Two Million People Swarm Denny's for a Grand Slam Breakfast

[underpants]

Denny’s hit, ahem, a grand slam with its Super Bowl promotion. On Sunday during its Super Bowl ad, Denny’s announced that it would serve a free “Grand Slam” breakfast (eggs, pancakes, sausage, and bacon) to anyone who wanted one this morning. So how did it go? A rep for the company just told me that two million people walked through the restaurant chains’ doors today, and that each Denny’s restaurant served an average of 130 Grand Slams per hour . Earlier today, “denny s locations” was #9 on Google Trends, which tracks fast-rising searches.

Ad Age sent four reporters out to brave the lines today. Once they got seated, it sounds like they were pleasantly surprised by the experience.
http://www.businessweek.com/the_thread/brandnewday/archives/2009/02/two_million_peo.html

Ahead of the Super Bowl, Denny’s Chief Marketing and Innovation Officer Mark Chmiel told me the idea was to get people to come in and re-evaluate Denny’s. “A lot of people have forgotten what Denny’s is, or they think they know, while we’ve come out with a whole lot of new products. We felt like we needed to jump start the brand.” Sounds like Chmiel and company knocked it out of the park today. We’ll see if it makes a dent in sales in the long run.

[ColbertWatcher]

1. I hope all those people tipped. n/t

[bleever]

2. From what I read, most people

ended up leaving 15% of "free". A pretty dismal day for the servers.

[liberal N proud]

7. Sound about right

Many who would stand in line would also be lousy tippers. They should have tipped 15% - 20% of the retail price of the breakfast.


I always worry about not tipping enough, unless the service is really, really bad. We have a joke in the family, restaurants love to see us all come in, I have 3 brothers and 1 sister. Two of them never tip, so the rest of us all throw in extra to cover the two thinking no one else will cover them. We usually find out later that we way over tipped the waiter. I know there have been occasions when we tipped more than the cost of the meal.

[Chulanowa]

9. There's only one time I didn't tip at a sit-down place

And that was because I watched the waiters bullshitting with each other while a few tables started attracting the local insect life.

I work in the food service myself, and I tip nicely (no wage worse than waiting wages!) but if you're not going to do your job..

On the other hand, if there's three people shuffling tables in a packed place, i'llusually double my give.

[TahitiNut]

22. When I'm "comp'ed" I leave a tip of about 50-75% of the price of the meal.

My nephew is a 'casual dining' manager and comps us (family) when we eat there. Servers are "under the gun" enough when they wait on the family or friends of management ... so I'm glad to "spread the wealth." (It not bad for their morale, either.)

I'd do the same if I'd taken Denny's up on their free Grand Slam. It'd be a win-win.

[Fire_Medic_Dave]

26. Me too.

[bleever]

30. Now that times are tougher

I'm more conscientious about tipping, especially about counter tipping at take out places.

[TahitiNut]

33. Yup. I bussed tables as one of my jobs working my way through college.

I'm more aware than most of how tough it is to serve tables in a restaurant. I'm a VERY decent tipper ... except in the most extreme situations. I often take my mother to dinner. She's a PITA. She's not hungry enough to eat a meal, but likes to drink coffee (refills!) and maybe have something small (oftn not on the menu). They humor her and give her what she wants. I tip as though she ate as much as me. The servers usually earn it catering to her bullshit. (It's one of the reasons I try to go during off-peak hours.)
:evilgrin:

[nc4bo]

34. Good grief - Are we related?

You described my mother to a "T", switch the coffee to Sprite soda and added that my mom gets really offended if we leave her home (due to above description) and we've got a match.

[ColbertWatcher]

23. I understand that people are hurting, but ...

... they had to know people were working their asses off to serve them their free meals.

I hate hearing that people didn't tip.

I mean would it have hurt to leave a dollar (even though that's less than 15%)?

[Stephanie]

24. There's nothing wrong with that.

They gave the same tip they would have if they'd gotten a check? What's the problem? And I did years of waittressing so don't tell me I don't get it. I think it's sweet if most of them remembered to tip and gave what they figured was the correct amount.

[dysfunctional press]

42. 15% of "free" is- nothing.

re-read the post.

[Stephanie]

43. Yes, I finally figured that out

See my post below. :hi:

[Stephanie]

25. Oh, do you mean they didn't tip at all?

Sorry then, I misread your post the first time. That's lousy.

[bleever]

31. But you came back,

so you exemplify (again) what it means to pay attention, and to serve the community.

:yourock:

[EstimatedProphet]

36. Where did you read that?

[bleever]

41. Here:

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/02/04/MNIC15MLMT.DTL&hw=denny&sn=003&sc=686

"Nobody's leaving anything," said one waiter, who identified himself as Raymundo. "And some people are not so nice."

The trouble, Raymundo said, was that only the Grand Slam breakfast - bacon, eggs, pancakes, sausage - was free. Not the coffee or the orange juice and certainly not the steak.

"One man ordered the T-bone, and I told him it wasn't included, and he said, 'F- you,' " Raymundo said. "That's the kind of day it's been."

