What do you think about the Denny's Free Grand Slam Breakfast promotion?

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Permalink Reply by Dave Katz on February 2, 2009 at 11:12pm

I agree. It is a great way for Denny's to target people that may not otherwise be going in there. They are going to try to show a lot of new guests what Denny's has to offer, and remind people why they used to go in the past.

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Permalink Reply by Paul Paz on February 3, 2009 at 1:15am

One news report said Denny;s sold 12.5 million Grand-Slams last eyar!

At least it's on a weekday!

However... given the nature of the economy and how our culture can't resist free food... it's gonna get crazy. (Mary...sneak a video-camera into the restaurant to capture this special moment.)

Note to employers seeking good help: your should be visiting your local Denny's today with lots of business cards to recruit the comando hosts, waiters, cooks, dishwashers, and managers who survive the invasion!

Paul

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Permalink Reply by Michael Albert on February 3, 2009 at 11:59am

Mary,
Report From Redondo Beach: Sitting with a room full of wonderful folks having a great time watching the game, either at the game's end or shortly thereafter, out of 15 people, I was the only one who spotted the Denny's offer. This was definitely not a Denny’s crowd. I didn’t want the good feeling to end with the game and suggested that we meet at Denny’s on Tuesday. Someone called them Dumpy’s. Well, this morning at 7:30 AM, seven of us met and were faced with what looked like an hour wait. We were pissed. I peaked inside and I saw a manager very effectively directing crew, seating customers – all the while with an authentic smile. He looked like he was having a ball. Well, seems like people don’t want to be late to work and the crowd moved swiftly. We were seated in 15 minutes and like the others, we had to go to work and everyone ordered the Grand Slam with coffee and off we went. If the Denny’s manager and team in Redondo Beach, CA is reflective of other Denny’s teams, it may prove to be their best promo ever…and the Steelers may have to share the title of Super Bowl Champs...as we are meeting again at this Denny's on Saturday morning, this time we are bringing the kids. I don't think Starbucks could have pulled this off. "Free" has and always has had a great ring to it.

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Permalink Reply by Paul Paz on February 4, 2009 at 12:13am

Check my video at a local Denny's on Tudesday 2.3.09!
OGM!
Paul

FOHBOH Video Link:
http://www.fohboh.com/video/video/show?id=1411008%3AVideo%3A260368

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Permalink Reply by Mary White-Cornell on February 4, 2009 at 9:21am

Amazing - thanks for posting the video! I went to my local Denny's yesterday - the line wasn't quite as long - but the house was packed. The staff was friendly - the food was great - I will definitely go back.

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Permalink Reply by Paul Paz on February 5, 2009 at 3:50am

Here's several excerpts from this USA Today (2.4.09).

It's makes some really strong points about the success of Denny'y Super Bowl 2009 promotion. Their web presence was over the top and it appears their logistical strategies were well planned right down to the hourly staff scheduled on 4-hour shifts and the staff schedule was doubled for the 8-hour event.

Kudos to Denny's.

As a side thought, these kinds of promotions will only work if the company makes an effort to get the hourly staff to "buy-in" by educating them on the long term purpose of these short term strategies.

Paul

2 million enjoy free breakfast at Denny's
By Bruce Horovitz, USA TODAY 2.4.09
http://www.usatoday.com/money/industries/food/20090203dennys_N.htm

Roughly 2 million other Americans lined up at local Denny's for the too-good-to-pass-up deal.

With the economy in a tailspin, Denny's shook up the restaurant industry — if not the nation
Tuesday by doing something no family dining chain had done before: giving out free meals coast-to-coast from 6 a.m. until 2 p.m.

gave away a Grand Slam breakfast to anyone who showed up at all but two of its 1,550
restaurants nationwide. No strings.

The entire promotion — including food, labor and airing an ad on Sunday's Super Bowl —
cost Denny's about $5 million. "We're re-acquainting America with Denny's," says CEO
Nelson Marchioli. "We've never been thanked this much — and folks are saying they'll
come back."

