A food sale flyer sells a meal people have to plan for: a Saturday plate sale at the church hall, a Friday fish fry, a dozen tamales picked up the week before Christmas. These flyers get pinned to church and laundromat boards, handed out after services, and shared in neighborhood group chats. Below is the wording for each, the deadline and pickup lines buyers plan around, and the home kitchen rules to check before you take the first order.
What to put on a food sale flyer
Write out the sale before you design it. A plate sale that raises money for a cause shares a lot with the fundraiser flyer ideas, while cookies and pies have their own bake sale flyer page. On a flyer for food sold by the plate, the biggest items go first:
Must have
- What's on the plate. "Fried catfish, two sides, cornbread and a slice of cake." List the choices if there are any ("chicken or fish").
- The price. "$15 a plate", plus any bundle ("2 plates for $28").
- The order deadline. "Order by Thursday, November 19." Give the weekday and the date.
- The pickup or serving window. "Saturday, November 21, 11 AM to 3 PM, or until sold out."
- The exact place and door. "Fellowship hall, side door on Linden Street."
- How to order. Call or text, a QR code to an order form, or "walk up while plates last".
- How to pay. "Cash or card at pickup", or "Pay when you order".
Optional
- Who the money supports. "Proceeds send the choir to the spring conference."
- Delivery. "Free delivery for orders of 10 or more plates within 5 miles."
- Ingredients people ask about. "Greens cooked with smoked turkey", "fish fried in peanut oil".
- Dine in or carry out, and whether there's seating.
- Where it was cooked. On a flyer for selling food you made, a line like "Cooked in the Linden Hope Church kitchen" tells buyers where the food was made. Some states have rules about which kitchens you can sell from, so check yours.
- A second language. Dish names in both languages ("Tamales de puerco / Pork tamales"), or a full Spanish flyer for buyers who read Spanish first.
Food sale flyer ideas and wording
Wording for four kinds of plate and pre-order sales (the churches, prices and dates are fictional):
Dinner plate sale
- Headlines: "Soul Food Plate Sale" or "Saturday Dinner Plates, $15"
- Supporting line: "Fried chicken or baked fish, mac and cheese, greens, cornbread and pound cake."
- Call to action: "Pre-order by Thursday: call or text 555-0161."
Fish fry
- Headlines: "Friday Fish Fry" or "Lenten Fish Fry, Fridays at 4:30"
- Supporting line: "Fried or baked cod, fries, coleslaw and a roll. Adults $14, kids $7."
- Call to action: "Dine in or carry out, 4:30 to 7:30 PM."
Parish fish fries usually run on the Fridays of Lent, when many Catholics skip meat. Check your diocese's Lent calendar, then print every Friday date on the flyer and say whether the fry runs on Good Friday.
Home-cook pre-orders
- Headlines: "Christmas Tamales by the Dozen" or "Order Your Thanksgiving Sides"
- Supporting line: "Red chile pork, green chile chicken, or cheese and jalapeño, $30 a dozen."
- Call to action: "Order by Sunday, December 13. A $10 deposit holds your order."
If you cook in a rented commercial kitchen, name it on the flyer ("Made in the rented commercial kitchen at 1550 Cedar Avenue") so buyers know where their tamales were made.
Drive-through dinner fundraiser
- Headlines: "Drive-Through BBQ Chicken Dinner" or "Chicken Dinners for the Band"
- Supporting line: "Half chicken, baked beans, coleslaw and a roll, $14. Stay in your car; we bring it to the window."
- Call to action: "Buy tickets from any band member or at example.com/bbq."
A restaurant selling specials from its own licensed kitchen needs different wording, found on the restaurant flyers page. A food truck with weekly stops has its own food truck flyer page.
Home kitchen rules to check before you sell
Each state has its own rules for selling home-cooked food (what you can sell, labels, where you can sell), so check your state's cottage food rules before you print prices. Plates with meat or fish are often handled differently from cookies and bread, and some cities and counties add rules of their own.
- Call before you print. Your county health department can tell you whether a church or school plate sale needs a permit or a particular kitchen. Ask before the flyer goes up, since the answer can change the address and the kitchen line.
- Name the kitchen. "Cooked in the kitchen at Linden Hope Church" reads differently from a home address, and it tells buyers where their plate came from.
- List the ingredients people ask about. Put "greens cooked with smoked turkey" or "fried in peanut oil" on the flyer, then tape the same list to the pickup table.
