St. Patrick's Day menu templates for restaurants and bars
Updated October 20, 2026
St. Patrick's Day is on Wednesday, March 17, 2027, and Friday, March 17, 2028: copy a menu below, fill in your prices and open dinner pre-orders by early March. There are four templates, all written for restaurants and bars: a specials menu for the dining room or bar, a corned beef and cabbage dinner to go for 2 or 4, a bakery pre-order list for soda bread and treats, and promo copy for your email list, menu banner and social posts.
A midweek St. Patrick's Day changes the plan. On a Wednesday, plenty of guests would rather take dinner home than stay out, so to-go dinners matter as much as the bar. In 2028 the day falls on a Friday during Lent (Easter is April 16, 2028), when many Catholic customers don't eat meat, so a fish or vegetarian main earns its place on the menu.
Pick your St. Patrick's Day template
| Template | Best for | What it prices |
|---|---|---|
| Bar and dining room specials | Pubs, bars, restaurants | Plates, a set dinner, drink specials |
| Corned beef dinner to go | Restaurants, delis, caterers | A dinner that serves 2 or 4 |
| Bakery pre-order list | Bakeries and cafes | Loaves, scones, cupcakes, by the piece or dozen |
| Promo copy | Everyone | Email, banner, social caption |
Paste any of them into the printable menu maker for a US Letter PDF, or copy the wording into Word or Google Docs. For a window poster, pick St. Patrick's Day in the festival poster maker.
1. Bar and dining room specials
Keep the list short; you'll be pouring more than plating. One "dinner plate" with a fixed price makes the kitchen's night predictable.
St. Patrick's Day at [Your restaurant name] · Wednesday, March 17 Kitchen open ____ to ____ · Live music from ____ (optional)
Corned Beef & Cabbage Plate: sliced corned beef, cabbage, potatoes, carrots, mustard sauce · $____ Shepherd's Pie (lamb) or Cottage Pie (beef) · $____ Fish & Chips: ____ with tartar sauce · $____ Colcannon (V) · $____ · Reuben on rye · $____ Irish Soda Bread with butter · $____
Drink specials: ____ pint $____ · ____ $____ · non-alcoholic ____ $____ Prices before sales tax. Please drink responsibly. Tell us about any food allergies.
2. Corned beef dinner to go (serves 2 or 4)
St. Patrick's Dinner To Go · [Your restaurant name] Order by Monday, March 15. Pick up Wednesday, March 17, between ____ and ____.
Corned Beef & Cabbage Dinner: sliced corned beef, braised cabbage, potatoes, carrots, mustard or horseradish cream, Irish soda bread Serves 2 $____ · Serves 4 $____ Add: extra soda bread loaf $____ · ____ dessert $____ · ____ $____
Ready to reheat. Prices before sales tax. Allergy questions? Call ____ before you order.
Reheating card for the bag
Corned beef often looks pink even when it's fully cooked, and customers worry. USDA explains why: the nitrite used in curing fixes the meat's color. Put that on the card.
Reheating your St. Patrick's dinner
- Refrigerate within 2 hours of pickup. Eat within 3 to 4 days.
- Corned beef and vegetables: covered, with a splash of the cooking liquid, at ___°F for about ___ minutes, until a food thermometer reads 165°F.
- It's pink? That's normal. Curing keeps corned beef pink after cooking.
- Soda bread: warm at ___°F for ___ minutes, or toast slices.
3. Bakery pre-order list
Name: ____________ Phone: ____________ Pickup: ☐ Tue 3/16 ☐ Wed 3/17 at ____
| Item | Size | Price | Qty |
|---|---|---|---|
| Irish soda bread | 1 loaf | $____ | |
| Brown bread | 1 loaf | $____ | |
| Scones | half dozen | $____ | |
| Green-iced cupcakes | dozen | $____ | |
| ____ | ____ | $____ |
Paid: ☐ online ☐ card ☐ cash · Entered online ☐
Bakeries that sell more than one holiday a year can also print the "Any holiday" version of the holiday order form.
