“Mamas Eat Free,” a recent seven-day Mother’s Day promotional campaign by Mama Fu’s Asian House, helped the chain set net sales records for nine individual store days. The chain, which specializes in serving pan-Asian cuisine, offered a free entrée to moms who brought their family to dine at the restaurant. It was the first of four annual promotional campaigns that aim to broaden their markets and boost net sales.

Using radio promotions featuring customer testimonials, the Mama Fu’s eClub list, and social networking vehicles such as Facebook and Twitter, Mama Fu’s gave away an average number of 450 Mamas Eat Free entrees per store and had a check average for “Mamas Eat Free” tables that was 50 percent higher than the normal check average. The Mama-themed promotion was even featured on an Austin news station for “Deals of the Week” in a 10 o’clock news segment.

“A big part of our business is families and we wanted to do something for moms on Mother’s Day,” says Randy Murphy, president and CEO of Mama Fu’s. “At the same time, we want to be deliberate with building value in our brand with all of our promotions. We felt that using the play on words for ‘Mamas Eat Free at Mama Fu’s’ was the perfect way to launch our promotional campaign.”

The Asian eatery plans to launch other signature campaigns throughout the year that will help all of their franchise locations bring added value to the Mama Fu’s name.

“We want our franchise partners to know that we are committed to building the brand and that we are very deliberate in the tools we provide to drive sales to their stores,” said Murphy, who has spent the past year providing his franchise partners with an efficient, repeatable business model that lowers the total cost of ownership.