SUCCESSFUL “FREE FRIES FRYDAY” PROMOTION BACK FOR THIRD STRAIGHT YEAR
Free Fries Friday Advertisement
Back for a third consecutive year is the Lamb Weston ‘Free Fires Friday’ promotion. The promotion was launched in 2009, when ConAgra Foods Lamb Weston and participating restaurants in the Tri-Cities area gave away more than 25,000 servings of french fries to local residents. The promotion kicked off the community’s annual Tri-City Water Follies and Lamb Weston Columbia Cup Hydroplane Race weekend.
Working with over 30 local independent and chain restaurant locations, the company provided their quality french fry products to the eateries to serve for free, throughout the day. From local hamburger favorites to national chain fast food restaurants to sports bars and hotel restaurants, thousands of residents walked in or drove thru and enjoyed a total of 25,200 free servings of fries.
“Free Fries Fryday was a great way to build excitement for both Lamb Weston and the Water Follies, and was also an innovative way to build awareness for the challenge of hunger and food insecurity in our communities,” Second Harvest Tri-Cities Director Kathye Kilgore said in a statement.
In addition to satisfying thousands of Tri-Cities residents with terrific french fries, Free Fries Fryday boosted local restaurant business and helped to tie the local restaurant community to the Water Follies event. “Lamb Weston has been an official sponsor of the Water Follies Columbia Cup for three years now, and this year we really wanted to reach out to the community in a new and bigger way,” said Jeff DeLapp, president of Lamb Weston. “We have more than 4,000 employees who live and work here in the Columbia Basin and many of the products we make in our facilities here are enjoyed by restaurant patrons throughout the Tri-Cities area, as well as restaurants and foodservice operations around the world. We know that people love fries, but we really didn’t know what to expect, so we’re very pleased this was such a big success for our customers and our community,” he added.
“No question about it, we did see an increase in traffic in all three of our stores. We sold more of everything…we saw a 20% bump in business particularly at the lunch hour,” said Mike Scott, owner of Bruchi”s Cheesesteaks and Subs.
As part of the 2010 Free Fries promotion, Lamb Weston pledged to donate $1 for every new Free Fries Friday Facebook fan and $0.10 for each serving of free fries given away to the Second Harvest Tri-Cities. Second Harvest has been leading the hunger-relief network in the region since 1971. Second Harvest distributes more than 1 million pounds of donated food each month to help people in need in 26 counties in Eastern Washington and North Idaho. By day’s end, 25,680 servings of fries had been handed out from participating restaurants and fry trailers at Columbia Park. As a result of the 2010 Free Fries Friday promotion, Con Agra Foods Lamb Weston donated $6,262 dollars to Second Harvest Tri-Cities.
In all, Second Harvest will provide 37,572 pounds of food, or 25,048 meals to local families in need, according to Lamb Weston.
More than 600 pounds of food was collected through special food donation bins at participating Albertson’s locations in the Tri-Cities, also to benefit Second Harvest Tri-Cities, Lamb Weston said.
For a complete list of participating restaurants and more information on FREE FRIES FRYDAY, visit www.freefriesfryday.com on the web or call ConAgra Foods Lamb Weston at 1-800-766-7783.
About ConAgra Foods
ConAgra Foods, Inc., (NYSE: CAG) is one of North America’s leading food companies, with brands in 97 percent of America’s households. Consumers findBanquet, Chef Boyardee, Egg Beaters, Healthy Choice, Hebrew National, Hunt’s, Marie Callender’s, Orville Redenbacher’s, PAM, Peter Pan, Reddi-wip and many ConAgra Foods brands in grocery, convenience, mass merchandiser and club stores. ConAgra Foods also has a strong business-to-business presence, supplying potato, other vegetable, spice and grain products to a variety of well-known restaurants, foodservice operators and commercial customers. For more information, please visit us at www.conagrafoods.com.
About Lamb Weston
Lamb Weston, a business of ConAgra Foods, Inc. is North America’s premier supplier of frozen potato, appetizer and vegetable products, serving both the foodservice and retail industries. For more information, please visit us at www.lambweston.com.