Mr. Zhao Door Grate - Detail - © unknown phone-tographer

The Skinny on How To Get A Free Meal

There’s a restaurant in eastern China where you can ‘earn’ a free meal simply by walking through the door. The catch is, the door in question is partitioned off by vertical bars with gaps between them of varying widths. And the smallest gap – which gets you that free meal – is just six inches!

Mr. Zhao Door Grate - © unknown phone-tographerA patron entering Mr. Zhao La Chufang tries to earn five free beers…

It’s not the first crazy Asian resto marketing gimmick, but it’s certainly a novel one: find the smallest gap between the golden bars that you can fit through and claim either a prize – or a pout-down.

You’ve probably heard of nutty western resto promotions where they offer free food for customers who come in on a certain day, between certain hours, dressed as a cow, or must repeat a silly word or slogan to earn their freebee. That’s nothing compared to Asia, where – it seems – the concept of ‘shaming’ is looked upon almost as a sport.

Our source tells of of a Chinese resto that scanned people’s faces and compared their measurements to a theoretical standard of perfection. Those customers declared ‘beautiful’ by the system got free food. Another rewarded both its thickest and thinnest patrons.

How it works…

It’s not mandatory to squeeze through the grating in the doorway of the Mr. Zhao La Chufang eatery, but you just might earn a reward if you do.

The smallest gap – about 6 inches – has only successfully been navigated by small women thus far, the owner says. They got the full free meal. Pass through the next gap, about 7 inches, and you get 5 free beers. (Seems over-serving alcohol is also considered a sport in that part of the world.) Make it through the next gap, which is about 10 inches, and you get one free beer. Then, the tide turns, from reward to punishment. Pass through the 12 inch gap and you get a polite warning: “Your figure is just average, you shouldn’t ask for more.” The final gap is much wider and, if that’s the only one you can fit through, you get a scolding: “Are you sure you should be drinking beer?”

Customers apparently love the idea, though, whatever size they are.

How did this thing start in the first place?

The owner of Mr. Zhao’s says he had to lave the sliding glass main door of the restaurant partly closed during the spring when all the flowers were pollinating. Otherwise, the stuff would blow in and make a huge mess. When he saw people squeezing through the gap, the idea struck him: Why not make it a game, of sorts?

Was the promo successful? I guess so. We’ve heard about it all the way over here, on the other side of the world!

~ Maggie J.