50 Great Ideas 2020

50 Great Ideas 2020

Picnic fixings

Fast-casual chain Tender Greens put together a box of wine, cheese, salami, condiments and fruit for a picnic at home, as well as a morning baking box for diners to prepare.

50 Great Ideas 2020

No window, no problem

Chicken Salad Chick put up pop-up tents at its locations in strip malls to create quick and easy drive-thru locations.

Before the pandemic closed its dining room, RTE 47 in Yorkville, Ill., often hired musicians to perform there.

Social Eats in Santa Monica, Calif., and Bonus Round Cafe in Chicago offered curbside pickup of board games for customers to play with their meals.

Eatertainment chain Chuck E. Cheese, known as a birthday party celebration spot, sold family fun packs and party packs for delivery, including goody bags with toys, a doll, cake and gaming tickets for a future visit.

Wichita, Kan., chain Chick N Max was selling boxed meals at a deep discount to help people impacted by the pandemic.

Dickey’s Barbecue Pit sought contenders for “Mom’s best advice” via social media through the month of May. The person who submitted the best bit of wisdom received free barbecue for a year.

NRD Capital, owner of Ruby Tuesday, has created Franklin Junction, a company that allows any restaurant to become a potential “ghost kitchen.” It connects restaurants that want to expand into new markets with other restaurants that want to act as host concepts.

Through a promotion called Fried Chicken ‘n Chill, Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen provided its Netflix username and password to the first 1,000 customers to post a picture of themselves with a Popeyes meal and the hashtag #ThatPasswordFromPopeyes.

Uno Pizzeria & Grill gave away virtual birthday parties to kids in the Boston area, setting them up with DIY pizza kits—something that had normally been reserved for dine-in customers—and connecting them with friends via video conference to celebrate.

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