National Tapioca Day: Facts, Food Items, Restaurant and Café Marketing Ideas
By: Niña D.Update: June 30, 2023
Don’t lose your bubbles, National Tapioca Day is here in a few days!
This classic bubbly treat has been going around for years, and it carries not only starch (obviously) but also history along with it.
And it seems like we can’t really get enough of tapioca’s chewy goodness since just a few days after, we will celebrate National Tapioca Pudding Day on July 15. But we’ll save that part for later.
Let’s learn about tapioca and how it became one of the most widely used and versatile food ingredients today.
National Tapioca Day is celebrated on the 28th day of June every year.
No one knows exactly when the National Tapioca Day started or who created it. But one thing’s for sure, they did not burst anyone’s bubbles.
Most people would probably tell you tapioca is nostalgic.
Whether it reminds them of the first time they had tapioca at their grandparent’s house, or that time at the hospital and couldn’t eat anything solid.
What is tapioca made of?
Tapioca is a starch from the green-branched cassava variant root extracts. It is popular in tropical African, South American, and Asian countries.
It is a food staple in these countries and is primarily used as a natural thickener. Tapioca can be made into pearls—the most popular, or a flatbread called casabe.
In America, the sweet dessert tapioca pudding is the most popular choice.
Did you know?
In 1880-1885 C.E., tapioca was introduced as an alternative to rice by the then Maharaja of Travancore, Vishakham Thirunal, after a great famine hit the kingdom.
Also, many World War II refugees survived on tapioca in Southeast Asia.
On the other hand, tapioca is usually served as tapioca pudding in hospitals.
Tapioca has seen the roughest of times throughout history, while cassava plants used in making tapioca thrive even in poor soil conditions. By now, it should be seen as a symbol of resiliency and tenaciousness even in challenging times.
Is tapioca good for you?
Tapioca is made of starch and primarily contains carbohydrates. Tapioca pearls are made of 11% water, 89% carbs, and have no protein or fat.
It contains minerals including calcium, phosphorus, potassium, iron, and magnesium.
What is tapioca pudding?
Tapioca pudding is often credited to Susan Stavers, who created the tapioca pudding recipe in the late 19th century. She later sold her recipe and it became minute tapioca.
It was a popular dessert around the world during the 20th century. Tapioca pudding is the predecessor of new pudding creations today like chocolate and vanilla pudding.
If you’re wondering what is in tapioca pudding that glued its success worldwide, it’s just simple ingredients in your kitchen: tapioca pearls, milk, cream, sugar, and vanilla.
Tapioca is a versatile food ingredient that can be made as a sweet dessert or a savory snack. On the other hand, tapioca pudding is usually used as a base and mixed or topped with almost any fruit!
Celebrate National Tapioca Day at your restaurant and café!
On June 28, don’t forget to celebrate National Tapioca Day 2022 in your café and restaurant.
Update your menu regularly and ride with current trending food celebrations like National Tapioca Day. Always give your customers something new to look forward to every time they dine in your restaurant.
It might be harder to update your menu if you’re limited to the traditional paper menu. You can start using a digital menu where you can update and edit it anytime.
Moreover, you don’t even have to get rid of your current paper menus. You can just lead customers to an updated food list on your online menu.
In fact, MENU TIGER is an interactive digital menu software that creates a customizable contactless menu and a no-code website.
Additionally, it allows users to quickly set up promotions, adds unlimited menu items, and even create their own customer survey form. It lets restaurant or café businesses stay on top of the game.
Here’s how your restaurant can join the National Tapioca Day celebration.
1. Add a tapioca food item for National Tapioca Day
If you don’t yet have a tapioca food item on your digital menu, you might consider adding one.
After all, what other way to celebrate National Tapioca Day than to add a tapioca food item to your digital menu?
To do this, open your dashboard, go to Menu, and click Foods.
Then, select a category where you want to add a tapioca food item.
Click New, select the Store, then provide other food item details like name, description, price, preparation time, image, etc.
2. Add tapioca add-on to current menu food items
If you don’t want to add a tapioca food item, you can at least add a tapioca add-on.
Since tapioca is one of the most versatile food ingredients, you can add tapioca pearls to almost anything.
Tapioca is an excellent natural soup thickener, which you can also use to add texture to your beverages. By adding tapioca pearls, you can upgrade your regular iced milk tea, for example, to bubble tea.
Add tapioca choices and add-ons to your online menu options for your tapioca-loving customers.
