A restaurant’s queso has to be pretty decent to keep customers coming back.
To make them want that queso free for a year? It’s got to be damn good.
That’s what the latest promotion from Torchy’s Tacos banks on. Across the country, Torchy’s locations are currently offering a promotion where the first 200 customers, per location, who purchase $250 worth of gift cards will be awarded with free queso complementary to an order of any menu taco and drink for the next year.
The physical manifestation of free queso for a year, included with a meal, comes out to be a “gold card” given to customers who satisfy the promotion’s requirements. The gold card signifies that customer’s worthiness of free queso to Torchy’s employees.
Tomas Torres, kitchen manager of Baton Rouge’s Torchy’s location, located on LSU’s campus off of Nicholson Drive, said that his location is participating. It started Nov. 13, he added.
“If I do say so myself, we have the best queso in all of Baton Rouge,” Torres said. “I’ve worked in many Mexican restaurants and been manager to many other restaurants. Ours by-far surpasses everyone else’s.”
Torres said that of the 200 gold cards sent to his location, so far four have been picked up. The card activates starting January 2024. He said some Texas locations, where Torchy’s started, are already selling through their cards.
He said that in order to reach the $250 threshold, it doesn’t have to be a single, bulk gift card; it can be divided among multiple cards, which presents a less-than-cheesy gift idea for the approaching holiday season.
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Electrical engineering junior and self-described queso connoisseur Gregory Field was the fourth receiver of a Torchy’s gold card. His mother, who told him about the promotion on the day of its debut, was the second to receive a gold card, Field said.
“It’s making an investment,” Field said. “You can justify it by just going to Torchy’s every other week.”
He said he thinks of the purchase as something utilitarian, especially at the volume he dines at Torchy’s already. At the end of the day, he said, it’s just paying upfront and getting free queso as a bonus.
Acquiring free Torchy’s queso for a year isn’t the first of Field’s investments. He also said after doing some “back-of-the-napkin-math” at Panera inside of Patrick F. Taylor Hall, he invested $500 dollars in a promotion there which discounted gift cards by 20%, he said.
Again, he said, he was just trying to front-load and discount the inevitable costs at a restaurant he frequents.
“In my mind, it’s just economic,” Field said.
