BBI data shows the record-long government shutdown worsened already-soft restaurant traffic—especially in federal-worker-heavy markets like D.C.—but its drag on the industry faded once the government reopened.

What holidays are most popular for each restaurant segment? With Black Box Intelligence’s new daily metrics in Financial Intelligence, we can find out. In the chart below are the top three holidays for the restaurant segments from 2023-2025 using cumulative sales

While many of these findings are not too surprising: nobody is shocked Mother’s Day and Valentine’s Day are popular restaurant days, and no restaurant executive will be angrily contacting us about the omission of Arbor Day, nevertheless there are some points of interest within these lists.

Mothers > Fathers & Lovers

Unsurprisingly, Mother’s Day is the top Holiday in all Full Service segments. It beats Father’s Day and Valentine’s Day in all segments with table service.

What is amusing, however, is that Valentine’s Day is ranked above Mother’s Day in both Limited Service segments (2^nd in Fast Casual and 4^th in Quick Service).

Now, this data is merely ranking the cumulative sales in our dataset for each segment over the past three years. Therefore, we’re not saying that more men are choosing to take their mother out to a fancy dinner and their wives and/or girlfriends to the drive-thru. However, we’re not not saying that either.

To be fair, Mother’s Day has the advantage of being on a Sunday while Valentine’s Day has been on a weekday for the past three years (although in 2025 it did fall on a Friday). So, it is possible that some couples have opted to wait for the weekend to go out for a romantic sit-down meal and grabbed some Limited Service takeout on the actual day.

However, Father’s Day also falls on a Sunday and doesn’t have this excuse. Therefore, Black Box Intelligence can confidently claim with 100% certainty: children love their mothers more.

Other Dates of Interest

While Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, and Valentine’s Day take up 9 out of the 15 rankings on the above chart, some of the other holidays in the segment rankings are notable as well.

Easter Sunday is ranked third for Family Dining. Many families brunch together after an Easter church service.

Also notable, both Limited Service segments have Halloween in their top three holidays. Many parents don’t feel like cooking after taking their kids out trick-or-treating.

Quick Service and Fast Casual have Thanksgiving Eve in their top two rankings. Some possible reasons: Thanksgiving hosts don’t feel like cooking the night before they make a giant meal, Thanksgiving travelers are looking for something quick and easy on their journey and it’s a popular day for college students to meet their high school friends for the first time since summer.

The Upcoming Holiday

As the Super Bowl approaches, many are wondering whether the New England Patriots can upset the Seattle Seahawks. Meanwhile, we at Black Box Intelligence are wondering if Super Bowl Sunday can upset Halloween and become this year’s Quick Service Holiday Champion. Let’s grab some pizza and wings and find out.