Best Restaurant Deals for Grads, From Free Donuts to Discounted Dinners

You know the drill: graduation season arrives, restaurants dangle freebies, and most grads miss half of them because they didn't know to look. The window is tight, many offers expire June 30, and some require nothing more than showing up in a cap and gown. Here are seven restaurant deals worth knowing about before the tassels get flipped.

1. Krispy Kreme: A Dozen Free Doughnuts, Not Just One

Krispy Kreme has historically made graduation its biggest food giveaway of the year, offering graduating high school and college seniors what it calls a "Dough-ploma": a free dozen Original Glazed doughnuts once per month for an entire year. That's twelve boxes of doughnuts across twelve months, valued at well over $100 total depending on your market. Watch for the Class of 2026 version of this offer to drop as commencement season peaks, and verify participation at your nearest location since not every store runs every national promotion identically.

2. Insomnia Cookies: Buy One Classic Cookie, Get One Free

Walk into any of Insomnia Cookies' 235-plus locations wearing your cap and gown and you'll walk out with double the cookies for the price of one. The BOGO deal applies to Classic cookies and has historically run through June 30, making it one of the more generous sweet-treat deals relative to its low barrier: no ID required beyond the outfit. Insomnia was founded in 2003 by Seth Berkowitz out of a University of Pennsylvania dorm room, which makes a graduation freebie feel genuinely on-brand.

3. TGI Fridays: Free Appetizer or Dessert With Any Entree

Fridays puts the choice in your hands: order any entree, show your student ID, and claim either a free appetizer or a free dessert. That's a meaningful add-on at a chain where loaded potato skins or a brownie obsession sundae would otherwise run you $10 to $12. The offer has run through June 30 in recent seasons and is available across its U.S. locations, though it's worth calling ahead to confirm your local Fridays is participating before you pile in with a group.

4. Black Angus Steakhouse: Free Meal for Grads in Cap and Gown

This is the most impressive dollar value on the list. Black Angus, a steakhouse that has been grilling since 1964, has offered graduating guests a free meal when they arrive wearing their cap and gown or carrying their diploma. With entrees routinely priced in the $25 to $40 range, that's a genuinely significant comp at a sit-down steakhouse. Locations are concentrated in the western United States, so check availability before planning your post-ceremony dinner around it.

5. PF Chang's: Free Entree Up to $30 Value

PF Chang's has offered graduating diners a free entree valued up to $30 when they come in wearing their graduation regalia. At a chain where signature dishes like Mongolian Beef or Kung Pao Chicken are priced in the mid-to-upper teens, that cap leaves real room to pick something worth celebrating. Like most of these deals, it has been timed to graduation season through June 30, and local participation can vary, so a quick call or check of the app before you head in is good practice.

6. Potbelly: Free Delivery on Catering Orders for Grad Parties

If you're feeding a crowd rather than just yourself, Potbelly's catering offer is the most practical play on this list. The chain has offered free delivery on catering orders of $150 or more with promo code FREEDELIVERY applied at checkout on Potbelly.com. For families organizing a post-ceremony party at home, a $150 catering order at Potbelly covers a serious spread of sandwiches, and skipping the delivery fee keeps the per-head cost competitive with ordering pizza.

7. Chick-fil-A: Local Promotions Worth a Direct Call

Chick-fil-A operates on a franchise model, which means graduation deals are set at the individual operator level rather than rolled out nationally. Some locations have offered free meals or combo upgrades to grads showing a cap, gown, or student ID, while others run nothing at all. The move here is straightforward: call your nearest location in May before graduation week hits. Operators who do run these promotions tend to do it for a short window right around local ceremony dates, and knowing ahead of time is the difference between a free chicken sandwich and a missed opportunity.

One last note on strategy: several of these deals, particularly those at Black Angus and PF Chang's, can be combined with group dining to maximize value. A table of five grads, each redeeming a free entree, turns a celebratory dinner into a remarkably affordable evening. The key is timing, most of these offers peak in June, so grads who graduated in the spring should bookmark them now and return when the window opens.