The gambit earned Denny's something that money alone can't buy: positive public relations,
and lots of it. By Denny's estimates, it got $50 million in free news coverage, almost all of
it positive. No injuries — or police issues — were reported at any locations, say Denny's
officials.

Visibility points

franchise sales at sites open at least a year were down 7.2% last quarter

Denny's no longer ranks among the top players in the $83 billion breakfast market, whose top five players — McDonald's, Starbucks, (SBUX) Dunkin' Donuts, Burger King (BKC) and IHOP (DIN)— accounted for 22% of the volume

Denny's became a Google search darling after its ad promoting the giveaway aired during the Super Bowl. On Tuesday, "Denny's" was in five of the 40 most popular searches on Google, says Google spokesman Eric Obenzinger. No. 9 was "Denny's location." At 29 was "free breakfast at Denny's."

Denny's also purchased several search keywords from Google so a Denny's link showed up
next to Google searches including "free breakfast" and "Denny's Grand Slam."

Filling the tables

Customers had their own reasons for trekking to Denny's, but more often than not, it was
tied to value:
•Feed a team. Matt Skeadas, 28, brought the East Valley High School basketball team — 20 boys — from Van Nuys to the Denny's in North Hollywood. "We decided it would be a good team-bonding event."

•From Perkins to Denny's. Landon Bennett of Cape Coral, Fla., started his day early at a Perkins Family Restaurant for a regularly scheduled Bible study. But the group just got coffee there, then moved on to Denny's in North Fort Myers. "You reap what you sow," he says. And Denny's, he adds, "is going to reap rewards."

•Class study. Sociology teacher David Burke of Red Lion Christian Academy in Bear, Del., took his class to Denny's to observe how advertising and media have an impact on human behavior. And to eat, of course. "We're going to spend a whole class tomorrow talking about it," he says.

•Free — and tipless. Four seniors from Ulysses S. Grant High School showed up at Denny's in North Hollywood at 5:23 a.m. for free breakfast. All ordered Grand Slams and free ice water, then left for school without tipping. "It's just one day," says waitress Laura Martinez, taking the fact that she got stiffed in stride.

Most guests, however, left generous tips.

What Denny's did on Tuesday was an extra-generous form of "sampling." It's the most
effective marketing strategy to bring back consumers who left a brand, or get new customers to try it, says David Vinjamuri, marketing professor at New York University. "In a recession, you try to add value, and sampling does just that."

Which helps explain why freebies have become so prevalent.

Not only was Denny's image a mess, but its service was unpredictable, and its food was entirely forgettable — with few new products in the pipeline.

Then, Denny's image bubble burst in 1993, when six black Secret Service agents ordered food at a Denny's in Annapolis, Md. It took so long to arrive, they eventually filed a class-action racial bias lawsuit for being denied service. The lawsuit was settled a year later for more than $54 million.

That lawsuit may have been the slap in the face that Denny's needed. It worked closely with
the NAACP, and by 2000, Fortune named it the No. 1 company for minorities to work for in
America.

At the nation's largest Denny's, in Las Vegas, the usual staff of 27 was doubled to 54 for
the rush, says Marchioli. The staff was rotated every four hours to avoid burnout.

Consumer response to the promotion has been all Denny's could hope for. Besides guests at restaurants on Tuesday, the Denny's website has had 40 million hits since the Super Bowl ad aired.

"We've had a lot of fun today," Marchioli says, exhaling a small sigh of relief.

Marchioli is silent for a moment. He hedges. Then he concedes: If you factor in the profits
from all of Tuesday's drink orders — which are far more profitable than food orders — "we'll
do better than break even."

And, yes, he just may do it again.

FOR COMPLETE ARTICLE GO TO LINK ABOVE

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Permalink Reply by Paul Paz on February 5, 2009 at 3:53am

PS

Denny's also made sure all the required tools for the staff to get the job done were available (schedule, staff, stock, management).

Paul

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