You could get free food nearly every day of the year. That’s because almost every day is a national food day celebrating a different food or drink—and marketers don’t let made-up holidays go to waste. Here's what some fast food and casual dining chains have done recently or are planning soon so you can mark your calendars. Just check whether you need the app or a loyalty membership—and if they’re participating and haven’t run out of free food.
National food days that offer free food
January
January 15, National Bagel Day. Schmear we go: Einstein Bros. offered a free bagel with cream cheese with purchase to rewards members.
January 23, National Pie Day. A diner-style chain offered a free slice of strawberry pie with every entrée purchase.
January 27, National Chocolate Cake Day. In the past, a casual dining chain offered a free molten cake for loyalty members, while a fast-food chain offered chocolate cake to loyalty members with a $10 purchase.
January 30, National Croissant Day. Paris Baguette, the bakery-café chain, had a buy one, get one (BOGO) deal for rewards members.
February
February 4, National Homemade Soup Day. Sandwich chain Potbelly gave free cups of soup, chili, or mac and cheese to Perks members when they bought an entrée.
February 6, National Frozen Yogurt Day. Frozen dessert chain 16 Handles offered $5 worth of free frozen yogurt for downloading their app.
Shrove Tuesday/Mardi Gras, National Pancake Day. IHOP, which has celebrated this day for almost 2 decades, offers a free short stack of 3 buttermilk pancakes on the day, which falls somewhere between early February and early March each year. Look out for free pancakes on March 4, 2025.
March
March 9, National Meatball Day. Potbelly’s BOGO deal entitled Perks members to a free meatball sandwich when they bought one.
April
First Thursday in April, National Burrito Day. On the first Thursday in April, Chipotle rewarded thousands of winning online game players with BOGO free burrito codes. The next National Burrito Day is April 3, 2025.
April 7, National Beer Day. A major taco chain dished out 2 free tacos with every order of 2 beers. Gracias.
April 12, National Grilled Cheese Day. McAlister’s Deli, a chain across 30 states, gave out a free Kids Toastie with each purchase of an adult entrée.
April 20, National Cold Brew Day. Dunkin’ Donuts served up free cold brews with purchase via the app and to Dunkin’ rewards members in-store.
April 30, National Oatmeal Cookie Day. Yes, there’s a day for that, and Potbelly Perks members got an oatmeal chocolate chip cookie with the purchase of certain savory items.
May
May 15, National Chocolate Chip Cookie Day. Potbelly Perks members also got an extra cookie when they bought any cookie. The same happened on August 4—the other National Chocolate Chip Cookie Day of the year.
May 15, National Slider Day. Some burger joints slung free sliders. White Castle gave out 1 per customer even if they didn’t buy anything else.
May 28, National Hamburger Day. Flip for deals like Whataburger offering a free burger for signing up for the app (or triple reward points if you already had the app) at hundreds of its locations in more than a dozen states in 2024.
June
First Friday in June, National Donut Day. There were a hole lot of deals on this food day. Big doughnut chains offered a free pastry, some with, some without purchase.
June 10, National Iced Tea Day. McAlister’s Deli loyalty members got a free tea with purchase of an entrée from June 7 to June 10. And if you bought a meal or platter at Long John Silver’s on June 10, you got a free iced tea.
June 21, National Smoothie Day. A cool way to welcome summer, smoothie operators have made the drink free or really cheap. In 2024, for instance, Jamba sold mango and strawberry smoothies for just $1 at certain hours.
June 27, National Onion Day. There’s no crying on national food days, not when White Castle is doing a 2024 BOGO offer with up to 2 free sliders, sprinkled with small cuts of the potent veggie.
July
July 6, National Fried Chicken Day. Fast-food and fast-casual chicken chains hatched numerous deals, from discounted drumsticks and free fingers to BOGOs and gratis delivery.
Second Friday of July, National French Fry Day. Many fast-food chains, including Long John Silver’s, give out fries with or without purchase or as part of a BOGO deal, like at White Castle. Look for deals on July 12, 2024, and July 11, 2025, both Fry-days.
July 14, National Mac and Cheese Day. Regional restaurants and national noodle, bakery, and sandwich chains have offered free, BOGO, or discounted deals on the classic dish.
Third Wednesday in July, National Hot Dog Day. Every dog has its day, and for frankfurters it’s July 17, 2024—and then July 16, 2025. In 2023, you could score free, discounted, or BOGO dogs at hot dog fast-food chains. (One charged 5 cents, its first restaurant’s 1916 price.)
Third Sunday in July, National Ice Cream Day. Big-name ice cream chains plus delivery apps and even a museum have scooped free or discounted cups, cones, and pints. The next ice cream days will be on July 21, 2024, and July 20, 2025, so check your favorite creamery for promotions.
