Denny’s Corp. is giving its loyalty-program members a chance to get free delivery for the rest of the year through the Denny’s on Demand platform, the company said Monday.
The Spartanburg, S.C.-based family-dining chain said Denny’s Rewards members can place an order via Denny’s on Demand between July 27 and Aug. 9, and then they will receive a weekly coupon via email to be redeemed for free delivery once a week until the end of 2020.
Non-member customers can sign up for Denny’s Rewards anytime during the July-August period. The program can be accessed through the website or with the smartphone app.
“Over the past several months, as in-restaurant dining has been in a state of change due to COVID-19, we have seen higher instances of our guests opting for Denny’s comfort food via delivery,” said John Dillon, chief brand officer for Denny’s, in a statement.
“We want to be able to serve our guests in a myriad of different ways, be it in-restaurant, pickup or delivery, and being able to alleviate delivery fees through the end of the year is a perfect way to thank our guests for sticking with us during the recent challenging times,” Dillon said.
In a May first-quarter earnings call, John Miller, Denny’s CEO, said that before the coronavirus pandemic was declared in March, off-premise sales represented about 12% of the brand’s business and nearly 60% of these transactions were pickup orders with delivery orders representing the balance.
“As our business was shifting, we were able to accelerate some national broadcast media to feature a free-delivery message when ordering through our website or mobile app while also introducing a contactless delivery option,” Miller said.
For the first quarter ended March 25, Denny’s net income was $9 million, or 16 cents a share, down from $15.5 million, or 24 cents a share, in the same period last year. Revenues fell to $96.7 million from $151.4 million in the prior-year quarter.
As of March 25, Denny's had 1,695 franchised, licensed and company restaurants around the world including 147 restaurants outside the United States.
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