“It looks like people like free cheeseburgers,” Joe Johnston says, surveying the large lunchtime crowd celebrating his restaurant’s two-year anniversary.
Well, duh.
Thousands of East Valley residents visited Joe’s Farm Grill on Wednesday for the Gilbert eatery’s annual Free Cheeseburger Day. Each person received a free third-pound cheeseburger with fries and drink for lunch or dinner.
By the end of the day, Johnston expected to serve as many as 4,000 meals at the restaurant, which was constructed on his family’s farm on Ray Road just west of Higley Road.
“The purpose is twofold,” he says. “One is customer apprecation. It’s been a good year. The business generally is tough right now, but we’ve done well, thanks to things like (an appearance on Food Network TV show) ‘Diners, Drive-Ins & Dives.’
“Second, there are new people here we’re trying to convert into regular customers. … This is like a free sampling opportunity.”
It’s a promotion Johnston has perfected at another of his Gilbert restaurants, Joe’s Real BBQ, which has done a similar meal giveaway for the past nine years.
Joe’s Farm Grill’s event was a little more difficult, Johnston says. Unlike barbecue, burgers are cooked to order.
“If you’re trying to win new customers, you don’t want to take shortcuts,” he says. “The burger they get today has to be exactly the same burger they’ll get tomorrow.”
More than 100 people were in line when the doors opened at 11 a.m. Glenna Allyn and Melanie Dion were the first to arrive. The Mesa friends were running errands and showed up just after 9 a.m.
“We like both of (Johnston’s) places,” Allyn says. “He has the best barbecue in town.”
Midway through the lunch hour, approximately 1,000 people had been served and there was a steady line of 150 to 200 waiting.
Johnston took the opportunity to hand out flyers for his annual farm stand, which opens Saturday next to the restaurant. All around him, people chatted at picninc tables and children played games on the lawn.
“If you’re coming out for a convenient meal, today’s probably not the best day,” he says. “But if you’re looking for a fun and social time, today’s the day.”
Info: (480) 563-4745 or joesfarmgrill.com.
See more photos from Joe’s Farm Grill’s Free Cheeseburger Day (click each to enlarge):
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