Denny's Grand Slam Giveaway a Hit With 2 Million Diners

Restaurant Says It Exceeded Estimates at Total Cost of $5 Million

By Emily Bryson York

Published: February 03, 2009

CHICAGO (AdAge.com) -- Score one for beginner's luck. Denny's first Super Bowl spot, which offered free breakfast to America, seems to have put bums in seats. The restaurant claims it surpassed its estimate that it would serve up to 2 million people during today's eight-hour Grand Slam giveaway. And all for the low price of $5 million.

Even early in the day, a very unscientific poll made it appear that many Denny's restaurants were giving away upward of 1,000 breakfasts.

Photo Credit: AP

"The response has been even better than we thought," said John Dillon, VP-marketing at Denny's. "We thought we were going to have a great day, and we had an awesome day. The response from customers both existing and new guests, as well as our staff and the restaurants, we couldn't have asked for more." The company estimates that the entire promotion, from Super Bowl ad buy to food costs, will total about $5 million.

Darren Tristano, exec VP, Technomic, a Chicago-based food-industry consultancy, described a turnout of 2 million as "pretty good." And since that breaks down to more than 1,000 Slams per restaurant, he said, "they must have been turning tables pretty fast."

"But given the state of the economy, it's not surprising," he said. "A free meal is a free meal."

For the uninitiated, Denny's Grand Slam meal consists of two pancakes, two eggs, two sausage links and two pieces of bacon. In other words, it's a little more pricey than the usual giveaways.

Sphere: Related Content