November 2026 food holidays and promotion ideas for restaurants

The November 2026 dates that matter most to a US restaurant are Election Day on Tuesday, November 3; Veterans Day on Wednesday, November 11; Thanksgiving on Thursday, November 26; Black Friday on Friday, November 27; and Small Business Saturday on Saturday, November 28. Diwali falls on Sunday, November 8, and daylight saving time ends at 2 a.m. on Sunday, November 1, so evenings get dark an hour earlier by the clock from the first day of the month. Thanksgiving and Friendsgiving trays need pre-orders taken days or weeks ahead, so the planning starts in late October.

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November 2026 at a glance

Food days come from National Day Calendar, a private registry, so they are marketing hooks, not official holidays.

Month-long observances

• National Fig Week starts November 1 (National Day Calendar). A fig and blue cheese flatbread or a fig dessert fits the week.
• Native American Heritage Month: the Library of Congress site lists November as National American Indian Heritage Month. If you cook Native American dishes or buy from Native producers, it's a month to tell that story on your menu.

Which November dates are worth a promotion?

Veterans Day (Wednesday, November 11)

What to sell: a thank-you meal or a percentage off for veterans and active-duty service members, dine-in or pickup, plus a family meal for the holiday lunch. Decide before you advertise it how you'll check eligibility (for example, a military or VA ID at the counter), because a discount code can't check ID online. How far ahead: two weeks. Post it by Wednesday, November 4. Ready-to-use line: "Thank you for your service. Veterans and service members get ____ on Wednesday, Nov 11. Show your ID at pickup or at the table."

Friendsgiving weekend and Thanksgiving (Friday, November 20 to Thursday, November 26)

What to sell: side and appetizer trays for Friendsgiving potlucks the weekend before (Friday, November 20, and Saturday, November 21), then dinners and pies for Thursday, November 26. Price and lay out the Thanksgiving meal with our Thanksgiving menu templates and set up the pickup slots with the Thanksgiving pre-order guide; this page covers the Friendsgiving trays in the worked example below. How far ahead: open both by Monday, November 2. Ready-to-use line: "Bringing a dish to Friendsgiving? Order a tray for 10 and pick it up hot on Friday, Nov 20 or Saturday, Nov 21."

Small Business Saturday (Saturday, November 28)

What to sell: a "shop small" weekend brunch (National French Toast Day is the same day) or a pastry box for people out shopping on Main Street. American Express founded Small Business Saturday in 2010 and holds it on the Saturday after Thanksgiving; its merchant page offers free Shop Small signage and social posts. For the Friday sale itself, use our Black Friday menu templates. How far ahead: one week. Swap your banner on Friday, November 27. Ready-to-use line: "Shopping small on Saturday, Nov 28? Start with brunch here. French toast is on the menu all day."

Promo copy you can paste

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

Pop-up banner on your menu: "Friendsgiving trays and Thanksgiving dinners: pre-order now for Nov 20 to Nov 26 pickup." Announcement bar (under 100 characters): "Thanksgiving pre-orders are open. Last day to order: Mon, Nov 23" Social caption: "Friendsgiving is a potluck, not a cook-off. Bring our mac and cheese, Brussels sprouts and cornbread stuffing, ready to set down on the table. 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 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.

Election Day deals: keep them open to every customer rather than tying them to an "I voted" sticker. Federal law bars paying or offering to pay anyone for voting in a federal election (52 U.S.C. § 10307(c)), and state election laws can add their own rules. Ask your attorney if you're unsure.

Worked example: 40 Friendsgiving side trays the weekend before Thanksgiving

These are example figures only. Use your own supplier prices, recipes and oven times.

One "Friendsgiving Sides Trio" is three half pans that serve 10 to 12 people:

At a 30% target food cost, $38.00 ÷ 0.30 = $126.67. A menu price of $125 puts cost at 30.4%. An early-bird code of $10 off (valid Monday, November 2, to Friday, November 13) brings the price to $115 and the cost to 33.0%.

The kitchen limit is the oven, not the menu: 40 trios are 120 half pans, or 60 on each pickup day. If your oven takes 10 half pans per load and a load bakes in 40 minutes, that's 6 loads and about 4 hours of oven time each day, before any of your Thanksgiving prep. Menuthere doesn't cap orders per pickup slot, so when the Prebookings tab shows 40 trios, mark the trio out of stock and the menu stops taking more. Run the price through the menu price calculator, and see food cost percentage for the formula.

Your November prep timeline

How to run November promotions in Menuthere

1. Put the November menu online (Free). Add the trays 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 the counter and flyers. All plans have 0% commission. To show the Election Day lunch combo only at lunchtime on a Tuesday, use Show dishes at set times (weekdays plus a time window, not calendar dates); see show dishes at set times.
2. Take Friendsgiving tray pre-orders (Lite, US$17 a month). Turn on Prebooking, choose Specific items and tick the Sides Trio, set the Earliest booking time to 2 days and set Only made on to Friday and Saturday. Use fixed pickup slots. If you also take Thanksgiving pre-orders, add Tuesday to Thursday to the same list, as the Thanksgiving pre-order guide explains. See dishes that need notice.
3. Set the early-bird and weekend codes (Lite). Make a $10-off code with a minimum order of $115, a Start of November 2 and an End of November 13. For Small Business Saturday, make a second code that starts and ends on November 28. Codes can be limited to dates and weekdays, not to a time of day. See create a discount code.
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 from November 2 to November 23 and an announcement bar line (one line, up to 100 characters). For a window poster, pick Thanksgiving, Black Friday or Diwali in the festival poster maker; for Friendsgiving or Veterans Day, pick General offer.
6. Deliver trays with your own drivers (Pro, US$39 a month). The rider app runs on iOS and Android, you assign each order with one tap, and customers get a live tracking link. Pro also adds loyalty points and Buy X get Y.

With a Branded App (US$99 a month), you can send regulars a push notification when Thanksgiving orders open. 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: October · December · full restaurant marketing calendar.