There’s a lot of competition for your stoned and starving fast food dollar and now Jack in the Box is saying f*ck it and cutting out the winks and nods. The “Merry Munchies Meal” is on its way and even the price point is courting high hungry customers.
The Left Coast fast-food chain is pairing up with Merry Jane for this limited time (and limited locations) menu item. The Merry Munchie Meal will pop up at three California locations for a week in January to sync up with the state’s ushering in of legal recreational pot. The meal is a combo of two tacos, french fries, onion rings, five mini churros, three chicken strips and a small drink for $4.20 because OF COURSE this experiment was going to roll with 420 branding. The pot-minded meal is something Jack in the Box is trumpeting as giving the customers what they want.
“Jack’s Munchie Meals have been successful for us because of the authenticity of how we speak to our customers,” said the chain’s Chief Marketing Officer Iwona Alter. “This partnership is one more way for us to connect with them — whether you’re at a concert, up late playing video games, or pulling an all-nighter. We are about welcoming all of our guests, no matter what they’re craving or why they’re craving it.”
Offering something stoner-friendly seems like a sensible move for any fast food joint to do, but the success of the Merry Munchie Deal isn’t guaranteed. There’s the danger of the MMD being a novelty with a short shelf life or simply being rejected by stoners that find this sort of marketing pandering. On the other hand (which is so big, have you ever like just looked at your hands, standard pot trope, etc.) the cheapo price point makes this grab bag of Jack in the Box options appealing to thrifty spenders whether they smoke dope or are straight edge with a weakness for fried foods. With pot’s place as a legit industry growing, the success or failure of the Merry Munchie Deal should be studied by the chain’s fast-food peers.
(Via SFGate)
