A Christian Worldview from Silicon Valley

According to an article published today in USA Today, the entire promotion cost Denny’s about $5 million, including food, labor and the ad they ran during the Super Bowl. Turns out it was money well spent, because (by their own estimates) Denny’s received more than $50 million worth of free publicity — and that was before they counted this article!

The truth about Denny’s, once at the very top of the restaurant industry, is that it has had a poor reputation for a long time. Christian artist Randy Stonehill even used it as a metaphor for loneliness in his song “Christmas at Denny’s.” As a result of a falling reputation and poor management, Denny’s lost many customers over the years. They knew they had to turn that around, but first they had work to do.

After all, what good is it to get a lot of people to come through your door if you know they won’t like it once they are there? The current CEO took over in 2001, and his initial assessment was simple: “I knew it was going to take a long, long time to fix it.”

Once that was done (after eight years!) they were ready. But how do you get people to come back? How do you overcome the negative feelings and negative reputation? By using something called “sampling.” It is a strategy that is often used to get people to try something again, or to try it for the first time. It worked for Denny’s in the short run, but will it work for them in the long run? They are optimistic that it will.

More importantly, though, would sampling work for the church? Yes, and no.

Without advertising on the Super Bowl (slightly out of the PACC budget, though maybe not yours), we still have the opportunity every day, every week, to invite people to dine with us in the presence of Jesus. We still have the greatest “product” ever offered to mankind, and it is already free. We have much to give to others, much to share with them, and much to learn from them. But we don’t often invite them. Why not?

Why are we not like the woman at the well, who “…put down her water-pot and went into the town, and said to the people, ‘Come and see a man who has been talking to me of everything I ever did! Is it possible that this is the Christ?’ So they went out of the town and came to him.” (John 4.28-30, BBE)

I have some ideas about why we don’t invite, but ultimately it is a question you will have to answer for yourself.

Of course the goal of churches should be spiritual health and vitality, not numerical growth, so don’t read here that I am advocating growth for its own sake. I’m just remembering breakfast at Denny’s, and thinking I’ll probably go back. The food was OK, but the people were great.