Restaurants make free meals available to celebrants for a very simple reason. They want to get repeat customers. One way to do this is to provide a person with a sample meal. Because birthdays are fairly evenly distributed throughout the year, restaurants use this method for attracting new customers and maintaining regular customers all year long.
Twenty years ago few restaurants provided this type of marketing. The reason was that to get the free meal a person would arrive with a valid driver’s license that listed the driver’s birth date. That was fine for a single marketing effort but could backfire if the restaurant ran out of something that day or had an equipment problem that caused food to be less than perfect.
Today that free meal is a year round marketing bonanza. To get the free birthday meal a person must register with their birthday and an email address. The email address of course is the key. Once a restaurant has an email address they can make a customer aware of special offers, holiday catering, and free birthday meal specials. If the consumer is willing to pay the price—providing email address—then the restaurant will provide the free birthday meal.
What Kind of Birthday Meal Can be Expected for Free
There are no hard and fast rules as to what restaurants offer free birthday meals. Some provide birthday meals to children under twelve whereas others offer a free meal to all birthday celebrants regardless of age. It may not be a free meal but instead a free dessert or appetizer is the birthday “gift.” The types of restaurants making these offers vary.
- Fast food/Drive-ins
- Large chain/national restaurants
- Local (one location) dining establishments
- Pizza parlors
- Ethnic restaurants
Restrictions on Free Birthday Meals
Certain restrictions apply to these free meals. It is necessary for the birthday person to know what they are. Some possible restrictions are:
- Whatever free food is provided is almost always only for the person celebrating the birthday and not for the friends they bring along to celebrate.
- A value limit. The free birthday meal may be good for up to $10 or some other arbitrary amount.
- Type of meal. The free meal may be limited to the sandwich portion of the menu, or dessert or appetizer but not full dinner.
- May require a second person. Birthday meal free with an additional full-price meal. (This one is rare.)
- Time restriction. Must be redeemed within certain number of days before or after birth date. Some require birth date only.
How to Sign Up
Perhaps the quickest way to find out which restaurants provide the free food is to visit a site like Hey! It’s Free: Birthday Freebies which has a partial list, with links, of restaurants that have provided free birthday food in the past. Visit the restaurant website first and see if online registration is possible. If not, then ask the restaurant manager on the next visit.
Don’t rule out the local restaurants on Main Street. They want repeat business also and may have a website or, if not, a sign up form in the restaurant.
Caution: Many computer security programs automatically block email that looks like it may be spam. Because of the frequent use of the word free, notices of birthday meals might be blocked. It may be necessary to place registered restaurants on a white list and always accept email from them.
Nothing is really free. But for the price of an email address, several “free” meals can be obtained shortly before or after one’s birthday.
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