Crushed Red Urban Bake & Chop Shop recently completed an innovative promotional campaign with Emmis Communications. This unique, eight-week promotion, entitled “Crushed Red Urban Crafted Throwdown,” paired local radio talent, a menu item, and a worthwhile organization in the St. Louis, Missouri, area.

“We’ve been big on showing our support for the St. Louis community from day one,” says Crushed Red founder Chris LaRocca. “The Urban Crafted Throwdown was a way to get people excited about helping out by trying something new off our menu.”

The concept was simple: Four radio personalities each selected a new menu item they wished to promote during a two-week window with the goal of getting as many people as possible to try the item. Fifteen percent of the sales from each item went to a designated organizations also selected by the DJ’s. The overall winning item remains on Crushed Red’s menu permanently and the corresponding charity continues to receive 15 percent of sales for a full year from all Crushed Red locations.

Local charities weren’t the only winners. Crushed Red’s customers enjoyed the four new menu items: the Sriracha Chicken Pizza with sales benefitting the USO, the Tunapalooza Salad benefitting Alissa’s Hope, the Green Eggs & Ham Pizza benefitting the Missouri Military Memorial Foundation, and the De-Lux Berry Crunch Salad benefitting the Ehlers-Danlos National Foundation. In the end, it was the De-Lux Berry Crunch Salad that won the throw down, and sales from the item will continue to support the Ehlers-Danlos National Foundation for an entire year. The menu items were so successful that Crushed Red has included all of them on their daily menus.