To create add-ons options to existing menu food items, open your dashboard, go to Menu, and select Foods.
Then go to Modifiers and select the modifier group you want to put your new tapioca add-ons.
Click Add, then input name and price per gram.
3. Createpromotional discounts and banners on your website
Got a lot of tapioca-loving customers? Let them know you celebrate National Tapioca Day 2022 in your restaurant or café by creating a promotional banner on your website.
Schedule a promotional banner on your website that will go on for as long as you want.
Go to Website, then click Promotions.
Then, input the promotion name, description, image, and display period.
Also, don’t forget to include promotional discounts on tapioca items. Continue reading to know how.
4. Apply discount to items with tapioca
If you already have tapioca items on your menu, level-up your promotion by adding a discount on selected tapioca items to encourage more customers to try them.
Plus, it’s a great way to promote tapioca food items on your menu.
In the Promotions section, choose the amount or percentage discount and value.
Then, on the Applicable foods section, type the food item name of the menu item you want to put a discount on.
Finally, don’t forget to click Create.
When you put discounts on a food item, deductions will automatically reflect on your customers’ total order.
5. Cross-sell tapioca menu items for National Tapioca Day
Another excellent way to promote tapioca menu items in your café and restaurant is through cross-selling.
Make your tapioca menu food and beverage as recommended items on some of your most popular items so customers can quickly check them out along with their favorites.
First, go to Food and select the food item/s you want to cross-sell with your tapioca menu item/s.
On the Recommended items section, type the tapioca item you want to cross-sell. Then, click Save.
6. Give out free tapioca desserts to customers
If you’re feeling extra generous, why not give out free tapioca desserts to your customers? Giving a free item is a great way to drive foot traffic to your business.
There are multiple ways to pull off a free promotion without breaking the bank. You just need to be creative in finding ways to promote them. Here are some examples:
For the first few customers
Offer a free tapioca dessert to a specified number of customers in your restaurant. You can make this promo available at a certain period of the day with less foot traffic.
Example: Free tapioca coconut pudding for the first 100 customers
For guests who ordered a specific item
Promote less popular or less profitable menu items by pairing a free tapioca dessert for every purchase.
Example: Get a free purple sweet potato tapioca pudding for every order of Buddha Rice Bowl
Free tapioca add-on
To do this, open your user dashboard, go to Menu then choose Modifiers.
Add a ‘Free Tapioca’ modifier group, for example, input add-ons under this list and set the price to 0.
Go to Foods section and select the food category or food item you want to add a free tapioca add-on.
Example: Upgrade any milk tea with tapioca pearl for free
For customers who checked out a certain amount
Giving out freebies as a reward for reaching a certain checkout amount encourages customers to order more.
Example: Get a free mango tapioca pudding for every $100 single-receipt purchase at
For café or restaurant downtime
During downtime when cafes and restaurants have the least customers, you can offer free promotions to increase foot traffic.
Example: Free vanilla tapioca pudding from 3 pm to 5 pm
For anyone, anytime
Give out free tapioca dessert to anyone. This is an excellent marketing strategy to increase your business’ visibility.
Example: Come celebrate National Tapioca Day 2022 with us and get your free coffee tapioca pudding while supplies last.
Tapioca food ideas for National Tapioca Day
Get creative on your menu offerings by adding your traditional tapioca dishes as well as new delectable variations. Let’s have a look at some recipes you may want to include in your online menu to celebrate National Tapioca Day.
You get the delightful crack of breaking through a brûlée topping with your spoon while also getting the satisfying sensation of dipping that spoon into fluffy pudding with this dessert.
Milk Tea with Tapioca Pearls
If you want to avoid the usual milk tea drink, you can always make it into ice cream or ice bar.
Tapioca congee is easy to make and can be simple or as over the top as you want. Just replace the usual rice with tapioca and add any topping you would like.
It is a light drink with clear tapioca pearl (sago) and gelatin (gulaman). The juice is made out of water, vanilla, and brown sugar, hence the dark color.
Celebrate National Tapioca Day with MENU TIGER!
It is a wonderful time to celebrate tapioca’s significance in different cultures and different timelines in our history as humans, as well as some of its interesting facts.
Be part of the National Tapioca Day celebration on June 28. Use your digital menu to add tapioca food items, choices, and add-ons, create promotional discounts and cross-sell tapioca food items.
Sign up to MENU TIGER and create your National Tapioca Day promotion today!
