It worked for us last week and we liked it just fine. We didn't ask about the availability of other sides, but we did buy the large carry-out size of sweet potatoes because our family loves them.

Interesting! You ended up spending some money in addition to the $1 per meal. I think many assume that most customers won't buy anything in addition to their free offer ... --- lfk.

I went to the Ellicott City store at lunch time on Friday. There was a line of about 20 people and it took abut 20 minutes to get through the line. The staff was very patient and friendly, and politely answered the questions everyone had. I got the white meat chicken, sweet potatoes and corn bread muffin for $1.06. It was very tasty. So other than the wait in line, it was a good experience.

I tried again on Saturday night at 7 p.m. in Pasadena, but there were 30 people in line and didn't feel like waiting.

Thx, Mike! Sounds like the sweet potatoes are pretty popular ... I went for the creamed spinach myself. --- lfk.

My daughter works @ the Boston Market in Glen Burnie and as a customer I got to see first hand how obnoxious many people are. One woman was there while I was to get 25..yes I said 25 dinners for her church..hmmm is that Godlike? I commend the workers for staying a patient even while some consumers even yelled racial slurs. Its a sad world when a $1.00 meal can cause people to lose their dignity and respect.

Rhonda, you said it. You'd think that the promise of free or cheap food would make people happy. And the coupon said "one per customer" ... so why are people trying to take advantage? --- lfk.

I love Boston Market. . . and Rhonda's comments. . .at first I was disappointed by the customer ordering 25 meals off a single coupon for her church and quickly decided it wasn't Godlike. Before I could finish clicking my tongue in disgust I remembered a story from Sunday school about Feeding the Multitudes. Something about turning 2 fish and a couple of loaves of cornbread into enough food to feed a multitude. Maybe that customer was Godlike, and Boston Market's decision to honor the request . . . divine.

As the CEO of Boston Market I must admit right off that I am biased. Let me tell you about the $1 promotion from our perspective, since everyone is entitled to an opinion. When KFC released their press release on Thursday, Oct. 22 that they were going to repeat their 1 piece of chicken giveaway on Monday, Oct. 26 we decided this time to not let it go unchallenged. By late Thursday we had decided on our offer: $1 for 1/4 of a white meat chicken, mashed potatoes, and corn bread. A real meal, not a piece of chicken. Our biggest challenge was in deciding whether our stores would have enough food, since they would not have time to place an order for more food before the promotion would begin. We decided that we were safe with up to a tripling of our normal business and would not be advertising or publicizing the promotion. We e-mailed our 400,000 VIP Club members, included a "Forward to a friend" button, and sent out the e-mails on Sunday night. We expected the promotion to be picked up on the many "deal" websites and were okay with that. Our mistake was in thinking that we were making things better by having the promotion run for a week, instead of 2-3 days. We never would have done a 1 day promo like KFC since it makes your guests jump through too many hoops to take advantage of it. However, by the third day it was clear that instead of making the situation better from a guest standpoint, it make it worse. It allowed the coupon to take on viral properties and spread throughout the country. It gave time for people to come back a second, third, and fourth time, which we were okay with, but it made the lines longer, not shorter. Our biggest difficulty is that we deal in fresh, not frozen food. Our chickens have to be shipped from near where they are raised and it can take up to two days, with two drivers driving overnight, to reach some of our stores. KFC had the advantage of stockpiling frozen chicken for one month leading up to the promotion. We had to start with the food that we had, and then replenish during mid-week. We did fine until the fifth day, when about 5% of our restaurants ran low (mostly in the midwest), then out of food. Our offer was for chicken and mashed potatoes. When we ran out of those we started offering all of our meats and all of our sides. Cost was never an issue. Not disappointing was always on our minds. However, when demand outstripped supplies, and restocking was at least a day a way, we had to temporarily close stores that were one day away from receiving more food. When this happened we had our staff inside the store greet guests in the parking lot and give them an apology letter and explanation from me, and a raincheck for the following week for the same deal. I have read a lot of comments on the internet saying that we should have known better than to offer such a good deal during these tough times with a coupon that could be copied and forwarded. We did know better, we just underestimated the popularity of our food when combined with a $1 offer. We served 1.7 million meals last week for $1 each. It was as if the city of Phoenix decided to show up at our all of our restaurants and ask to be fed for $1 for one week. And we did. We never had more than 8% of our stores without food at any time, and we always gave rainchecks when it happened. If we served frozen food it would have been so easy! We did this promotion for two reasons, one selfish and one altruistic. We have learned from our Two Kids Eat Free promotion, which runs on the weekends through Jan. 31, that times are tough on families right now. Our $1 meal deal was, first, to fight back against KFC, and second, to give a true deal to people in true need of a good meal. I am so proud of our people. They showed up every day, for seven days, faced long lines and served food with smiling faces. They were proud of what we serve and the true meaning of what we were trying to do. Do we hope that we will be well thought of in the future and that we will get some full-paying business? Of course. Even charities have to breakeven or they go out of business and can't help anyone. Thank you to those of you who supported us by voting "yes" on this poll. I am glad that you "got it". To those of you who voted "no", please give us another chance at full-price sometime in the future. I think that you will agree that it is worth it. I can tell you from the hundreds of phone calls and e-mails that we have received that times are tough for a lot of people. We know that and are proud of making our contribution to help. We look for others in our industry to respond in the same way.

Pikesville location, Saturday, 3 pm, 45 minute wait. Terrific meal, but hellish wait.

Liz, seriously, try the sweet potatoes! As I noted in my original commment on this entry, we bought the big container of them in addition to our meal, but we've been known to stop in just to buy that container to augment whatever meal we're having at home (burgers, steak, whatever).

I'm sorry for the people who had a long wait because ours was only 5 minutes or so. The line abouto 10 minutes later was much longer but the Ellicott City staff stayed pleasant and helpful the entire time we were there eating. However, when the promotion is this good, I would expect a rather long wait - kind of like some Black Friday sales where people line up hours before the stores open. Hey, at least the wait wasn't THAT long!

Thanks again, Boston Market, for this deal. We appreciated it!

This promotion got me in the door a couple of times. It introduced me to the quality of food that BM serves. I'll be back at full price after this sampling. My lunch is flexible and each time I got there the wait was no longer than 5-10 minutes from the time I entered to the time I left. Employees were/are super in the Clayton, MO store.

Love Boston Market, didn't have the patience to wait, but don't mind paying full price for good food.

What a great offer. Just sorry I didn't know about the offer in time. Thanks for making the effort.