Buffets, Inc. Restaurants Kick off Family Night Initiative with Two-Day Halloween “Goosebumps®” Book Giveaway

GREER, S.C.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Buffets, Inc., the owner of Ryan’s®, HomeTown® Buffet, Fire Mountain®, Country Buffet® and Old Country Buffet®, is making family dinner less scary for Moms and Dads by launching a new Family Night program at each of its 340 restaurants. Every Thursday, from 5 to 8 pm, kids ages 11 and under eat for just 99¢. Limited to two kids per paying adult.

“Again, we are trying to provide solutions for parents and offer ways to have fun with their kids while simultaneously creating value”

FREE GOOSEBUMPS BOOK OCTOBER 31/NOVEMBER 1
To kick off the program, the family buffet-style chain will offer an exclusive two-day Halloween launch event on October 31 and November 1. The chains will be giving away a free Goosebumps book, entitled “Revenge of the Living Dummy,” written by R.L. Stine and published by Scholastic, to the first 50 children each night at each location. ALL kids ages 11 and under who visit any Buffets restaurants with their parents on Halloween night dressed in costume will receive a FREE KIDS MEAL (limit two free kids meals per adult meal purchase).

“Families are an important part of our business so we wanted to provide an environment that allows families to connect to each other in our restaurants,” said Alice Crowder, Vice President of Marketing For Buffets, Inc.

PROGRAM BALANCES KID & PARENT NEEDS
“Kids are looking for an experience, not just a meal. Kids and parents already love our restaurants for the customizable, no-risk experience of building a meal just right for them,” Crowder said. “Adding Goosebumps to the mix just makes that experience even more fun, and gives families more to talk about. We’re thrilled to work with Scholastic, and to bring Goosebumps to kids and families in our restaurants – just in time for Halloween!”

FREE ACTIVITIES
To further provide that family connection to their guests, all Buffets, Inc. buffet-style chains will be distributing Goosebumps branded stickers and activity sheets at dinner on Halloween and November 1. With fun activities like crossword puzzles and mazes – and even a “build-your-own story” activity – parents can engage with their children over a great meal and encourage creativity, reading and writing at the same time.

“Again, we are trying to provide solutions for parents and offer ways to have fun with their kids while simultaneously creating value,” Crowder said.

For more information about FAMILY NIGHT at the Buffets brands, visit any of their websites: www.hometownbuffet.com, www.oldcountrybuffet.com, www.countrybuffet.com, www.ryans.com, www.grannysbuffet.com and www.firemountainbuffet.com.

About Buffets, Inc.
Buffets, Inc., the nation’s largest steak-buffet restaurant company, currently operates 350 restaurants in 35 states, comprised of 340 steak-buffet restaurants and 10 Tahoe Joe’s Famous Steakhouse® restaurants. The restaurants are principally operated under the Old Country Buffet®, HomeTown® Buffet, Ryan’s® and Fire Mountain® brands. Buffets employs approximately 18,000 team members and serves approximately 100 million customers annually. For more information about the company, visit www.Buffet.com.

About Goosebumps
In 1992, Scholastic introduced a monthly book series by R.L. Stine called Goosebumps® with Goosebumps: Welcome to the Dead House. Twenty years later, Goosebumps is now one of the bestselling children’s series of all-time—with more than 300 million books sold in 32 languages, selling at the phenomenal rate of four million books per month in the mid-1990s. The Goosebumps series made R.L. Stine a worldwide publishing celebrity (and Jeopardy answer), and Goosebumps was named the world’s bestselling book series of all time in the 2003 Guinness Book of World Records. The show currently airs on the Hub TV Network in the United States.