A food calendar for Fremont: October to February
Diwali, Día de los Muertos, Thanksgiving, Lunar New Year, Ramadan and the rest, with dates and the one photo each needs. The video needs that photo three weeks before.
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Fremont eats a lot of calendars at once. Within a few miles there are Diwali sweets, Día de los Muertos bread, Thanksgiving pre-orders, a Lunar New Year reunion dinner, iftar after sunset and a Valentine's menu, often from the same families and sometimes from the same kitchen. For a restaurant that is five months of reasons to post, as long as the video exists before the day, not after.
Here is the stretch from October to February, with the dates as they fall this year and the one photo each one needs.
The dates#
| When | What | Who tends to care | The photo it needs |
|---|---|---|---|
| October 31 (Saturday) | Halloween | Families, bars | The themed drink or dessert, lit for the evening |
| November 1 and 2 | Día de los Muertos | Mexican and Central American kitchens, bakeries | Pan de muerto on the counter, the ofrenda if you build one |
| November 8 (Sunday) | Diwali | Indian restaurants, sweet shops, caterers | The mithai box, the Diwali dinner plated, the lights outside |
| November 25 (Wednesday) | The night before Thanksgiving | Everyone with takeout | The counter stacked with orders, your pre-order cut-off as text |
| November 26 (Thursday) | Thanksgiving | Places that open, places that cater | The whole bird or the whole tray, not a slice |
| December | Holiday parties, gift cards | Restaurants with a room, bars | The room set for a group; the gift card in a hand |
| December 24 and 31 | Christmas Eve, New Year's Eve | Italian (the seven fishes), bars, tasting menus | The special menu's star dish; the midnight pour |
| January | Dry January, the new-year reset | Bars, cafés, salad and bowl places | The zero-proof cocktail; the bowl, from above |
| February 5 (Friday) | Lunar New Year's Eve, the reunion dinner | Chinese, Vietnamese (Tết), Korean (Seollal) restaurants | The whole fish, the dumplings, the table for twelve |
| February 6, 2027 (Saturday) | Lunar New Year, the Year of the Goat | The same, for two weeks of gatherings | The red and gold; the box of new-year treats |
| Around February 8, 2027 | Ramadan begins (the date follows the moon) | Afghan, Pakistani, Arab and Indian kitchens, Little Kabul | The iftar spread at sunset, dates and water first |
| February 14, 2027 (Sunday) | Valentine's Day, and Super Bowl Sunday falls on the same day | Everyone, in two different directions | A table for two; or the wings tray. Pick one |
Work backwards from the photo#
Our promise is videos in review within five business days of "that's everything", and you have a week to review and approve. So the comfortable lead is three weeks: the photo exists three weeks before the day, the video is approved a week before, and you post it when people are deciding.
That means the Diwali box is photographed in mid-October. The reunion dinner for February 5 is cooked once in January, for the camera. The Valentine's table is set on a quiet Tuesday a month early.
This is the step owners most often skip, and it is the step we cannot do for them. We built a batch this month where the brief asked for a Diwali dinner video and the photos showed everything except Diwali. The video we made features what the photos show, and the owner got a list of the photos we were missing. A Diwali video cannot exist without a Diwali photo, because we never invent a dish.
Offers with a date#
Most seasonal videos carry an offer, and an offer has an end. We put the last day in the video, in words ("Until November 30"), and we check every offer against the calendar before a batch is made: an offer that has ended stops the video rather than shipping. When you write the offer in your batch brief, give us the last day, not "for a limited time".
Three videos that work every year#
- The pre-order video, two weeks before the day: the tray, the cut-off date, how to order.
- The day-of video, posted the morning of: the dish, the hours, "we're open".
- The thank-you video, the week after: the busy room, "see you next year", and the next thing on the calendar.
The first and the third are the ones nobody makes, and they are the ones that fill the second year.
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