Denny's: Where the Food Is Free and Drunks Can Pee

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In addition to the giveaways, the company is employing another aggressive plan to expand its brand in tough times. Denny's is embracing its history as an after-party haven for young, hungry drunks (and, the company is quick to point out, sober people too). For years, countless 20-somethings across the country, after a night of carousing, have suddenly craved a Grand Slam — pancakes, eggs, bacon, sausage, the works — to soak up the alcoholic suds in their stomachs. It's 3 a.m., the bars are closed ... let's go to Denny's. (Not that I, for one, know any of this from personal experience.) "When all of us were 18 to 24, we'd give up a lot of things when we didn't have money, but partying wasn't one of them," says Marchioli. "When it comes to disposable income, [young adults] might have less, but let me tell you, their priorities haven't changed."

To tap into this base — which the company says it has lost over the past decade — Denny's has created something called the Allnighter program. From 10 p.m. to 5 a.m., the chain has started playing alternative-rock music. It has sponsored more than 30 emerging bands — they get free meals while on tour — and organized late-night meet and greets, and occasional jam sessions, with the musicians in the restaurants. The servers wear casual black T shirts instead of buttoned-up uniforms. Denny's has also just introduced four new late-night menu items, each priced between $3 and $4. These include the "Pancake Puppy 12-pack," a dozen bite-size hotcakes rolled in cinnamon and sugar, and "Kickin' Flavor Wraps," two tortillas served with chicken strips. (See nine kid foods to avoid.)

The idea is to serve stuff that groups of amped-up rabble rousers can share. Denny's wants to give the late-night crowd a social experience they can't get at fast-food drive-throughs, which are now staying open later and eating away at the chain's graveyard-shift revenues. "The party is not going to stop once you get through those doors," says Michael Polydoroff, director of sales, promotions and licensing at Denny's.

Denny's has even instructed its servers to engage the tipsy customers, as long as they're not being too disruptive. "We want them to say, 'Looks like you guys were having some fun tonight — who wants coffee now?' " says Polydoroff. " 'I know where you're at; I've got what you need.' "

The company is marketing its new late-night program directly to young people, using Facebook, Twitter and other social-media channels to spread the word. Denny's is well aware that it needs to get younger. After all, the company is over half a century old, and famous for attracting the senior set for 10 a.m. powwows over coffee. Saturday Night Live recently skewered the chain's reputation with this doozy from "Weekend Update" comedian Seth Meyers: "The director of Iowa's Department of Aging said he will not use the abbreviation DOA, since it is also code for 'Dead on Arrival.' Some are suggesting that the Department of Aging go back to its original name, Denny's."

Denny's deserves credit for mapping out, and executing, these bold, relatively unique recession-fighting strategies. Sadly, they still might not work. Back in New Jersey, Pat Blakovich, a dog groomer, had just finished sharing the two-for-one Grand Slam meal with a friend. She went to Denny's just for the promotion, which she saw online the previous day. Blakovich was satisfied. But she's probably not coming back anytime soon. "It's not just here — I don't want Denny's to feel bad," says Blakovich, 46. "I'm cutting back everywhere, not going out as much at all. The economy sucks." Despite the best efforts of Denny's, free food and hungry drunks can't change that fact one bit.

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