- Keep the pickup window short and clear. "11 AM to 3 PM, or until sold out" tells buyers when to come, so plates don't wait long after they're packed.
Design tips for food sale flyers
Put the deadline and the pickup in one box. Two dates scattered around a flyer are easy to mix up. A single box reading "Order by Thursday, November 19. Pick up Saturday, November 21, 11 AM to 3 PM." keeps them together and in order.
Show the plate people will get. A foam clamshell with the sides you'll actually serve reads truer than a restaurant photo. With the Photos setting in Flyer Maker, describe your real plate, since the picture is newly made rather than your photo.
Keep the food sale flyer background plain. A warm solid color or a simple tablecloth pattern behind the text, with one food photo, keeps the price and deadline readable when the flyer shrinks to a thumbnail in a group chat.
Type the order number in the message too. A flyer image in a group chat isn't tappable. Paste the phone number or form link in the text you send with it.
Give board flyers tear-off tabs. Ask in the description for a row of tabs printed with your number ("seven tear-off tabs with 555-0161 along the bottom"), and Flyer Maker can set them into the design. Cut the tabs apart before you pin it up.
Food sale flyer sizes and printing
Food sales need a board flyer, a handout and a phone-sized version for group chats.
| Where it's posted | Paper | Pixels for 300 DPI | Choose |
|---|---|---|---|
| Church or community board | 8.5 x 11 in | 2550 x 3300 | Tall (3:4), 4K |
| Bulletin insert or handout | 5.5 x 8.5 in | 1650 x 2550 | Tall (3:4), 2K |
| Facebook group or group chat | Phone | None | Portrait (4:5), 1K |
Two half-page handouts fit side by side on one letter sheet, so print one sheet and cut it in half. For printing, choose 2K or 4K. The flyer size guide has other standard sizes.
More food sale flyer prompts
Two more plate and pre-order flyers to paste into Flyer Maker; replace the invented details.
Drive-through dinner flyer for the Birch Hollow High School Band Boosters, in the school parking lot at 700 Fairview Road. Headline: "Drive-Through BBQ Chicken Dinner". Saturday, November 14, 4 PM to 7 PM, or until sold out. Half chicken, baked beans, coleslaw and a roll, $14 a dinner. Stay in your car and we bring it to the window. Buy tickets from any band member or at example.com/bbq, or pay at the gate. Every dollar goes to the band's spring trip. Bold blue and gold design with a photo of barbecue chicken dinners in takeout boxes.Thanksgiving sides pre-order flyer for the Linden Hope Church Women's Ministry, cooked in the church kitchen at 310 Linden Street. Headline: "Thanksgiving Sides by the Pan". Mac and cheese $30, cornbread dressing $28, candied yams $25, collard greens $25; each pan feeds 8 to 10. Order by Sunday, November 22 by calling 555-0162. Pick up Wednesday, November 25, 3 PM to 7 PM, at the fellowship hall side door. Cash or card at pickup. Warm orange and brown design with a photo of casserole pans on a holiday table.A flyer for a food sale at a church has more in common with other church events than with a restaurant, and the church flyer page shows how to word those.
How to make a food sale flyer in Flyer Maker
- Open Flyer Maker and enter the sale in "Describe your flyer". Headline first, in quotes, then what's on the plate, the price, the order deadline, the pickup window, the address and door, how to order and pay, and who it supports.
- If your church, club or kitchen has a logo, upload it with "Add your logo".
- Choose Tall under "Size" for boards and handouts. Portrait fits group chats and Facebook, and Wide fits an email.
- Open "More options" and choose Sale as the Flyer type. Event suits a fish fry with dine-in seating. Choose Photos under Pictures and describe your real plate, and Friendly as the Tone.
- Enter the order number under "Contact info". The flyer draws only on the contact details you enter, so if one volunteer takes all the orders, use that person's number.
- Switch on "Leave a blank square for your QR code" if people order through an online form, and add your real code to the square afterward. Flyer Maker doesn't make QR codes.
- Select "Create flyer" and wait about 30 seconds.
- Proofread the deadline, pickup day and price first, then the address and phone number, and check that each weekday matches its date. If one is wrong, or an extra tagline appears, describe the correction in "Want to change something?" beneath the flyer. That box currently charges 60 credits (70 for a 2K flyer, 90 for 4K). For several fixes, correct the description and make a new flyer instead.