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Nathan’s Famous Hot Dogs posted a special promotion for today (7/19/2023), as it is National Hot Dog Day. The deal was five cents per hot dog, with a limit of two hot dogs per customer. The Danbury, CT restaurant (located on Backus Avenue in the Danbury Fair Mall) WAS included in the locations listed. The promotion was to run from 11am-1pm.

My husband and I both saw the promotion on Facebook. Today is his birthday, and this was the only thing he requested for his 68th birthday! So, I drove over to the mall…he is in a motorized wheelchair, so transporting him is an issue.

We arrived at Nathan’s at exactly 11am. When my husband requested to order two five cent hot dogs from the clerk (she said her name was Ilene), she replied, “We’re not doing that here.” We explained that it was advertised. She said that she did not know about it and no one told her about it! Prior to us standing in line and thereafter, there were other customers standing around and/or in line who were frustrated and angry that this Nathan’s was not participating in the promo, even though it had been advertised!!!

We asked to speak to a manager, and the clerk responded, “He is not here.” My husband was upset, as he felt: a) the franchisee was party to false advertising and b) it ruined his birthday treat! We explained that we would be contacting the Better Business Bureau and the Attorney General’s Office. Apparently, our comment made the clerk feel the need to contact the manager via her cell phone. We stepped aside and tried several times to contact your corporate office. Our efforts were futile, as all calls are directed to your voicemail!!!

People were lined up and at that point the line was long (every customer had received the same Facebook promotional advertisement and wanted to take advantage of this “deal”)! There were a lot of upset and angry customers!

The clerk’s phone call to management must have influenced the manager to “rethink” his/her initial decision to refrain from supporting the National Hot Dog Day promotion, because all of a sudden, customers in line were ordering and receiving one hot dog (NOT TWO AS ADVERTISED) for five cents each!

We got back into the long line, which at that point put us at customers #30 and #31!!! After a considerable amount of time, we each got one promotional hot dog! (The franchisee did not support the advertised limit of two hot dogs per person. And, it should be duly noted that the cashier/clerk had to ring up only one hot dog at a time, so, that resulted in making the line go even slower!)

Sadly the clerk was not made aware of the promo and obviously, the franchisee was trying to shirk his/her responsibilities to the company! I truly felt sorry for the clerk, but even more sorry for the woman who was responsible for making up the orders!!! This franchisee knew that there was a special promotion going on and SHOULD HAVE HAD MORE THAN ONLY ONE CLERK AND ONE FOOD PREPARATION PERSON on staff! Those two women were truly overworked! The food prep person needed to be an octopus with eight arms to output all the orders. (I personally apologized to the prep person as I know she was working extremely hard, and she politely and dutifully replied, “It’s okay, ma’am, it’s my job!)

To be honest, we had planned on ordering additional menu items; however, due to the negative, aggravating experience, we chose to order fries, drinks, and additional lunch items at competitors in the food court! (We were not the only ones who felt this way…many other customers did the same!) Consequently, Nathan’s lost the opportunity to increase sales!

The aforementioned situation needs to be addressed and the franchisee of the Nathan’s at the Danbury Fair Mall should be reprimanded!

Thank you for your interest and earliest response!