Is Love All-You-Can-Eat?

Background: Earlier this week the Applebee's Date Night Pass went on sale. The pass, which was marketed as a Year of Dates, cost $200 and provides up to $30 worth of food and beverages per visit, excluding alcoholic drinks. The pass can be redeemed up to 52 times between February 1, 2024 and January 31, 2025. That's $1,360 in free Applebee's.

If you're thinking this would make a great Valentine's gift, you'll have to think of something else. The passes vanished faster than a plate of hot wings on a Friday night. In just one minute, the limited-quantity offer was devoured by love-struck (or budget-conscious) diners across the country. Applebee's, surprised by the overwhelming demand, can only confirm that the "excitement and demand from guests far surpassed our expectations."

Applebee's is playing coy about the number of passes they sold, leaving daters and cynics alike to wonder: love story or just a cheesy scheme to snag headlines?

Deja Vu: In a parallel universe of pasta paradise, there’s the Olive Garden Lifetime Pasta Pass. In 2019, 50 lucky lasagna lovers secured their own lifelong never ending pasta bowl for a mere $500. The lifetime passes were a new wrinkle to the popular annual Pasta Passes which were first sold in 2014. Like the Applebee’s Date Night passes, these annual pasta passes routinely sold out instantly.

Number: $6.95

Olive Garden offered its first Never Ending Pasta Bowl promo in 1995, when each bottomless bowl cost $6.95. In 2023, the cost was $13.99.

Fact: In 2014, Starboard Value was major investor in Olive Garden’s parent company. In a nearly 300 page report regarding problems in Olive Garden's management and current day-to-day operations, they criticized the way the endless breadsticks were being deployed. The official policy was to serve each diner one breadstick plus an extra, until they asked for another, but the practice was inconsistently applied and weakly monitored. Starboard recommended a more stringent adherence to the breadstick distribution policy could potentially net Olive Garden annual savings of up to $5 million.

Profile: Christine Howard & Gloria Hollingsworth

We can’t talk about date night and restaurant gimmicks without mentioning the White Castle Valentine’s Day tradition. These two women are credited with the idea to turn the fast food joint into a white linen affair every February 14th.

List: Savory Stunts

These restaurant promotions were done to create buzz.

• Burger King's Whopper Severance Package: Burger King offered a free Whopper to people who publicly acknowledged that they were fired. 

• Taco Bell's Space Station Taco Bell Target: Taco Bell placed a large target in the Pacific Ocean and announced that if pieces of the Mir space station hit it upon re-entry, everyone in the U.S. would get a free taco.(Spoiler: the station missed the target)

• IHOP's Name Change to IHOb (2018): IHOP temporarily changed its name to IHOb (International House of Burgers) to promote its new burger line.

• Carl’s Jr. CBD Burger: Carl’s Jr. introduced a CBD-infused burger in Denver, capitalizing on the cannabis trend and making headlines for being one of the first major fast-food chains to incorporate CBD into a menu item.

Recommended Reading: Waiter Rant: Thanks for the Tip--Confessions of a Cynical Waiter by Steve Dublanica. Eye-opening, outrageous, and unabashed—replete with tales of customer stupidity, arrogant misbehavior, and unseen tidbits of human grace in the most unlikely places—Waiter Rant presents the server's unique point of view, revealing surefire secrets to getting good service, proper tipping etiquette, and ways to ensure that your waiter won't spit on your food.

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