Will the Colonel's third grilled chicken giveaway be a charm?
KFC will once again hand out free pieces of its Kentucky Grilled Chicken on Monday, Oct. 26, in a promotion hailed as "UNFry Day."
Customers can stop by KFC locations throughout the day on Monday and receive a free piece of Kentucky Grilled Chicken. No coupon is required.
"Already, more than 60 million Americans have joined 'Grilled Nation' by trying our new Kentucky Grilled Chicken," KFC spokesman Rick Maynard tells Slashfood. "But we're not satisfied with just 60 million, so we're giving away free KGC again."
Stop into a McDonald's between 7 a.m. and 7 p.m. today or on any Monday between now and August 3 and get a free sample of their McCafé Mocha.
The fast-food chain will offer either a 7-ounce iced mocha or 8-ounce hot mocha -- but only one per customer, so choose your format wisely.
With such deeply entrenched competitors as Starbucks, Dunkin' Donuts and the newly arrived Canadian competitor, Tim Hortons also thirsty for market share, the promotion is McDonald's newest effort to promote its new line of premium espresso drinks to coffee-drinkers nationwide.
McDonald's McCafé line was introduced in early May and includes hot or iced coffee, lattes and mochas, as well as cappuccinos and hot chocolate.
As McDonald's continues drawing in coffee-drinking customers with their McCafé concept, Slashfood wants to know, who's got your favorite cup o' joe?
Cows eat free at Chick-fil-A. Photo: Jonathan D. Blundell/flickr
Don't do a double take Friday if you happen to see some customers at Chick-fil-A dressed as bovines. They're just celebrating the chain's fifth annual Cow Appreciation Day.
Any customer who shows up to the restaurant on July 10 dressed in full cow regalia -- that means dressed from head to hoof -- will get a free combo meal (breakfast, lunch or dinner). Those who come with just a piece of cow clothing (T-shirt, bandanna, purse, etc.) will get a free entree.
Seems like a lot of commitment for free food. Would you do it?
Last Friday, the u-pick farm I like to frequent was offering a special 4th of July deal. If you were willing to sing the National Anthem, or recite the Pledge of Alligence, they'd give you a free bag of popcorn to take home along with the peaches, blueberries and plums you picked. I was more interested in the apple cider donuts, so I skipped the display of patriotism and paid for my snack.
However, if you're the type who likes to work for your meal and doesn't mind looking a little silly in the pursuit of a good deal, then you might like what Chick-fil-a offering up this Friday. They've declared it to be Cow Appreciation Day and if you dress up like a cow and go to one of their stores, you'll be rewarded with some free food. If you go all out and dress yourself from head to hoof, you'll get a free combo meal. If you just do a partial look, you'll be given a standalone entree. So what are you waiting for? Start planning your costume.
Our post about companies giving their food away for free wasn't a joke. After you've had your morning ice coffee from Dunkin Donuts and sampled the new Southern Chicken Biscuit thing from McDonald's today, wait until next week for a free ice cream cone from Baskin Robbins. They're making May 21, Wednesday, traditionally known as "Hump Day" into "Bump Day." It's a debut of their "newest addition," soft serve, which they'll be serving from 11 am to 10 pm.
That means, of course, you have to be sporting a baby bump to get your free cone. (Don't worry, we'll likely post a reminder when the day gets closer.)
Whether the motive is to get word out to consumers about how a new product tastes or to lure customers into a restaurant with free food in the hopes that they'll buy other stuff, too, the practice of "sampling" is becoming more and more popular. Sampling used to be restricted to smaller companies that couldn't afford million-dollar advertising campaigns, but now even huge corporations like Starbucks and McDonald's are doing it.
How this affects social psychology, business, and marketing, we'll leave to other blogs, but here, we're just concerned about the free food! The last few months, especially in April when consumers' wallets were hit with taxes, companies gave out everything from free burritos to frozen yogurt.
Coming up, both McDonald's and Dunkin Donuts will be giving away free samples on May 15.
This doesn't quite apply to me because I wake up before sunrise without an alarm (probably because I have coffee pulsing through my veins in place of blood), but for anyone who happens to be "morning impaired," the Society for the Morning Impaired wants to bribe you out of bed with a free Sausage McGriddle from McDonald's. You sign up to join the society, then supposedly an electronic coupon appears in your email inbox. We say "supposedly" because we tried to sign up -- we may not be morning impaired but we fall all over ourselves for anything off of McDonalds' breakfast menu -- and were told that the offer is not available in our area (we're on LA's westside). Obviously, this is a marketing program from McDonald's but we certainly don't have a problem with that. Market away if it means free food!
One of the (many) perks of working for Google is that they offer free gourmet meals to all their employees at 17 different cafes across their sprawling network of offices. One discerning Google employee has made something of a name for himself within the company through his regular food recommendations and reviews that he posts to an internal email list for the culinary edification of his co-workers. He's become so well known in the Google community when it comes to food that he was asked to join the committee responsible for hiring the chefs.
Yesterday, the Los Angeles Times published an article about Thunder Parley, this notable Google food reviewer, in their workplace section. It's a fun read, not only for his story, but also as a peek into the world of free Google food.
According to the official website of Major League Baseball and Taco Bell, between the hours of 2 and 5 pm today (October 30th), Taco Bell will be giving away free Crunchy Seasoned Beef Tacos. This is part of their Steal a Base, Steal a Taco promotion in which they promised to give away one free taco per customer to everyone who came into the store if there was a base stolen in the World Series. Well, a base was stolen and so they are giving away tacos. Tacos that cost less than a dollar to buy. Oh well, Americans, we love our free stuff.
Would you sit all night in a parking lot to get free combo meals?
That's what over 100 people did in Phoenix yesterday. They stayed overnight in the parking lot of Chick-fil-A to get 52 free combo meals. The doors opened at 6:30am and the customers (who brought along tents and sleeping bags and TVs so they'd be at home in the parking lot) walked through the door for their free meals. Reminds me of that Seinfeld episode where Jerry dated the woman who worked in the soup kitchen and he was amazed that people would eat soup all day, even in the morning.
Wait a second, 100 people got 52 free combo meals each? Is that what the article says? Yikes.
If you haven't heard by now, there has been a lot of controversy in the fashion world about extremely thin models lately. Some shows have banned girls from the catwalks if their BMI is too low and other designers are refusing to use them to show their collections. In an effort to aid those poor, overly thin models on their quest to bulk back up and get back to strutting their stuff on the runway, the trendy Bumpkin restaurant in Notting Hill in London is offering free food to them. Any model with a BMI (Body Mass Index) of less than 18 - which would be the BMI for a 5'8" woman weighing 120-lbs - can get all the free food that they want. The manager recommends the hearty charter pie, which contains leeks, chicken and bacon and is "enough to keep you warm and energized all day."
Last Friday, the u-pick farm I like to frequent was offering a special 4th of July deal. If you were willing to sing the National Anthem, or recite the Pledge of Alligence, they'd give you a free bag of popcorn to take home along with the peaches, blueberries and plums you picked. I was more interested in the apple cider donuts, so I skipped the display of patriotism and paid for my snack. 
Whether the motive is to get word out to consumers about how a new product tastes or to lure customers into a restaurant with free food in the hopes that they'll buy other stuff, too, the 
Would you sit all night in a parking lot to get free combo meals?
If you haven't heard by now, there has been a lot of controversy in the fashion world about extremely thin models lately. Some shows have banned girls from the catwalks 
What Can I Get You Folks? - Server Revenge
Reality-Show Celebrities Serve Up Chef Curtis Stone's 'Hundred-Dollar Burger'
Foods Celebrity Chefs Hate
