from CNN Money: Wendy’s restaurants are giving away free Frostys frozen desserts this weekend as a thank you to customers who supported the burger chain following an embarrassing incident in California where a women allegedly planted a severed finger in a bowl of chili.
“Our customers stood by us while we defended our good name and protected our employees’ livelihoods, so now we’re showing our appreciation with free Frostys,” Tom Mueller, Wendy’s chief executive, said in a press release. “We’re moving on.”
The incident has hurt Wendy’s business, particularly on the West Coast, with the company estimating same store sales took a 2 to 2.5 percent hit in the most recent quarter.
The company estimates it will give away 14 million Junior Frostys during the event, which runs nationwide from Friday through Sunday. No other purchase is required.
This gave me such a warm fuzzy feeling that I’m running out now to chill it down with a free Frosty. I wish more companies could use a bad incident to their advantage.
What? No free finger food?
This just in…
SAN JOSE, Calif. – The mysterious finger that a woman claimed to have found in a bowl of Wendy’s chili came from an associate of her husband who lost the finger in an industrial accident, police said Friday.
“The jig is up. The puzzle pieces are beginning to fall into place, and the truth is being exposed,” Police Chief Rob Davis said.
Authorities said last month that they believed the story was a hoax, and they arrested the 39-year-old Ayala at her home in Las Vegas and charged her with attempted grand larceny for allegedly trying to shake down Wendy’s. But whose finger was in the chili remained a mystery.
The owner was traced through a tip made to a Wendy’s hot line, Davis said. He said the man lost the finger in December, and authorities “positively confirmed that this subject was in fact the source of the fingertip.” The nature of the industrial accident was not disclosed.
Davis said the Nevada man, whose name was not released, is cooperating. The police chief would not say if the man was in on the alleged hoax.
A Finger in the Dike of Bad P.R.
May 16, 2005 Junior Frosty weekend is now behind it, as is the uncertainty surrounding the case of the chili finger at Wendy’s. In a situation with the potential to become a major business disaster, Wendy’s did just about everything