Teach a man to fish, and he’ll eat for a lifetime. Offer him free fish, and hoards of people will overrun your restaurant so fast you’ll risk food shortages and riots. Or something like that…

It seems there’s no end to restaurants and food brands offering coupons for free meals and products. What’s surprising, however, is just how little the participating companies understand the power of the word “free.” In this economy – or any economy, really – you’ll find people hard-pressed to pass on free food, as any parents visiting their child at college can tell you. Offer to take the roommates to dinner, and suddenly you’re staring at a two-hour wait for a table for 10.

So, why do marketers continue to underestimate the demand? Didn’t the Oprah-KFC incident teach us anything? Apparently, we’re still waiting for the lesson to sink in. Just last week, restaurant chain TGI Friday’s had to face the ire of Facebookers everywhere when coupons for a free Jack Daniel’s burger or chicken sandwich ran out 24 days sooner than expected. To stem the groundswell of negative comments, TGIF hastily extended the promotion. What was initially an offer of free burgers for the first 500,000 Facebook followers of TGIF “fan” Woody, has been opened up to the first million. At the time of this post, Woody is closing in with 970,739 followers.

In a similar incident, Smucker’s launched a promotion offering 20,000 coupons for free packages of Uncrustables Sandwiches. Within hours of going live online, the coupons were gone. The program was slated to run through October, and it didn’t even make it out of September. According to a Smucker’s PR executive, it doesn’t look like the company will make any more coupons available. This hardly seems like a good move, especially as Smucker’s tries to drive moms to its Web site to submit tips on giving their kids and the whole family “a wholesome, satisfying and convenient snack.” Moms can still provide tips, but they shouldn’t expect free sandwiches.

The lesson here? Take a cue from the Oprah-KFC effect. Coupons for free food will inevitably run out – and faster than you think. So, take the time to prepare a contingency that won’t leave consumers feeling cheated. Hope for the best, but plan for the worst.

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Comments

food coupons

April 15, 2011 4:04 PM Food can be very expensive, especially if you are feeding a family with multiple children. Have a coupon for some free food is such a nice little treat! That's crazy though that over 20,000 coupons were all gone within hours of being posted online. Let's hope that coupons for free food never run out completely.

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