Chick-fil-A awards free meals to cow-dressed customers

Courtesy Photo COW APPRECIATION DAY-- Chick-Fil-A is offering a free combo meal to any customer who fully dresses like a cow on Friday, July 13. There are three Chick-Fil-A locations in Tyler.

ATLANTA - For the superstitious, Friday, July 13 could be an anxious day, but for the bovine-minded, it could be a lucky day. As part of its third annual Cow Appreciation Day event, Chick-fil-Afiis offering a free combo meal (breakfast, lunch or dinner) to any customer who isn't "too chicken" to visit any of the chain's 1,300-plus restaurants fully dressed as a cow on July 13.

Last year's Cow Appreciation Day celebration - and the resulting turnout - confirmed that Chickfil-A has a strong following of customers willing to go to great lengths to show their appreciation for cows (not to mention, to receive a free combo meal).

More than 4,000 customers visited Chick-fil-A restaurants throughout the country dressed in cow-themed costumes, complete with blackand white spots, furry ears, cow bells, and homemade sandwich boards with their personalized renditions of Chick-fil-A's "Eat Mor Chikinfi" Cow messages.

"Cow Appreciation Day has turned into its own pop culture phenomenon and it's a natural fit with our `Eat Mor Chikin' Cow marketing campaign, " said Steve Robinson, Chick-fil-A's senior vice president of marketing. "We've always known that Chick-fil-A has had a loyal customer following, but Cow Appreciation Day is a great reminder of just how passionate our customers are."

It was "udder insanity" last year at many Chick-fil-A res- taurants. While most restaurants reported reasonably sized groups of cow-dressed customers, others hosted substantial groups from local YMCAs, churches, day cares, summer camp programs and businesses.

A herd of 300-plus cowspotted customers from a local summer camp stampeded the Chick-fil-A restaurant in Olive Branch, Miss., while one of the chain's mall locations in Port Charlotte, Fla., hosted approximately 200 cows, and more than 100 cowclad customers visited the Chick-fil-A restaurant in Douglasville, Ga.

The excitement around Cow Appreciation Day shows that the love for Chick-fil-A's beloved bovines is as strong as ever. For the past 12 years, the renegade "Eat Mor Chikin" Cows have entertained consumers with their desperate, self-preserving antics in an effort to convert beef eaters to chicken fans.

The Chick-fil-A Cows and the "Eat Mor Chikin" campaign have enjoyed such widespread public success that the chain has turned the theme into a fully integrated marketing program. In addition to clever roadside billboards, the "Eat Mor Chikin" Cows are the focal point of Chick-fil-A's in-store pointof purchase materials, promotions, radio and TV advertising, and clothing and merchandise sales.

The Cows and their witty messages also have contributed to Chick-fil-A's business, as the chain's sales have nearly quadrupled during the past decade, from $570 million in 1996 to in excess of $2.275 billion in 2006.