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business newsThere IS Such a Thing as a Free Lunch
With food giveaways, restaurants might not go hungry.
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In a recession, it seems that free food is what's for dinner.
There may exist no bigger blowout of complimentary munchables than Denny’s (DENN) recent Super Bowl campaign. As part of a national push to promote their breakfast menu, the restaurant franchise said it would offer a free Grand Slam breakfast to all customers on February 3. That day, the company served approximately 2 million Grand Slams -- or 130 per restaurant hour -- over the course of the 8-hour event. Some hungry visitors waited as long as 2 hours for their fresh-and-fruity repast.
The Super Bowl spots, food, and various production expenses cost roughly $5 million - but also resulted in roughly 40 million hits on the company’s website between the Super Bowl on February 1 and the promotion on February 3.
"We had an extraordinary day. We were hoping to reconnect with millions of Americans today and we did,” Denny’s CEO Nelson Marchioli said of the promotion. “This Free Slam Day has exceeded our expectations in every way."
Other restaurant franchises have been inspired to give the free-food tactic a shot. Buffet franchise CiCi’s Pizza scattered promotional pennies around various locations at the end of March. Customers who found the coins and redeemed them were entitled to a free meal, with all pennies ultimately donated to the Big Brothers Big Sisters Club of America.
But who knew free food would lead to the great chicken war of 2009?
In an effort to promote its new Kentucky Grilled Chicken, KFC (YUM) offered customers a free piece of chicken on what they called Unfry Day, a momentous event heralded in TV spots directed by Academy Award winner Errol Morris and starring company president Roger Eaton.
Chicken rival El Pollo Loco’s response? Ads starring that company's CEO, Steve Carley, and offering their own free chicken day on April 28 - the day immediately after KFC’s promotion.
Apparently all is fair in love and free food.
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