Did you know 45% of U.S. customers say they’ve tried a new restaurant after seeing their posts on social media? That’s why it’s more important than ever to make sure your restaurant is establishing an effective social media strategy to grab customers’ attention. One great way to make your restaurant stand out online is to celebrate national food holidays on social media.

National food holidays celebrate dishes, drinks, and ingredients on specific days throughout the year. Acknowledging a national food holiday on social media is a great excuse to throw out a promotion around a menu item, giving diners an extra incentive to try what you’re cooking. Everyone loves having something to celebrate, and your restaurant can use food holidays to build excitement around certain cuisines you serve.

Take a look at these tips on how you can take advantage of food holidays this month.

Use social media templates in your food holiday marketing strategy

Social media is the best platform to connect directly with diners and prospective customers. Posting about a national food holiday shows diners that you’re ready to serve fan favorite dishes. Download our free Canva social media templates to celebrate the most popular food holidays this November.

The best part about these templates is you can customize them to match your brand. Put your own food photography center stage while encouraging diners to place an order. 82% of people would order food just because of how it looks in a photo, regardless of weather they wanted it or not. Getting your dishes in diners’ social feeds can have a direct impact on order volume. Post your templates with #GrubhubPartner for a chance to be featured on our Instagram, Grubhub for Restaurants.

How to market national food holidays

Establishing a marketing strategy around national food holidays starts with selecting what cuisine you want to celebrate this November. Then, you can build out a promotion that will turn customers’ heads.

1. Celebrate your cuisine

Find the food holidays that fits your restaurant’s brand. Are you known for your mouth watering subs? Celebrate National Sandwich Day (Nov. 3) to highlight your top menu item. When it comes to choosing where to grab lunch, potential diners will be attracted to your speciality sub promotion. This can also help your restaurant stand out as the go-to place for a specific cuisine.

Keep your promotions special and exciting by choosing one or two food holidays to acknowledge this month. You can focus on different parts of your menu, pulling out an entrée, side, appetizer, drink, or dessert to run a promotion around.

2. Pile on promotions

Nothing motivates a diner to click ‘add to cart’ on a menu item more than a discount. Food holidays are the perfect opportunity to create a promotion around a specific dish.

Wondering what promotions will get customers to take a look at your menu? Here are a few ideas:

• Discount dollar amounts. Run a promo for $2 off nachos on National Nachos Day (November 6)
• Discount items. Offer 15% off coffee on National Cappuccino Day (November 9)
• Discount themed ingredients. Take 10% off fried items on National Fast Food Day (November 16)
• Give a free item with purchase. Throw a free pickle side in on National Pickle Day (November 14)

Get creative with the promotions you run to catch potential diners’ attention. If you see that other bakeries are promoting their cupcakes on National Vanilla Cupcake Day (November 10), consider creating a unique frosting design that will make your cupcakes go viral. As long as your food holiday campaign is centered around an enticing deal, there’s no limit on how you can celebrate.

When you partner with Grubhub, you get access to powerful marketing and loyalty tools that can make rolling out a promotion simple. Listing your restaurant on Grubhub gives your restaurant extra exposure which can make all the difference when hungry diners are looking for a restaurant to fill their food holiday cravings.

3. Spread the word

Once you know what food holidays you’re going to celebrate and which promotions you’ll use to attract customers, the final step is to spread the word. Facebook, TikTok, and Instagram are all popular social media channels for foodies. Plug your own photos into Grubhub’s free social media templates to let diners know you’re celebrating. Post your food holiday celebrations with trending hashtags to get your deals and dishes in front of a much larger audience. Check out these social media tips for more guidance on how to stand out online.

Create a social media calendar to plan how you will roll out your promotions. A social media calendar is an easy way to organize your upcoming social posts and promotions by date. As a restaurant owner, you have a lot on your plate. Planning out your social media strategy in advance can help ensure you can plan promotions, batch content, and solidify your menu to align with your offerings. Create a calendar alongside Grubhub’s Guide to National Food Holidays to make sure you don’t miss out on any food holidays this month.

To make sure your restaurant gets that extra exposure, you can market your food holiday promotions beyond traditional social media platforms. Putting up signs around your restaurant and updating your restaurant website with your food holiday promotions can help build excitement with your customers. You can also use these affordable marketing tools to reach more diners across a variety of channels.

The holiday season is not complete without grub

Thanksgiving is not the same without a table full of mouthwatering dishes. While this holiday is known for family cooking, if a turkey fiasco occurs when grocery stores are closed, diners may be turning to delivery to save the big day. In fact, Thanksgiving is one of the top delivery holidays on Grubhub.

Food delivery isn’t just soaring on turkey day. Thanksgiving Eve and Black Friday are also top delivery holidays for Grubhub this November. Small Business Saturday is also a great time to celebrate local restaurants. Preparing your restaurant for this rush in delivery and take-out orders can help you capture this demand and grow your revenue.

November food holidays:

November is National Peanut Butter Lovers Month!

• Nov 1: National Calzone Day
• Nov 3: National Sandwich Day
• Nov 6: National Nachos Day
• Nov 7: National Pad Thai Day
• Nov 9: National Fried Chicken Sandwich Day
• Nov 9: National Cappuccino Day
• Nov 10: National Vanilla Cupcake Day
• Nov 11: National Sundae Day
• Nov 12: National French Dip Day
• Nov 14: National Pickle Day
• Nov 16: National Fast Food Day
• Nov 17: National Baklava Day
• Nov 18: National Apple Cider Day
• Nov 20: National Peanut Butter Fudge Day
• Nov 23: Thanksgiving
• Nov 26: National Cake Day
• Nov 28: National French Toast Day