January 2027 food holidays and promotion ideas for restaurants

The January 2027 dates that matter most to a US restaurant are New Year's Day on Friday, January 1; Martin Luther King Jr. Day on Monday, January 18; the College Football Playoff National Championship on Monday, January 25; and the NFL's AFC and NFC Championship Games on Sunday, January 31. NFL Wild Card weekend runs from Saturday, January 16, to Monday, January 18, so the holiday Monday has a playoff game too. On weekdays, January is National Soup Month and National Hot Tea Month on National Day Calendar, and two charities run Dry January and Veganuary, so it's a good month for a lighter lunch deal with mocktails and a vegan option.

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January 2027 at a glance

Food days come from National Day Calendar, a private registry, so they are marketing hooks, not official holidays. The NFL and the College Football Playoff list these game dates on their own sites; the CFP lists the January 1 quarterfinal kickoffs at noon, 4 p.m. and 8 p.m. ET, with the games assigned to bowls after the bracket is set.

Month-long observances

• National Soup Month and National Hot Tea Month run all January on National Day Calendar.
• Dry January is run by Alcohol Change UK, a registered charity, which describes it as a 31-day break from booze and offers a free Try Dry app. Veganuary, also a UK-registered charity, asks people to try vegan for the month and has a US site. Neither is a US observance, but both give you a reason to add mocktails and a vegan soup.
• Weeks on National Day Calendar: National Mocktail Week from January 8, National Pizza Week from January 11, National Fresh Squeezed Juice Week from January 18 and Meat Week from January 25.

Which January dates are worth a promotion?

Playoff weekends (January 1 to January 31)

What to sell: something other than wings, which our Super Bowl page already covers for February 14. Try a chili and cornbread pack for 6 with toppings, a 3-foot sub tray, or pot pies to bake at home. One pack can run for all five weekends if you swap the poster each week. For the Super Bowl itself, use our Super Bowl menu templates. How far ahead: one week before Wild Card weekend; take pre-orders each week until Thursday for the weekend. Ready-to-use line: "Playoff chili for 6: chili, cornbread, cheese, onions and sour cream. Order by Thursday, pick up before kickoff."

National Soup Month weekday lunches (Monday, January 4, to Friday, January 29)

What to sell: a soup-and-half-sandwich bundle at one price, with a soup of the day and a vegan option for Veganuary. Show it only at lunchtime on weekdays. The worked example below prices it. How far ahead: put it online by Monday, January 4, the first full working week of the year. Ready-to-use line: "Soup and a half sandwich, $13.50, Monday to Friday lunch. Today's soup: ____. Vegan soup every day in January."

New Year's Day and MLK Day (Friday, January 1, and Monday, January 18)

What to sell: a late brunch on New Year's Day, with three bowl games from noon to night, and a family lunch deal on MLK Day, a federal holiday. Add a mocktail list for Dry January guests. How far ahead: two weeks for New Year's Day, so it's on your menu before Christmas; one week for MLK Day. Ready-to-use line: "New Year's Day brunch from ____ to ____, with three bowl games on the TVs. Mocktails on the menu all January."

Lunar New Year is on Saturday, February 6, 2027. If you serve it, put the menu online by mid-January; our Chinese New Year menu templates (UK English) have layouts to adapt. National Pizza Week is a good warm-up for National Pizza Day in February: see the National Pizza Day menu templates.

Promo copy you can paste

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

Pop-up banner on your menu: "January lunch bundle: soup, half a sandwich and a side for $13.50, weekdays." Announcement bar (under 100 characters): "Playoff chili for 6: order by Thursday for weekend pickup" Social caption: "Cold outside, soup inside. A new soup every weekday this January, vegan option included. Pair it with half a sandwich for $13.50."

Under CAN-SPAM, a promo email needs an honest subject line, your valid postal address and a clear way to opt out, and opt-outs must be honored 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 soup-and-half-sandwich lunch bundle for National Soup Month

These are example figures only. Use your own recipes, portion sizes and supplier prices.

At a 33% target food cost, $4.50 ÷ 0.33 = $13.64, so a menu price of $13.50 puts cost at 33.3%. Sold separately at $6.50 for the soup, $7.50 for the half sandwich and $1.50 for the side, the same lunch is $15.50, so the bundle saves the guest $2.00 and gives them a reason to choose it.

A 5-gallon batch is 640 fl oz, or 53 twelve-ounce cups, so one batch covers about two days at 25 bundles a day. That's why the example uses two soups a week rather than a new one daily, plus the vegan soup. Cool what's left in shallow containers and refrigerate it at 40°F or below within 2 hours, as USDA FSIS advises. See food cost percentage and how to price menu items for the formulas, and list the allergens in each soup with the allergen chart maker.

Your January prep timeline

How to run January promotions in Menuthere

1. Put the lunch bundle online (Free). Add it as one dish, with the soup of the day in the description, or upload a photo or PDF of your printed lunch menu; AI reads the dishes and prices for you to check. All plans have 0% commission and free QR codes.
2. Show the bundle only at lunch (Free). Use Show dishes at set times: tick Monday to Friday and set From 11:00 AM To 2:30 PM. It works on weekdays and times, not calendar dates, so switch it off yourself after January 29. When a soup runs out, mark the bundle out of stock. See show dishes at set times.
3. Take playoff pack pre-orders (Lite, US$17 a month). Turn on Prebooking, choose Specific items and tick the chili pack, set the Earliest booking time to 2 days and set Only made on to Saturday, Sunday and Monday, so packs can be booked for game days only. Use fixed pickup slots. See dishes that need notice.
4. Run a dated code (Lite). For example, a code for $5 off the chili pack from January 16 to January 18, with a minimum order. Codes can be limited to dates and weekdays, not to a time of day. See create a discount code.
5. Take payment up front and announce it (Lite). Customers pay in full online by card through Stripe, into your own account, and checkout shows "Sales tax". Schedule a pop-up banner from January 4 to January 29 and an announcement bar line (up to 100 characters). For a poster, pick New Year in the festival poster maker for New Year's Day, and General offer for Soup Month or the playoffs.
6. Bring lunch regulars back (Pro, US$39 a month). Loyalty points reward repeat lunches; on Free or Lite, a printed card from the loyalty card maker does the same job. Pro also adds Buy X get Y and your own drivers on the rider app, with one-tap assignment and a live tracking link for office deliveries.

With a Branded App (US$99 a month), you can send a push notification with the day's soup. 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: December · February · full restaurant marketing calendar.