stand out in an increasingly digital world.
• Community events. Create a schedule of short, interesting lunchtime events to bring in people and build awareness of your menu. For example, you could plan lunch-and-learn sessions with local entrepreneurs on topics ranging from building a business to developing a passion. Other ideas include lunchtime fitness classes, healthy lunch recipe classes, meal prep workshops, or mini concerts.
• National food holidays. Browse our guide to food holidays and find a few that tie into your lunch menu. In the days leading up to the holiday, use related hashtags to highlight menu items and promote your lunch specials on social media. Before National Cheeseburger Day on September 18, you could share mouthwatering photos and videos of your restaurant’s popular bacon cheeseburger. If you run an Indian restaurant, try showcasing your best chicken dishes for Curried Chicken Day on January 12. Participating in the trend can help bring in more traffic and draw attention to your menu.
• Local partnerships. Reach out to large local companies to offer a special deal: When employees order lunch on a specific day of the week, they get a discount. The exclusivity is exciting, and the opportunity to save money can convince workers to order from your restaurant. The company might even begin to plan lunch meetings at your location to take advantage of the deal.

Reach the lunch bunch with Grubhub

Fast, convenient delivery can take your lunch specials to the next level; it appeals to people who are short on time in the middle of the day. With Grubhub, it’s a breeze to provide professional delivery and create enticing offers that draw in the lunchtime crowd. Our loyalty and promotional tools help you set up lunch deals and get your restaurant in front of the right people. If you’re ready to boost lunchtime business, get started with Grubhub today.