July 29, National Chicken Wing Day. Happy bird day to you! Buffalo Wild Wings gave out 6 free wings with any $10 dine-in purchase in 2023, but many chicken chains are expected to flock to dishing out deals.
July 30, National Cheesecake Day. White Castle will again offer BOGO cheesecake-on-a-stick, while Long John Silver’s will give diners a free slice of cheesecake for spending at least $5.
July 31, National Avocado Day. Chipotle offered rewards members an order of free guacamole when they bought an entrée.
August
August 4, National Chocolate Chip Cookie Day. Can there ever be too many chocolate chip cookie days? (The answer is no.) On the second annual instance of this holiday, at least a (baker’s) dozen cookie retailers offered chocolate chip cookies for free, free with purchase, or at a discount.
August 6, National Root Beer Float Day. A fast-food chain famous for its root beer gives out root beer floats and uses the day to fundraise for disabled veterans.
August 19, National Soft Serve Day. Ice cream chain Carvel, which offered a BOGO deal on a small cup or cone in 2023, is planning a promotion to mark the day again in 2024.
August 20, National Lemonade Day. Like summer in a glass. Long John Silver’s plans to give a free half gallon of its StrARRberry Lemonade with purchase of a family meal.
August 24, National Waffle Day. Past deals include a free waffle for a waffle chain’s loyalty members and a BOGO waffle parfait bowl for a juice chain’s rewards members. Tip: See if your local ice cream chain is upgrading regular cones to waffle cones.
The last Saturday of August, International Bacon Day. In 2023, White Castle had a BOGO single bacon cheese slider deal. Look out for more free bacony foods on August 31, 2024, and August 30, 2025—and possibly on the first Saturday in September (there’s some disagreement on when International Bacon Day really is).
September
September 12, National Chocolate Milkshake Day. IHOP previously offered a BOGO deal on any flavor and doubled rewards on milkshake orders for loyalty members.
September 16, National Guacamole Day. Mexican restaurants and franchises offered the avocado dip (and sometimes chips) for free, though some only gave it out to rewards members, with purchase, or for a discount.
September 18, National Cheeseburger Day. National fast-food and regional burger chains did BOGO deals or charged just a penny to 50 cents a piece, some requiring another purchase.
September 25, Quesadilla Day. Chipotle partnered with a delivery app to give away 25,000 of the tortilla dish to some customers who ordered at least $25 worth of food.
September 29, National Coffee Day. Coffee companies, café chains, donut shops, and even burger chains poured free cups of joe. For instance, White Castle served a free small coffee, and Paris Baguette offered a free medium coffee, both with any purchase through October 1 in 2023.
October
October 4, National Taco Day. It’s not Taco Tuesday as the date falls on a Friday in 2024, but you might be able to score the filled tortilla for free or at a discount at Mexican fast-food and fast-casual restaurants.
October 4, National Cinnamon Roll Day. Last year, Cinnabon offered a BOGO deal for rewards members and plans to have another promotion in 2024. TBD on details.
October 14, National Dessert Day. Got room for dessert? If you’re a restaurant rewards member, check to see what your favorite spots are offering. Long John Silver’s, for instance, served free cheesecake with the purchase of a family meal in 2023.
October 28, National Chocolate Day. Chocolatiers, bakeries, ice creameries, convenience stores, and delivery apps all gave customers a free or cheap sugar rush in 2023. For example, first responders in uniform got half a dozen cookies with $5 purchase at a late-night cookie chain.
November
November 3, National Sandwich Day. Past promotions include Subway matching rewards points from other restaurants’ programs, redeemable for freebies for new rewards program members.
November 9, National Fried Chicken Sandwich Day. For those with coop dreams, a wings chain offered BOGO chicken sandwiches. Other fast-food chains offered a free chicken sandwich for loyalty members with purchase.
November 26, National Cake Day. Paris Baguette cut up BOGO slices for rewards members.
November 28, National French Toast Day. A couple of national burger chains have offered free French toast sticks. At one, you had to be a loyalty member and spend $1 on something else; at the other, you had to make any in-app purchase.
December
December 4, National Cookie Day. C may be for cookie, but F is for freebie. Subway stores in certain cities served up free footlong chocolate chip cookies if you bought a footlong sub.
December 8, National Brownie Day. Potbelly offered 2 takes on brownies to celebrate in 2023: its Chocolate Brownie Cookie and Dream Bar, free for loyalty members who also ordered an entrée.
December 15, National Cupcake Day. A mini cupcake retailer offered free 3-packs of its diminutive dessert in its New York and New Jersey stores.
December 30, National Bacon Day. Not to be confused with the global celebration of this same porky pleasure, this domestic day has featured freebies such as bacon-and-cheese-topped fries and a bacon cheeseburger with $1 purchase, both at major fast-food chains.