By Megan Prevost
June has arrived and with it alluring thoughts of summer, long nights, and more outdoor dining in the sun. With the summer territory (no matter where you’re located) comes an increased popularity of frozen treats and refreshing snacks. While there are over 30 national food holidays to choose from this month (and every month), we’ve selected five of the most mainstream, easy-to-celebrate holidays for your consideration.
Celebrating food holidays at your restaurant allows you to draw in more customers with fun themes, creative marketing, and delicious specials. You can feature new specials or showcase favourite menu items. With these types of holidays, the options are endless! Use them to best serve you, your restaurant, and your customers.
If you’d rather celebrate something more long-term, a couple of fun national food months also take place in June, including:
- National Candy Month
- National Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Month
- National Iced Tea Month
- National Turkey Lovers Month
- National Seafood Month
If you’d prefer to narrow your focus to single-day celebrations, here are five of the best that are available to you in June!
June 4: National Cheese Day
National Cheese Day is a great option for a wide variety of restaurants. Plus, nearly everyone loves cheese in one form or another! Serve up some super cheesy pizza or showcase your favourite fondue recipe this June. From fast-casual to fine dining, all restaurant types can benefit from the celebration of this holiday. For fine dining establishments, it might be time to upgrade that cheese board. You could even showcase a few specialty cheeses or offer a discounted rate for your cheese selection during his holiday, and there’s the potential to provide lactose-free cheeses or cheese substitutes to ensure everyone can be included.
June 10: National Pumpkin Spice Day
Everyone loves this fall beverage, but who knew that National Pumpkin Spice day actually occurs right before the start of summer? Treat your customers to a fall treat early in the year by showcasing your favourite pumpkin dishes, including lattes, desserts, breads, and so much more. This holiday is perfect for coffee shops, bakeries, and restaurants alike.
June 15: National Lobster Day
You don’t have to be from Maine to enjoy lobster at the start of the summer. This one’s for the seafood restaurants and beachside shacks, looking to celebrate their favourite lobster-inspired dishes. Showcase a full lobster or other delicious menu options, like lobster rolls, lobster ravioli, and more. This holiday can also be modified to work for fine dining restaurants. If you’ve got lobster to serve, this holiday will work for you.
June 21: National Smoothie Day
The first day of summer is the perfect day to relax with a smoothie. Smoothie cafes, coffee shops, and more can use this holiday to their advantage, showcasing a line of new summer smoothies or options available. Because this holiday takes place right at the beginning of summer, it’s a great way for restaurant owners to set themselves up for success throughout the hotter months.
June 27: National Ice Cream Cake Day
Last, but certainly not least, we have National Ice Cream Cake Day on June 27. This ultra-specific holiday is perfect for dessert places and ice cream shops looking to advertise their ice cream cake options. Oftentimes, customers won’t know the full scope of your menu, but you can use this holiday (and others) as a way to introduce them to new options, such as ice cream cakes!
Kick off summer with these chill food holidays
As we’re diving into summer, and summer weather, you can use these holidays to showcase your cool treats and refreshing snacks, reminding customers of what you’ll have available when the temperatures rise over the next few months.
To advertise these special holidays, you can create social media campaigns, use signage like flyers and sandwich boards, or use table tents to ensure all customers (current and potential) know about your upcoming deals.
Kick off the summer right by choosing one of these holidays for the month of June!
Megan Prevost is a contributing writer for RestoBiz and a Content Manager for MustHaveMenus. Her work has also appeared in App Institute, Bar Business, Modern Restaurant Management, Small Business Currents, PMQ, FSR, The Daily Fandom, and FanSided.
