May 2027 food holidays and promotion ideas for restaurants

May 2027 front-loads its big days: the 153rd Kentucky Derby on Saturday, May 1; Cinco de Mayo on Wednesday, May 5; and Mother's Day on Sunday, May 9, which federal law sets as the second Sunday in May. The month ends with Memorial Day on Monday, May 31, the start of summer cookouts. In between, National Day Calendar lists National Barbecue Day (May 16), National Wine Day (May 25) and National Hamburger Day (May 28). With three occasions in nine days, open bookings and pre-orders for all of them in mid-April.

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May 2027 at a glance

The food days come from National Day Calendar, a private registry, so treat them as marketing hooks, not official holidays. Memorial Day is the federal holiday; Mother's Day is set by federal law (36 U.S.C. § 117) but isn't a day off.

Month-long observances

• National Strawberry Month (National Day Calendar): strawberry shortcake, salads and lemonades all month.

Which May dates are worth a promotion?

Saturday, May 1: Kentucky Derby

The Derby runs at Churchill Downs on Saturday, May 1, 2027, with the Kentucky Oaks the day before. Derby parties are home parties, so sell trays: biscuits and ham, pimento cheese, a hot brown or fried chicken platter, and a dessert tray. Close orders on Thursday so you can bake on Friday. Ready line: "Derby party trays for 10 or 20: order by Thu 4/29 for Sat 5/1 pickup."

Sunday, May 9: Mother's Day

It's one of the busiest brunch days of the year, and it's only four days after Cinco de Mayo. Run two things at once: booked brunch seatings for families who want to go out, and a brunch box for those who'd rather stay home. Our Mother's Day menus (UK English, written for the UK date in March) have set-menu wording you can reuse. Ready line: "Mother's Day, Sun 5/9: book brunch at 10, 12 or 2, or pre-order a brunch box for 4."

Monday, May 31: Memorial Day weekend

Memorial Day starts cookout season. Sell meat by the pound and cookout packs for pickup on Saturday and Sunday, May 29–30. The Fourth of July menu templates have a BBQ-by-the-pound menu and a cookout pack you can reuse for this weekend, and National Hamburger Day on Friday, May 28, is a ready-made kickoff. Ready line: "Memorial Day weekend BBQ: brisket and pulled pork by the pound, order by Wed 5/26."

For Cinco de Mayo itself, see the Cinco de Mayo menu templates.

Promo copy you can paste

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

Pop-up banner on your menu: "Mother's Day brunch boxes for 4: order by Wed 5/5. Brunch tables: book now." Announcement bar (under 100 characters): "Mother's Day Sun 5/9: book brunch or pre-order a brunch box for 4 by Wed 5/5" Social caption: "Brunch out or brunch in? Book a table for Sunday, May 9, or pick up a brunch box for 4. Link in bio."

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 Mother's Day brunch box for 4

These are example figures only. Use your own supplier prices.

At a 30% target cost, $18.00 ÷ 0.30 = $60, so a price of $59 puts cost at 30.5% and $64 at 28.1%. Sixty boxes at $59 bring in $3,540 against $1,080 of food and packaging. The boxes don't need a table, so they add sales on your busiest brunch day without taking seats from booked families. Bake the quiches on Saturday, pack Saturday-afternoon pickups first and Sunday-morning pickups from 8 am. Try other prices in the menu price calculator.

Your May prep timeline

How to run May promotions in Menuthere

1. Put the specials online (Free). Add trays, brunch boxes and BBQ by the pound with sizes, or upload a photo or PDF of your printed menu; AI reads the dishes and prices for you to check. 0% commission on every plan.
2. Book Mother's Day brunch (Lite, US$17 a month). In the Dine-in half of Prebooking settings, add Sunday table time slots (for example 10:00, 12:00 and 2:00) 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 large families by phone. See table booking.
3. Take box and tray pre-orders (Lite). Turn on Prebooking, choose Specific items and tick the brunch box, Derby trays and BBQ, set the Earliest booking time to 3 days and Only made on to the pickup days. See dishes that need notice.
4. Take payment up front (Lite). Customers pay the full amount online by card through Stripe, into your own account. Sales tax shows as "Sales tax" at checkout.
5. Announce it (Lite). Schedule a pop-up banner for each play. For posters, the festival poster maker has Cinco de Mayo and Mother's Day (May); for the Derby or Memorial Day, pick General offer.
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 per pickup slot, so mark the brunch box out of stock when you've sold what the oven can bake (every plan). 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: April · June · full restaurant marketing calendar.