[demosincebirth]

4. I read that tips were few and far in between

[Selatius]

8. In my experience, such specials only attract bargain hunters, who are not known as good tippers. nt

[BlooInBloo]

3. I was up all night working that morning - forgot to go get mine! dammit!

Excellent promotion though. I betcha the Veep behind it gets a bonus.

Unlike the Veep for Red Lobster who did the all you can eat crab legs promo. (Snicker)

[Waiting For Everyman]

5. Not tipping for a free meal is just rude and ungrateful.

I just don't buy that that many people were completely broke. Geez, people suck.

[Greyhound]

27. Welcome the Corporate States of Amerika.

We are not what we were, I'm sorry to say.

[Historic NY]

6. lots of hungry people.

[BlooInBloo]

10. Of course you should tip on the menu price, not the discounted check...

But I suspect
a) A lot of people thought to themselves "If I have to tip, it isn't free - and they said it would be free."
and
b) A lot of people were drawn in to the promo who simply couldn't afford anything.

[rollingrock]

11. If you can't afford to tip, dont accept the free meal

some people have no dignity or self-respect.

[alittlelark]

13. Welcome to DU!

I appreciate your sentiment.

[rollingrock]

17. Yeah, unless one is homeless or destitute

they're an ass for not leaving something.

[SheilaT]

12. I have twice walked into restaurants

getting ready to open, and the day I showed up (with spouse and kids both times)the meals were free because it wasn't officially open yet, and the general public wasn't supposed to be there, just family and friends of the staff. However, both times we weren't turned away, just told what was happening. In both cases we "tipped" what would have been the menu price of the meal.

If I have half off coupon, or when my kids were young enough to eat free somewhere, I always tipped based on what the cost should have been, not what I was charged.

I have never waited tables, never hope to, and even when the service seems less than wonderful, I figure I have no idea what was going on behind the scenes that held things up, and still tip. I don't get to cut the pay of some other service person (bank teller, or cashier at Target, or anyone else) if they give poor service. When I tip a restaurant server, it's because our stupid system requires that I directly pay some of their wages, and they've still served me, however badly, and they still deserve to get paid.

[Booster]

15. I agree. I tend to over tip because I know there's no way in

Hell I could do their job. For me not to tip at least 20% means that the waiter/waitress was just really really bad (I haven't met that person yet).

[Greyhound]

29. I'm glad you never had me as a waiter. I'm likely the worst waiter on the face of the earth.

So I went into bar tending and then management until I graduated.

[Greyhound]

28. Thank you very much, that really means a lot. Now, go tell everybody else cause

a lot of people in this nation do not get it, or just don't care.

[Bill McBlueState]

14. about tipping

Does anyone have a link to data about tipping during the promotion? I know it's fun to get all outraged about people who didn't tip, but it would be even more fun with evidence that this was actually a problem.

[Sheets of Easter]

16. Thank you.

Though it wouldn't surprise me to find out that there were numerous stiffs among those who participated, I'd like to see some proof.

edit- that is, I'd like to see proof beyond the one server questioned. I'm seeing a lot of outrage over nothing on this thread.

[EstimatedProphet]

37. Who needs proof when you can get outraged at what might have happened instead?

[bkkyosemite]

18. Who it should have been free for is the homeless only.

Edit: and those who have a place but are low on food.

[dysfunctional press]

44. and how exactly would that be determined?

:shrug:

[corruptmewithpower]

19. My wife and I love Denny's and used to love it when it was Sambo's

We would have been there, but didn't want to crowd out those who had more need of a free meal.

[S n o w b a l l]

20. The world is full of freeloaders

I owned a retail store for 5 yrs. We had promotions all the time where we served free food. Believe me, I know...the world is FULL of freeloaders. And this marketing ploy did nothing but cost them money. It only reinforced the reality that there are people that will stand in line for 3 hrs to get a $3 meal just because it's free...not because they're hungry.

[JVS]

32. Yeah, I saw a Chipotle giving away burritos by a college once and the line was 4 blocks long

People were skipping class to stand in line. They paid at least $20 for that hour of class they missed and they'll forget about it because they can get a free $4 burrito

[varkam]

35. Hey - you're talkin' about Chipotle, now.

That's good stuff.

[JVS]

40. Yeah, but trading a $20 lecture for a $4 lunch is foolish.

[varkam]

45. That all depends on the class. eom

[Bill McBlueState]

38. if undergrads actually thought about their classes that way

i.e., "Every hour of instruction costs me $X," the collegiate landscape would be very different!

[JVS]

39. To a degree. I think a lot of them do, but sometimes we forget that they do.

I know that a lot of students work to put themselves through school, and while it is tempting to consider them slackers when they're falling asleep in class when I'm teaching, sometimes in the afternoon I get the nods and have trouble staying awake too. Sometimes all the work and study don't fit well together.

[flvegan]

21. I hope a lot folks and families that have been hit hard in these times

got a pleasant, hot meal. Not the usual shit from me, bitching about nutrition and dead animals, I'm just glad folks got to eat.

And I hope everyone tipped their waitstaff.