Skip to Content

Customers cry fowl after Boston Market fails to learn from chicken coupon mistake

More
Text SizeAAA

Filed under: Budgets, Food, Fantastic Freebies, Consumer Complaints, Economizer

You'd think any fast-food chain would have taken a lesson from KFC and the Great Free Chicken Fiasco of 2009 and avoid offering customers an outrageous deal via the Internet, where word of just about anything -- good or bad -- can spread faster than greased lightning.

Nevertheless, Boston Market stepped into similar pile of fowl doo-doo last week when it offered its loyal customers a coupon for a $1 chicken entree via its Web site. While not free, it was still one hen of a deal. For $1, diners got a choice of a quarter white or 3-piece dark chicken dinner, along with mashed potatoes and cornbread. Vegetables weren't part of the deal.

Apparently, the week-long promotion was too good for recession-weary consumers to pass up and resulted in shortages of chicken at many Boston Market restaurants, including one in Florida, where a sign pleaded with customers to limit coupon usage to one per person.

Some of its restaurants were limiting coupon users to meatloaf or turkey, while saving the chicken for full-paying customers.

An e-mail sent to company headquarters in Golden, Colo., and a call placed to a Boston Market marketing representative inquiring about the shortages and the offer weren't immediately responded to.

Folks at Boston Market, it seems, weren't paying attention (or maybe they're just not fans of Oprah) to the hoards of reports about KFC restaurants running out of chicken when, in May, legions of eager finger-lickers downloaded a coupon, at Oprah Winfrey's invitation, for two free pieces of its new Kentucky Grilled Chicken.

The subsequent fallout has become a textbook example of how not to go about marketing a new product.

Boston Market's promotion was concocted as a response to KFC's "UnFry Day," which took another stab at offering the public a free piece of grilled chicken on Oct. 26.

As with the KFC promotion, Boston Market's coupon, intended for customers of its VIP Club, spread to other deal sites. As more people sought to cash in on the deal, lines formed and the Boston Market chicken meals became scarcer than ham-and-cheese sandwiches at a Bar Mitzvah.

Boston Market's coupon, which expired Sunday, has been removed from its site but can still be found floating around the Internet. Just keep in mind that at this point, it's as useless as a chicken with its head cut off.
Subscribe to Walletpop

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)

Add your comments

Please keep your comments relevant to this blog entry. Email addresses are never displayed, but they are required to confirm your comments.

When you enter your name and email address, you'll be sent a link to confirm your comment, and a password. To leave another comment, just use that password.

To create a live link, simply type the URL (including http://) or email address and we will make it a live link for you. You can put up to 3 URLs in your comments. Line breaks and paragraphs are automatically converted — no need to use <p> or <br /> tags.

What are the Next Hot-Spots in the Luxury Resort Scene?
Luxist Awards asked three of our Expert Panelists, all veterans of the travel industry, about the ...
The Luxist Awards for Best Accessories
Do you know of a magnificent jewelry line with pieces that are to die for? Which is the finest ...

Janean Chun
Janean Chun Filed under: Credit, Wealth, 101 credit&debt

Best platinum cards for status spenders and rewards seekers

Remember the days when gold credit cards were the gold standard? Then platinum credit cards became the new mark of exclusivity. Since then, the platinum of platinum credit cards have morphed into ...
Bob Cesca
Bob Cesca Filed under: Food, Shopping

Fighting for a free turkey as consumer confidence improves slightly

My wife and I occasionally shop for groceries at a supermarket that allows customers to collect points towards coupons, giveaways and other discounts. This year, we collected enough points to get a ...
Josh Smith
Josh Smith Filed under: Shopping, Black Friday, Cyber Monday

Cyber Monday: Expect it to come several times this year

Cyber Monday deals traditionally come once a year, the Monday after Thanksgiving, when online retailers cut prices to lure in workers who have returned to work but still need to get some shopping ...
Sarah Gilbert
Sarah Gilbert Filed under: Food, Kids and Money

NBC nixes PETA ad on Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade broadcast

When you settle in to watch the annual spectacular of the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade this year, your viewing experience will be missing something. No, it's not just the cast of Glee (banished due ...

Headlines from WalletPop Partners