McDonald’s gives away hundreds of chicken sandwiches

Call it a sign of the economic times, but an offer of free food drew a crowd to McDonald’s in Culpeper Thursday.

McDonald’s Store Manager Melissa Knight said that the store gave away 540 Southern-style chicken biscuits before 10:30 a.m. and had given out about 650 chicken sandwiches as of 3:30 p.m.

The giveaway was part of a national promotion in which customers buying a large or medium drink were eligible for the free sandwich.

“It has been crazy all day,” Knight said. “There has been a line in the drive-thru all day and we’ve been slammed inside too.”

During the lunch rush alone, from noon to 1 p.m., Knight said 202 customers came through the doors for their free sandwich. That’s almost two customers per minute for an entire hour.

“You don’t get anything for free these days,” John Prather of Culpeper said. “For less than a buck and half, I got a sandwich and a drink. That’s cheap dinner. Now I may buy some gas with what I had left over.”

According to its corporate Web site, the company anticipated giving away 8 million sandwiches and biscuits in the nationwide sampling event.