Today a person was telling me that he was going to Denny’s for dinner which was odd as he never goes to those types of places usually. Apparently he was going out with the family and the reason they went was that they had this special where on Tuesdays kids actually get a free meal. In this case, the meal is apparently a small burger with a side of fries. Everything else such as the drinks are not included. This is not the first time I have heard this promotion working effectively on a lot of people.
But the funny thing afterwards was the comments on how small the dish portions were compared to the types of restaurants he would normally go to for the price of the dishes. For $25 he got a very small steak that looked like the size of small burger whereas for that amount at say a Chinese restaurant he frequently went to would give a huge dish of meat and vegetables that can often be shared with multiple people.
So that free kids meal wasn’t really that much of a deal overall. It’s interesting to look at though from a marketing point of view where enticing a child to go with free offers usually results in the whole family going which means more money for the business. Now you know why so many places target kids with free toys as as an example.