GOLDEN Colo. The restaurant industry’s discounting war has many fronts -- $5 foot-long sandwiches, $1 double cheeseburgers, two-for-$20 deals in casual dining -- and Boston Market on Monday launched a major offensive in the “kids eat free” battle.
Through Oct. 31, the chain will run a “Two Kids Eat Free” promotion aimed at serving the changing American family.
Golden-based Boston Market will offer two free kids’ meals with the purchase of one adult entree costing $6 or more. The chain also will offer four free kids’ meals with the purchase of a Family Meal. Diners 14 and younger are eligible for the promotion. Unlike a deal offering one kids’ meal per adult entree purchased, this promotion aims to serve families with either one parent or more than two children, Boston Market said.
In the past few months, chains as varied as Tropical Smoothie Cafe, IHOP, Fazoli’s, Marie Callender’s and El Torito have launched kids-eat-free meal deals with the purchase of an adult entree. Boston Market, however, wants to differentiate its offer from the competition in several ways, said chief executive Lane Cardwell.
Boston Market found widespread demand for such offers, Cardwell said, but noticed several common limitations on them, such as being valid only for purchases in the dining room, only for a few hours of the day, or only on typically slow weekdays.
“We thought it would be liberal to open [our kids-eat-free offer] to the drive-thrus and takeout,” he said. “That was going to be our differentiation.”
But the most glaring needs not being addressed were for families with single parents or with more than two children, Cardwell said. According to research from the U.S. Census Bureau the chain provided, 31 percent of American families are single-parent households, and 21 percent of families have three or more children.
“A lot of people ignore these programs if they don’t match their situation,” he said. “Another compelling reason for this is that the recession has lasted longer than lots of people thought, and it’s been especially tough on households with more kids or single parents. We thought this was a way to not just help ourselves, but other people as well.”
Boston Market only requires that the children be present with the purchasing adult. The minimum adult entree price point is about $6.
“If [the families] spend only $6, we won’t make money, but we won’t lose money,” Cardwell said. “We’re OK with that. We recognize that for some people it’s the only chance they’ll have to eat out with a couple of kids. When times get better, we hope we’ve earned their loyalty.”
The company hasn’t ruled out doing the promotion again in the future.
“If this does what we think it can,” Cardwell said, “it can be a very important part of our toolkit going forward. Most companies set rules to benefit themselves. So if [the deal is] Tuesday night, dining room only, from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. — ‘yeah, thanks a lot.’ Ours is all day, every day, however you want to use us.”
All 522 Boston Market locations in the United States are company-owned.
Contact Mark Brandau at [email protected].