If you plan to be open on Thanksgiving, like almost one-third of US restaurants, you’ll need a Thanksgiving menu. Use our free Thanksgiving menu template to give your plans a jump start. It works equally well as a printed or digital menu. Download in your preferred format below, and read on for ideas and tips for creating your Thanksgiving menu.
Download Thanksgiving Menu Template
Download this free Thanksgiving menu template and add your restaurant details and menu.
How to Use a Thanksgiving Menu Template
Using a Thanksgiving menu template is easy. Just download the template and fill it out with your menu items and restaurant information. On Thanksgiving, most restaurants provide a prix fixe menu, which offers three or four courses with a choice of two to three items in each course for a flat price. I’ve seen a lot of success with this format in restaurants of all types.
Step 1: Download and open the Template
Click the download button above to match your preferred document format. There are options for Microsoft Word, Google Docs, and PDF.
Once downloaded, open the template and familiarize yourself with the editable fields. This template has areas where you can add your restaurant location information, the hours your menu will be available, the menu price, and three menu courses.
Step 2: Add Your Restaurant Information
At the top of our template, there is space for your restaurant logo, address, and contact information. With your information on the menu, customers know how to contact you no matter where they come across your menu: in person, on our website, or on social media.
Step 3: Curate Menu Selection
Now, the meat of the operation is your menu items. When deciding your menu selections, consider the following:
- Your kitchen team’s skill: Feature dishes that your kitchen team can easily execute and that you already have the necessary equipment to produce. Ensure all your dishes come from different cooking stations to spread the work evenly regardless of what customers order.
- Your customers’ preferences: Consider your most likely customers and what they like to eat. Do you see a large number of vegan or vegetarian diners? Do your customers love comfort food or Mediterranean-style dishes? Thanksgiving is a celebration, so giving your customers what they already love will drive reservations and sales.
- Available ingredients: Try to stick with in-season or easily obtainable ingredients. These ingredients will be less expensive and less prone to supply chain issues.
Read our full guide to menu development and design to explore bigger menu ideas. Then, get some fresh perspectives for your Thanksgiving menu by reading our list of 11 food trends for 2025.
Step 4: Price Your Menu
Your menu should be priced high enough that you turn a profit no matter what selections customers make. But it shouldn’t be so expensive that customers hesitate to visit your restaurant.
Cost out all of your recipes (our portion cost calculator can help). Add up the overall cost of each dish in each section and get an average. For example, say you plan to offer three appetizers: butternut squash soup, cranberry and cheese tart, and field greens salad.
If a portion of soup costs $2, the cheese tart costs $4.00, and the salad costs $3.00, then your cost average for your appetizer course is $5.00 ($2 + $4 + $3 = $9; $9 ÷ 3 = $3.00).
Example Average Appetizer Portion Cost
| Menu Item | Cost per Portion |
|---|---|
| Butternut Squash Soup | $2.00 |
| Cranberry and Cheese Tart | $4.00 |
| Field Greens Salad | $3.00 |
| Total Cost Per Portion: | $9.00 |
| Average cost per portion: | $3.00 |
Average the costs of each of your menu’s courses this way. Then, add it all together and add a healthy profit margin. Let’s say the average costs for your three courses are $3 for appetizers, $12 for entrees, and $3 for dessert. Your average cost for the menu would be $18 (or $3 + $12 + $3 = $18).
Most restaurants aim for a food cost of 30%. To stay on target, this menu should be priced at $60, or 70% higher than the food costs to prepare. It would be understandable to add a premium for the holiday and round the price up to $65, reducing your food cost to around 27%.
If you want to learn more about the mechanics of food cost and menu pricing, read our guide to food cost and Menu Pricing Strategies: How to Price Food to Sell.
Step 5: Print & Distribute Menus
With your menu items selected and priced, the final step is to print hard copies to distribute in your dining room. If you have a high-quality printer on-site, you can print these in your back office. Alternatively, you can print full-color copies of your menus at print shops like FedEx Office or the UPS Store.
These printed menus work well on their own when printed on mid-weight cardstock. You can also print on standard-weight letter paper and place them on a menu board.
Thanksgiving Menu Trends
If you’re looking for some seasonal inspiration for your Thanksgiving menu, I’ve compiled some 2024 menu trends to help get your creative juices flowing. These trends are popular with consumers and can help your menu stand out from competitors.
Plant-based Choices
Diners continue to love plant-based foods, and inventive takes on vegetarian and vegan entrees are always welcome on a Thanksgiving menu. Consider impressive dishes like a vegetable Wellington, stuffed squash, or whole roast cauliflower.
Mushrooms, lentils, and all types of autumn squashes, from acorn to butternut and Kubota, are all excellent foundations for flavorful, plant-based entrees. Including plant-based menu items in each section of your menu will make vegetarian and vegan guests feel welcome in your dining room.
Classics with Modern Twists
Thanksgiving is all about classic, comforting dishes. Turkey, obviously, is a must. But your turkey doesn’t need to be the standard breast or leg. Consider a stuffing-filled turkey roulade or a slice of a porchetta-style turkey for the classic Thanksgiving bird.
Side dishes and garnishes are excellent places to flex your creative muscles. Cranberry sauce can easily become a chutney or be punched up with additional Autumn spices or fruits. Mashed potatoes can carry the flavors of cheese or roasted garlic. Stuffing variations are endless, with many regional varieties to choose from.
Desserts are a whole other canvas. Why be tied to pumpkin pie? Pumpkin ice cream, creme brulee, or bread puddings are also fantastic. Up the ante on a traditional pumpkin pie by adding layers of caramel (like New York City’s MilkBar) or creating a dessert mash-up with the flavors of s’mores (like Baltimore’s Corner Pantry).
Or highlight seasonal fruits. Cranberry curd is an excellent tart filling. Asian pears, which come into season in the fall, make an elegant dessert, either poached or served in crepes. Fall is also the season for mangoes and passion fruit. So consider a tropical-inspired dessert for a Thanksgiving twist.
Indigenous Ingredients
The Thanksgiving story would not be complete without the participation of the Indigenous Wampanoag tribal community that shared food with the Pilgrims. Pay homage to those Thanksgiving founders by featuring Indigenous, seasonal ingredients. Citizen Potawatomi Chef Loretta Barrett Oden includes many accessible Indigenous ingredients in her 2023 cookbook Corn Dance.
(Source: University of Oklahoma Press)
Piñon nuts– a pine nut native to North America– can add crunch to salads or cookies. Corn is an obvious (and Indigenous) choice for cornbread stuffing or adding to pie crusts. The traditional combination of beans, squash, and corn is called the Three Sisters because of how the three plants grow together. These three ingredients can be a base for salads, salsas, or soups. Wild rice is also a popular ingredient that is native to the US. Few things are as warm and autumnal as another native US ingredient: maple.
Last Bite
Use this Thanksgiving Menu Template to speed up your Thanksgiving menu development. Make it one less thing you must worry about tackling this holiday season. If you put together a thoughtful Thanksgiving prix fixe menu and price it right, you should be set up for a profitable holiday season.
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