Denny's Restaurant Chain Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Denny's Restaurant Chain - Essay Example The restaurants never close except when legally necessary. Denny’s offers breakfast, lunch, dinner and salads. It was in the year 1977 that the company started its Grand Slam breakfast. In 1987, Trans World Corporation bought the Denny’s and soon, in 1991, the headquarters of Denny’s was moved to Spartanburg, South Carolina. Soon, Kohlberg Kravis Roberts bought a considerable amount of share in Trans World Corporation and then, forced the company to sell its many unimportant projects. Thus, Denny’s hotel chain became its primary business. Soon, Trans World Corporation renamed itself to Denny’s Corporation. Presently, the company trades under the symbol NASDQ: DENN. Today, the company operates through 1600 restaurants throughout 50 US states, Canada and Mexico. In addition, there are 578 Denny’s restaurants in Japan operated by a subsidiary of Seven & I Holdings, and there are seven Denny’s restaurants in New Zealand. Admittedly, the co mpany has a large number of special offers and gift programs that help keep the customers loyal and interested. One such activity is its practice of offering free meal to everyone who visits the restaurant on his or her birthday. Though this activity of promotion was dropped by the company in 1993, many individual franchisees even now continue this practice. Also, the company uses the latest technology so that every time it updates its menu, its franchisees easily manage to get the latest version in no time (Hughes Network Systems, 2011). In fact, a point that keeps the company afloat in the present diminishing economic situation is the quality and care it offers. To illustrate, the Dateline NBC conducted a thorough survey of 10 most popular dining chains in the US in the year 2004. In the survey, it was found that Denny’s had the lowest number of violations of health standards. According to the company, the reason behind this success in protecting the health of customers is the strict adherence to Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points. Though there arose many allegations of racial discrimination against the company, the company managed to improve its position and presently employs a considerable proportion of ethnic and minority staff. As of 2010, minorities represent 62% of the company’s total workforce and 41% of the overall management. In addition, 40% of all the franchisees are owned by minorities, and nearly half of the Board of Directors is minorities and women. Thus, for two consecutive years, the company entered Fortune’s ‘America’s 50 Best Corporations for Minorities’ list (Dennys.com, n.d). Like many other major restaurants that are primarily dependent on blue-collar consumers, Denny’s too has been hit by recession. For example, in the fourth quarter of the year 2008, sales fell by 6.1%. For the year, fall was 3.7%. As a result, the company stock price plunged 30.5% in a period of one year. Howev er, Denny’s was not ready to succumb to the recession. It started aggressive plans to meet the hard times. To attract the customers in the time of recession, Denny’s has adopted an aggressive strategy. The strategy is to practically give away the company. To illustrate, the company aired a commercial in February that offered free Grand Slam breakfasts to all who walk into the restaurant any time between 6 am and 2 pm, in the name Super Bowl. Admittedly, there was a rush and nearly 2 million