4. Promo copy
Email to your own list:
Subject: Corned beef dinner to go, ready for Wednesday St. Patrick's Day is Wednesday, March 17. Skip the dishes: order a corned beef and cabbage dinner for 2 or 4, with soda bread, and pick it up between ____ and ____. Order by Monday: [your Menuthere link]
Pop-up banner: "St. Patrick's dinners to go for 2 or 4. Order by Monday, March 15." Announcement bar (under 100 characters): "Corned beef dinners to go: order by Mon 3/15, pick up Wed 3/17" Social caption: "Corned beef, cabbage, soda bread. Dinner for 4, no washing up. Pre-order now for Wednesday."
Send the email from your own email tool: under the FTC's CAN-SPAM guidance it needs an honest subject line, your postal address and an opt-out you honor within 10 business days. If you take orders on WhatsApp, use it for order updates only; Meta does not deliver marketing template messages to US (+1) phone numbers, so in the US WhatsApp sends order updates (utility messages, about US$0.0034 each), not promotions. Use email for offers.
Worked example: pricing a corned beef dinner for 4
These are example figures only. Weigh your own cooked yield; brisket shrinks a lot in a long simmer.
| Item in the dinner for 4 | Example cost |
|---|---|
| Corned beef brisket, 4 lb raw at $5.50/lb | $22.00 |
| Cabbage, 1 head | $2.50 |
| Potatoes, 2 lb | $1.80 |
| Carrots, 1 lb | $1.20 |
| Soda bread loaf (your bake cost) | $2.40 |
| Mustard or horseradish cream | $1.10 |
| Containers, lids, bag, label | $3.00 |
| Total cost | $34.00 |
At a 33% target cost: $34.00 ÷ 0.33 = $103.03. A menu price of $99 puts cost at 34.3% (about $24.75 a person); $105 puts it at 32.4%. If, in your own test, the 4 lb brisket cooks down to about 2.4 lb, each guest gets roughly 9½ oz of meat. Check what the same dinner would need to cost on a delivery app with the menu price calculator.
Kitchen time. USDA's stovetop method allows about 1 hour per pound, so a 4 lb brisket simmers for around 4 hours. Twenty dinners for 4 means twenty briskets; cook them the day before, as USDA's cook-ahead advice describes: cut into pieces, cool quickly in shallow containers in the refrigerator, slice cold for neat slices, and reheat on the day.
When to get your St. Patrick's menu out
| When (2027) | Job |
|---|---|
| Mon, Feb 15 | Cost the menu; order corned beef briskets for delivery by Mar 12 |
| Mon, Mar 1 | Menus online; dinner and bakery pre-orders open |
| Thu, Mar 4 | Email to your list; poster up |
| Mon, Mar 15 | Example last day for dinner pre-orders (2 days' notice) |
| Tue, Mar 16 | Cook, cool and slice corned beef; bake soda bread; print reheating cards |
| Wed, Mar 17 | Pickups, bar service, dining room |
| Thu, Mar 18 | Switch the menu off; note what sold out |
More dates are in our March food holidays and the restaurant marketing calendar.
US rules to check
- Cook corned beef to 145°F and let it rest. USDA's Food Safety and Inspection Service says to cook all raw corned beef to a minimum internal temperature of 145°F, measured with a food thermometer, and rest it at least 3 minutes. It suggests letting a brisket stand about 20 minutes before slicing, across the grain.
- Leftovers and cook-ahead. FSIS says to refrigerate cooked corned beef within 2 hours, use it within 3 to 4 days, and reheat it to 165°F.
- Storage of raw corned beef. Uncooked corned beef in a pouch with pickling juices and a "sell-by" date (or no date) keeps 5 to 7 days unopened at 40°F or below, per FSIS. Plan your delivery date around that.
- Lent in 2028. The US Catholic bishops' rules make Fridays in Lent days of abstinence from meat for Catholics aged 14 and older. March 17, 2028 is one of them, so offer fish or a vegetarian main, and if you want to know whether your local diocese has made an exception, ask it.
- Alcohol. Drink specials and any alcohol to go follow your state's alcohol rules. Check with your state's alcohol beverage control agency before you advertise them.
How to do it in Menuthere
- Put the menu online (Free). Add the specials, or upload a photo or PDF of your printed menu; AI reads the dishes and prices for you to check. Sizes such as "serves 2 / serves 4" work on every plan. Print the free QR code for tables and the bar. 0% commission.
