Posts Tagged ‘free meal’

A Reflection on Breakfast at Denny’s

Thursday, February 5th, 2009
Denny's Grand Slam

Denny's Grand Slam

On February 3, 2009, Denny’s restaurants gave away an estimated 2,000,000 “Grand Slam” meals. I ate one of them.

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. (more…)