Free food at Fresno-area restaurants for healthcare workers and everybody else
Free food is always a good thing.
Free food during the global coronavirus pandemic that has us a little anxious? Even better.
Many restaurants are offering free food to healthcare workers during this time as a thank you (along with some businesses offering non-edible freebies). Other places have kids-eat-free deals. And some restaurants are doing special promotions – like a free giant cinnamon roll from The Train Depot restaurant – as an incentive to order a meal from them during the COVID-19 outbreak.
Here’s what’s happening.
For healthcare workers
Starbucks is giving out a free tall hot or iced brewed coffee to people who identify themselves as a “front-line responder” now through May 3.
Go online to find a location with a drive-thru that’s open and check their hours, since they are different than normal.
Krispy Kreme is giving away a dozen free glazed donuts to healthcare workers every Monday through mid-May. Fresno took advantage of this big time last week, as the line of cars waiting outside the Blackstone Avenue location stretched well beyond its parking lot and down a side street.
Chicago’s Pizza With-A-Twist restaurants are giving away a free large pizza to all nurses and doctors who show their work ID. For pick up only.
This is the restaurant that serves both traditional and Indian pizzas, with two locations in Fresno and one each in Clovis, Selma and Visalia.
True REST Float Spa is not a restaurant but will be giving away free floats (the relaxing kind, not root beer) to healthcare workers on the front lines of the COVID-19 pandemic. This is the business at Champlain Drive and Perrin Avenue, where customers float in a private pod holding 1,000 pounds of Epsom salts and water, with colored lights and relaxing music.
True REST is closed right now as it’s considered a non-essential business but is selling a buy-one, get-one deal via gift cards for when the business reopens. In addition to the two gift cards the customer takes home, True REST will also donate a float to a healthcare worker.
A one-hour session costs $89. Gift cards can be purchased via Instagram, Facebook, or at www.truerest.com/fresno. Details: 559-721-4336.
Crocs is giving away free pairs of its shoes daily to healthcare workers. Visit Crocs.com to enter the giveaway.
Kids eat free
Dickey’s Barbecue Pit is offering free food for kids every Sunday for a limited time during the coronavirus outbreak. The offer is available on delivery and carryout by using the code KEFOLO.
Denny’s restaurants – at least some of them in the Fresno area – are offering a free kid’s meal with the purchase of a $6 minimum adult entree.
Customers can call in their orders to the restaurant or order through Denny’s website using the promo code KIDSEATFREE. It applies to orders that picked up at the restaurant.
The deal is available daily at least five restaurants owned by the same franchisee and includes the locations at First Street and Shaw Avenue, Abby and Divisadero streets, Parkway Drive and Olive Avenue in Fresno and on Academy Avenue in Sanger and on Sierra Street in Kingsburg.
These restaurants are open from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. Sundays through Thursdays, and from 7 a.m. to 11 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays.
Some other Denny’s locations also have Kids Eat Free deals, but they can vary by day. Call your closest Denny’s to find out.
Free for everybody
As restaurants struggle to retain customers, many are offering enticements like free food to get you to order from them. Most require an additional purchase.
The Train Depot is giving away free cinnamon roll with orders of $25 or more made at the restaurant or via phone.
The restaurant at Ashlan Avenue and First Street is known for its giant, plate-sized cinnamon rolls that normally sell for $6.45.
“You can feed a little family with those,” said owner Pat Escovedo. “Sometimes, they hang over the plate.”
To order, call the restaurant directly at 559-442-1401 and pick up your order. Curbside service is available.
The Cheesecake Factory is offering one free slice of cheesecake on orders of $30 or more, now through April 16. Order through DoorDash, add a slice of cheesecake to your order and use the promo code FREESLICE at checkout.
Kebab City is offering a free chicken fatoush salad for every chicken fatoush salad you buy, only at the location near First Street and Nees Avenue.
The offer is good through Thursday, from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Call 559-435-5044 to order and pick up or get curbside delivery at the restaurant.
SABOR Mexican Bar & Bistro on Figarden Drive gives away a free churro stuffed with dulce de leche with every order as a way of saying thank you to customers.
QWENCH, the new juice bar at Herndon and Fowler avenues in Clovis, is giving away a free immunity-boosting lemon-ginger and cayenne shot, or a turmeric-lime shot when customers purchase a smoothie or acai bowl.
This story was originally published April 2, 2020 at 5:00 AM.
