SPARTANBURG S.C. Saying speed-of-service gains were offset by bad weather, Denny’s reported that about 2 million customers took advantage of its second annual Free Grand Slam promotion Tuesday, or roughly the same number as last year.
Given the regular suggested $5.99 price of a Grand Slam, the promotion cost the Denny’s system about $12 million in lost retail sales, or about half of 1 percent of the chain’s annual U.S. systemwide sales of $2.3 billion.
“Once again our Free Grand Slam giveaway was a great day for Americans and a great day for Denny’s. We welcomed millions of Americans into our restaurants and served them our signature Grand Slam breakfast,” said Nelson Marchioli, chief executive of Denny’s Corp., which operates or franchises more than 1,545 family-dining restaurants worldwide, including about 1,465 in the United States.
Marchioli said the chain “received an outpouring of the most genuine and heartwarming comments from our guests, servers and managers.”
He added, “We hope to continue to connect with our guests with real affordable offers all year long so they can fall in love with Denny’s again.”
The family-restaurant operator could use a little love.
Despite last year’s post-Super Bowl giveaway, Denny's continued to struggle with sluggish sales. For the three quarters ended Sept. 30, the chain reported same-store sales declined 2.9 percent at company restaurants and fell 4.5 percent at franchised locations.
Denny’s said some restaurants turned out free Grand Slam meals at a rate of about 200 per hour during this year’s giveaway, which ran from 6 a.m. to 2 p.m., but noted that poor weather in some parts of the nation hindered such a performance systemwide. Last year, the chain said, restaurants, on average, turned out about 130 Grand Slams per hour.
This year, wait times typically ranged from 15 to 30 minutes, with tables turning, on average, about every 15 minutes, Denny's said.
Denny’s website received about 49 million hits since Jan. 28, when the chain announced this year’s freebie fest. The company noted that nearly 24 million of those website visits came after Sunday’s Super Bowl commercials showing the emotional devastation felt by egg-laying chickens when informed of the pending giveaway.
In related marketing developments, Denny’s said it was a top 10 trending topic on Twitter on Tuesday and during the fourth quarter of Sunday’s game. In addition, the company said nearly 300,000 people had already registered for the Denny’s Rewards program being touted at the chain’s website, a promotion for which has promised a free burger and fries to the first 500,000 who join by Feb. 14.
Contact Alan J. Liddle at [email protected].
