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Arby’s to offer free sandwiches to loyalty program membersArby’s to offer free sandwiches to loyalty program members

The quick service chain will offer one deal per week in April

Bret Thorn, Senior Food Editor

April 2, 2024

2 Min Read
Arby's Free Sandwich Month
Promotional material for Arby's sandwich giveaway in April

Arby’s is working to increase its loyalty program membership, and to get its customers to try different menu items, by offering free sandwiches to members this month.

Declaring April “Free Sandwich Month,” the quick service chain of more than 3,500 restaurants will be offering Arby’s Rewards members a deal each week to get a free sandwich with any purchase via the chain’s website or app.

Arby’s, a subsidiary of Atlanta-based Inspire Brands, said the promotion was part of an effort to get skeptics to try its food.

“During Free Sandwich Month, we’re putting our money where our mouth is with our biggest rewards promotion to-date,” chief marketing officer Ellen Rose said in a release announcing the deal. “Arby’s sandwiches are so delicious, which is why Free Sandwich Month is the perfect opportunity for any skeptics out there to try any of the sandwiches they’ve been eyeing. We’re so confident that our sandwiches will turn even the biggest Arby’s disbeliever into a fan that we’re willing to give them four free trials throughout the month of April.”

To promote the offer, Arby’s said it would put four skeptics about the quality of its food to the test via its social media channels. In the “Arby’s Try Detector” promotion four participants will be strapped to biometric scanners as they try an Arby’s sandwich to see how they truly feel about what they’re eating.

Related:11 notable new loyalty programs, revamps, and upgrades of 2023

Many restaurant chains have reported that loyalty program members tend to spend more money per transaction, and that digital orders also tend to result in higher checks.
Collecting data from loyalty program members also allows chains to customize their offers, for example by giving discounts to customers who respond to that while offering early access to menu items or merchandise to those who are more interested in those types of deals.

Carl’s Jr. recently gave away hamburgers on the day after the Super Bowl to attract new loyalty program members, and got nearly 200,000 people to sign up, boosting its membership by some 20%.

Potbelly recently modified its rewards program to allow members to accrue points and redeem them more quickly.

Contact Bret Thorn at [email protected] 

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About the Author

Bret Thorn

Senior Food Editor, Nation's Restaurant News

Senior Food & Beverage Editor

Bret Thorn is senior food & beverage editor for Nation’s Restaurant News and Restaurant Hospitality for Informa’s Restaurants and Food Group, with responsibility for spotting and reporting on food and beverage trends across the country for both publications as well as guiding overall F&B coverage. 

He is the host of a podcast, In the Kitchen with Bret Thorn, which features interviews with chefs, food & beverage authorities and other experts in foodservice operations.

From 2005 to 2008 he also wrote the Kitchen Dish column for The New York Sun, covering restaurant openings and chefs’ career moves in New York City.

He joined Nation’s Restaurant News in 1999 after spending about five years in Thailand, where he wrote articles about business, banking and finance as well as restaurant reviews and food columns for Manager magazine and Asia Times newspaper. He joined Restaurant Hospitality’s staff in 2016 while retaining his position at NRN. 

A magna cum laude graduate of Tufts University in Medford, Mass., with a bachelor’s degree in history, and a member of Phi Beta Kappa, Thorn also studied traditional French cooking at Le Cordon Bleu Ecole de Cuisine in Paris. He spent his junior year of college in China, studying Chinese language, history and culture for a semester each at Nanjing University and Beijing University. While in Beijing, he also worked for ABC News during the protests and ultimate crackdown in and around Tiananmen Square in 1989.

Thorn’s monthly column in Nation’s Restaurant News won the 2006 Jesse H. Neal National Business Journalism Award for best staff-written editorial or opinion column.

He served as president of the International Foodservice Editorial Council, or IFEC, in 2005.

Thorn wrote the entry on comfort food in the Oxford Encyclopedia of Food and Drink in America, 2nd edition, published in 2012. He also wrote a history of plated desserts for the Oxford Companion to Sugar and Sweets, published in 2015.

He was inducted into the Disciples d’Escoffier in 2014.

A Colorado native originally from Denver, Thorn lives in Brooklyn, N.Y.

Bret Thorn’s areas of expertise include food and beverage trends in restaurants, French cuisine, the cuisines of Asia in general and Thailand in particular, restaurant operations and service trends. 

Bret Thorn’s Experience: 

Nation’s Restaurant News, food & beverage editor, 1999-Present
New York Sun, columnist, 2005-2008 
Asia Times, sub editor, 1995-1997
Manager magazine, senior editor and restaurant critic, 1992-1997
ABC News, runner, May-July, 1989

Education:
Tufts University, BA in history, 1990
Peking University, studied Chinese language, spring, 1989
Nanjing University, studied Chinese language and culture, fall, 1988 
Le Cordon Bleu Ecole de Cuisine, Cértificat Elémentaire, 1986

Email: [email protected]

Social Media:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bret-thorn-468b663/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/bret.thorn.52
Twitter: @foodwriterdiary
Instagram: @foodwriterdiary

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