One of the earliest forms of the chain restaurant subscription is Olive Garden's "Never Ending Pasta Bowl." Launched in 1995, the promotion gave customers the chance to pay $6.95 and eat as much pasta, salad and breadsticks as they can fit in one sitting.
Over the next three decades, the promotion came, went and even morphed into a $100 pass that gave customers never-ending pasta at its restaurants for nine weeks.
Over the last year, several food chains have toyed with what was once a rare model for anything but an all-you-can-eat buffet.
Sweetgreen (SG) launched a $10 pass in January 2022, giving customers $3 off every entrée priced more than $9.99, while Yum! Brands (YUM)-owned Taco Bell had the highly popular Taco Lovers Pass -- for $10 a month, pass owners could get one of seven tacos like the Crunchy Taco or the Doritos Locos Tacos a day for 30 days.
Privately-held salad chain Subway also ran a promotion in which $15 gives holders of its "footlong pass" 50% off its full-size sandwiches throughout September.
Platinum Membership Program At P.F. Chang's
The latest chain to delve into the membership model is Asian fusion chain P.F. Chang's. With entrées like Dynamite Shrimp and Crispy Honey Chicken, the chain positions itself as a fancier alternative to Chinese fast food, and has over 300 both dine-in and grab-and-go locations. Some frozen P.F. Chang's meals can also be found in grocery stores.
Seven years after joining every other chain in the country with a new loyalty program, P.F. Chang is adding a paid subscription model called P.F. Chang’s Platinum Rewards.
For $6.99 a month, Platinum Rewards members will get 15 points for every dollar spent at P.F. Chang's. Once they have 2,000 points (or spend roughly $130 at the chain), they get $15 in credit.
"The new subscription-based program is a continuation of our goal to create differentiated experiences for P.F. Chang’s customers, and we believe P.F. Chang’s Platinum Rewards does that at the highest level," P.F. Chang's CEO Damola Adamolekun said in a statement.
Platinum Rewards members will also get free delivery on their orders and access to a customer line they can call with questions about reservations and other concerns. The free membership tier, meanwhile, will be renamed Gold and give customers 10 instead of 15 points for every dollar spent.
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Is $15 For Every $130 Spent a Good Deal?
The chain received some online criticism over not matching value with the pomp with which it rolled out the subscription — users would be paying $6.99 a month not for an outright discount, but simply to accumulate points slightly faster.
"So you have to be spending at least ~$70 a month, every month, at PF Chang's," Wall Street Journal journalist Christopher Mims wrote on Twitter (TWTR). "Guess there are some real PF Chang's die-hards out there?"
Depending on how its phrased and organized, a subscription can be extremely good publicity for a company — Taco Bell's Taco Lovers Pass was met with much online excitement, while the company earlier told TheStreet that only 1% of those who bought it took it to its limits and had a free taco every single day it was valid.
Rampant food inflation is putting a damper on the kind of subscription customers really want to see, as all-you-can-eat for a fixed price risks being unprofitable for the company.
Instead, fast-food chains will try to get in on the hype with "subscriptions" that are often just a small discount on frequent orders.
