Pollo Tropical is a staple to many South Floridians, especially for a gal like me who equates soul food to a heaping plate of chicken, maduros (sweet plantains), rice and black beans. It’s probably the one meal I could easily live off of for the rest of my life if need be. Plus at a price of $4 and change it’s a great alternative to the burger-in-a-box combo.
A few months ago while I was making my weekly run to Pollo Tropical, the drive-thru employee told me about a coupon printed on the back of the receipt and informed me that if I choose to fill out a survey I’d receive a free ¼ chicken meal in return. I’m definitely not new to those “Fill out our survey and you’ll get a chance at a $1,000,” deals; but considering how often I go to Pollo I figured it was worth looking into.
It was surprisingly simple; Complete a survey about your food and experience you’ll be given a code to write down on the receipt. Present the coupon and code during your next visit and you get a free ¼ chicken meal with an order of equal or lesser value. Considering how frequently I purchase food from Pollo Tropical for me and my boyfriend, it seemed well worth the 1-2 minute time to complete the survey.
What I found interesting was how out of the 15+ times I’ve visited various Pollo Tropical restaurant locations since then, only one employee told me about the special offer. It made me wonder why none of the other franchises ever mentioned the offer considering they all gave me the same receipts with the coupons printed on the back. Maybe I’m wrong here, but it seems quite useless if a company is going to pay for market research only to let it go to waste when its employees fail to notify the consumer about their research; but most importantly about an offer that can save the consumer money.
Although it appears their survey is now over (sadly, I didn’t receive a coupon tonight when I made a PT run – the first time in months) I give kudos to the one drive-thru employee at the Northlake Pollo Tropical location who kept me coming back to the franchise and probably helped me save about $50. Win-win.