Free breakfast offer keeps Modesto Denny's busy

Denny’s hit a Grand Slam with its free breakfast on Tuesday.

The restaurant chain offered free Grand Slam breakfasts to everyone from 6 a.m.-2 p.m, and plenty of people took advantage at Modesto’s three restaurant sites, as well as those throughout the area.

“All the crews across the board in Modesto were amazing,” said Nichole Avila, the manager at the Denny’s at 1525 McHenry Ave. “I give a high-five to all of them, and hope we did a good thing for the community.”

The Grand Slam, long a staple at Denny’s, generally features two eggs, two pieces of bacon, two sausages and two pancakes, although there are other typical breakfast items like toast or hash browns that you can sub in or out.

Denny’s offered the free meal last year as a way to help out those struggling in the battered economy.

Avila said Tuesday customers began arriving at 5 a.m., and they had to cut the line off at around 1:45 p.m.

She said about 1,000 breakfasts were served at her store, and from 900 to 1,100 at the other two stores at 110 McHenry Ave. and 2052 W. Orangeburg Ave.

Last year, Avila’s store turned out 1,500 breakfast during the same eight-hour stretch when it would normally serve about 200.

This year, Avila said, they worked to slow things down a little to alleviate the hectic scene from 2009 and focus more on customer service.

Her store went through six cases of eggs (144 eggs in a case), in addition to the liquid eggs they use for those preferring scrambled, and about 10 case of bacon and nine cases of sausage.

“It was another great day,” she said, “and we anticipate doing it again next year.”