- Take dinner pre-orders (Lite, US$17 a month). Turn on Prebooking, pick Specific items and tick the corned beef dinners and soda bread, set the Earliest booking time to 2 days and use fixed pickup windows on March 17. See dishes that need notice and pre-orders and table booking.
- Book tables for the night (Lite). Add table time slots in the Dine-in half of Prebooking settings and switch on Ask number of people. You get a push alert an hour before each booking. There's no deposit at booking.
- Take payment up front (Lite). Customers pay the full amount online by card through Stripe; sales tax shows as "Sales tax" at checkout.
- Announce it (Lite). Schedule the pop-up banner for March 1 to 15 and add the announcement bar line. A restaurant with a Branded App can also send app users a push notification.
Bakeries can see how ordering works for them on our bakery ordering page. For the next big to-go holiday, our Thanksgiving menu templates use the same pre-order setup. See pricing and the online ordering system for US restaurants.
Pre-orders and table booking start on Lite, with a 7-day free trial (a card is needed to start; nothing is charged until the trial ends).
FAQs
When is St. Patrick's Day in 2027 and 2028?
St. Patrick's Day is always March 17. In 2027 it falls on a Wednesday, and in 2028 on a Friday.
What should a restaurant St. Patrick's Day menu include?
Corned beef and cabbage, a shepherd's or cottage pie, fish and chips, a vegetarian dish such as colcannon, and Irish soda bread, plus your drink specials. Show the price, the kitchen hours and a sales tax and allergy line.
What temperature should corned beef be cooked to?
USDA says to cook raw corned beef to at least 145°F on a food thermometer and let it rest for at least 3 minutes. Reheat cooked corned beef to 165°F.
Why is my cooked corned beef still pink?
Curing uses nitrite, which fixes the pink color in the meat. USDA says pink corned beef after cooking does not mean it isn't done; check the temperature instead.
How much should I charge for a corned beef dinner to go?
Add up the meat, vegetables, bread and packaging and divide by your target cost percentage. In our example a dinner for 4 costs $34.00 to make, so a 33% target gives about $103, and a $99 price works out to about $24.75 a person.
Can I cook corned beef the day before St. Patrick's Day?
Yes. USDA describes cooking ahead: cut the cooked beef into pieces, cool it quickly in shallow containers in the refrigerator, slice it cold and reheat it to 165°F to serve.
Sources (6)
- USDA Food Safety and Inspection Service, Corned Beef and Food Safety (145°F and 3-minute rest; about 1 hour per pound on the stove; pink color from nitrite; stand about 20 minutes before slicing; cooking ahead; leftovers within 2 hours, 3 to 4 days, reheat to 165°F; uncooked in brine 5 to 7 days). Read in a browser 20 Oct 2026. https://www.fsis.usda.gov/food-safety/safe-food-handling-and-preparation/meat-catfish/corned-beef
- United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, Catholic Information on Lenten Fast and Abstinence (Fridays during Lent are days of abstinence for Latin Catholics aged 14 and older). Accessed 20 Oct 2026. https://www.usccb.org/prayer-and-worship/liturgical-year-and-calendar/lent/catholic-information-on-lenten-fast-and-abstinence
- GOV.UK, UK bank holidays (Good Friday 26 March 2027, so Easter Sunday is 28 March 2027; Easter Monday 17 April 2028, so Easter Sunday is 16 April 2028). Accessed 20 Oct 2026. https://www.gov.uk/bank-holidays
- Federal Trade Commission, CAN-SPAM Act: A Compliance Guide for Business. Accessed 20 Oct 2026. https://www.ftc.gov/business-guidance/resources/can-spam-act-compliance-guide-business
- Meta for Developers, Marketing template per-user limits (marketing templates not delivered to US phone numbers). Accessed 20 Oct 2026. https://developers.facebook.com/documentation/business-messaging/whatsapp/templates/marketing-templates/per-user-limits
- Meta for Developers, Pricing on the WhatsApp Business Platform (North America utility rate). Accessed 20 Oct 2026. https://developers.facebook.com/docs/whatsapp/pricing