February 2027 food holidays and promotion ideas for restaurants

February 2027 crowds its big days into one week: Lunar New Year on Saturday, February 6; National Pizza Day and Mardi Gras both on Tuesday, February 9; Lent starting on Ash Wednesday, February 10; and Super Bowl LXI on Sunday, February 14, which is also Valentine's Day. Washington's Birthday, a federal holiday, follows on Monday, February 15, so many guests get a long weekend. Ramadan is expected to begin around February 8. For a US restaurant that means two clashes to plan for: game-day to-go orders against Valentine's dinners on the 14th, and pizza deals against Fat Tuesday treats on the 9th.

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February 2027 at a glance

The food days come from National Day Calendar, a private registry, so treat them as marketing hooks, not official holidays. Washington's Birthday is the federal name for what most people call Presidents Day.

Month-long observances

• National Snack Food Month and National Canned Food Month (National Day Calendar): small hooks for bar snacks and a pantry-style special.
• Lent runs from Ash Wednesday, February 10, to Easter Sunday, March 28, 2027, and the US Catholic bishops make every Friday in Lent a day of abstinence from meat, starting February 12.

Which February dates are worth a promotion?

Sunday, February 14: the game and Valentine's Day on one day

Super Bowl LXI is at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, California, according to the NFL. Two kinds of customer want you on the same day: groups ordering platters to eat during the game, and couples who still want a dinner out. Sell platters as pickup before kickoff and put Valentine's dinners on the Saturday and the Sunday evening. Open both about three weeks ahead. The Super Bowl menu templates have the platter menu and a Valentine's-night set menu, and our Valentine's Day menus (UK English) have more set-dinner wording. Ready line: "Valentine's weekend: dinner for two on Sat 2/13 or Sun 2/14. Game-day platters for pickup before kickoff."

Tuesday, February 9: National Pizza Day meets Mardi Gras

Pizzerias get their unofficial holiday on the same Tuesday that bakeries sell king cakes and paczki. Pizzerias should run one capped deal on direct orders, a week ahead; bakeries should open pre-orders two weeks ahead and close two days before. See the National Pizza Day templates for the deal costed against app commission. Ready line: "Fat Tuesday is 2/9: pre-order king cakes and paczki by Sunday, 2/7."

Saturday, February 6, and the start of Ramadan

Lunar New Year 2027 starts the Year of the Goat. Chinese and other East and Southeast Asian restaurants can sell family banquet sets and dumpling trays for the eve (Friday, February 5) and the day. Ramadan is expected to begin around Monday, February 8; the exact date depends on the moon sighting. Our Chinese New Year menus (UK English) and iftar menu templates have ready wording, and Ramadan pre-orders covers daily iftar boxes. Ready line: "Lunar New Year family sets for 4 or 8: pre-order by Wed 2/3 for Fri or Sat pickup."

Promo copy you can paste

Email to your own list (send from your email tool):

Pop-up banner on your menu: "Valentine's dinner for two: Sat 2/13 and Sun 2/14. Book now." Announcement bar (under 100 characters): "Valentine's dinner Sat 2/13 & Sun 2/14 · Game-day platters to go · Book or pre-order now" Social caption: "Football or flowers? Both. Platters to go before kickoff, dinner for two after. Book at the link."

Under CAN-SPAM, a promo email needs an honest subject line, your valid postal address and a clear way to opt out, and you must honor opt-outs within 10 business days (FTC). If your customers order on WhatsApp, keep it for order updates: 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. More in WhatsApp ordering for US restaurants.

Worked example: a Valentine's weekend on a game-day Sunday

These are example figures only. Use your own costs, tables and prices.

A restaurant with 12 tables for two runs a set dinner for two at $95 (before tax and tip) over the weekend, instead of a single Sunday:

If the set dinner costs $30 per table in food, food cost is $30 ÷ $95 = 31.6%, and the 36 tables use $1,080 of food. Selling only one Sunday seating would have earned $1,140. Adding Saturday triples the Valentine's dinners without fighting the game for Sunday's tables. Check other prices in the menu price calculator.

Your February prep timeline

How to run February promotions in Menuthere

1. Put the specials online (Free). Add the set dinner, platters, banquet sets or king cakes as dishes with sizes, or upload a photo or PDF of your printed menu; AI reads the dishes and prices for you to check. Print the free QR code for your windows and tables. 0% commission on every plan.
2. Take Valentine's bookings (Lite, US$17 a month). In the Dine-in half of Prebooking settings, add table time slots for Saturday and Sunday and switch on Ask number of people. You get a push alert an hour before each booking. There's no deposit or card hold, so confirm big parties by phone. See table booking.
3. Take pre-orders for set days (Lite). For platters, banquet sets and king cakes, choose Specific items, set the Earliest booking time (for example 2 days) and Only made on the days you make them. See dishes that need notice.
4. Run one code at a time (Lite). A discount code can be limited to dates and weekdays, with a minimum order, a maximum discount and a use limit, but not to a time of day.
5. Announce it (Lite). Schedule a pop-up banner for each play and keep the announcement bar to one line. For posters, the festival poster maker has Big Game Sunday, National Pizza Day, Valentine's Day, Chinese New Year and Ramadan.
6. Deliver with your own drivers (Pro, US$39 a month). The rider app runs on iOS and Android, and customers get a live tracking link. You assign each order with one tap. See the rider app.

There's no cap on orders per pickup slot, so mark a dish out of stock when you've sold what the kitchen can make. With a Branded App you can send app users a push notification. See pricing and pre-orders and table booking.

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).

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More months: January · March · full restaurant marketing calendar.