As our city continues to grow and develop, lots of new fast food and chain restaurants have popped up across Charleston County. Throughout Downtown, North Charleston, Mount Pleasant, James Island, West Ashley, and other areas, there are countless options for both quick and tasty meals. Even though it is important to support local restaurants and businesses, it is difficult for a teenager who is most likely unemployed or making minimum wage to feast at an expensive eatery several times a week. So, many students find that eating at fast food restaurants makes for a happy alternative where they can get decent food for an even more decent price. However, what they frequently do not realize is that lots of fast food and chain restaurants have game-changing rewards programs that can save even more money and even give them food for free sometimes! By researching and analyzing our experiences with some of the most popular rewards programs, we were able to compose a list of our top five favorite ones.

Chick-fil-A:

The first experience that we had with the Chick-fil-A App was around 2018 in our middle school years. Jenna’s Mom, Lynn Hallaba, was a devoted Chick-fil-A App member. At the time, she was a member of the highest rank of the rewards program, the Red Tier. Ever since our first exposure to this app, we have also both been devoted members. Within this app, you receive 10 points for every $1 that you spend, and rewards can be redeemed starting at only 200 points. In our opinion, this is a very rewarding dollars-to-points ratio. This ratio was exemplified to us over the summer of 2023. During this time, we frequently visited the Chick-fil-A on James Island and would continuously buy Icedream Cones. Because of this rewards system, the Icedream Cones ended up (pretty much) paying for themselves. Who doesn’t love free ice cream? Similar to some other fast food rewards programs, Chick-fil-A also comes out with seasonal games that you can play to easily earn prizes. We have gotten free fries, chocolate chip cookies, and so much more just by signing on! Along with these activities, oftentimes with the Chick-fil-A app, you can find yourself being periodically gifted different free entrees (they have to be used by a certain date) from the various locations you might visit. Altogether, we highly recommend this rewards program and think it is very well designed.

McDonald’s:

People either love or hate McDonald’s, there is no in-between. Lucky for you if you are a fan of the McMadness they also have quite a fire rewards program. I first discovered these amazing deals after a worker recommended that with the app, we could get a Big Mac and a 6-Count Nugget for just 6 dollars. After this experience, I had a whole new perspective on McDonald’s because honestly how can you beat these deals? To give everyone some insight into the everyday deals: you can get a FREE McDouble with just a minimum purchase of $1, a Breakfast Sandwich for just $2, or even a coffee for 99 cents! Another fan favorite has to be the $5 meal deal which comes with a McDouble, 4-piece chicken McNuggets, a small fry, AND a small drink of your choice! To touch on their point system, their items require at least 1500 points to acquire but with McDonalds, it is more about the deals you will have access to with the app. Overall we recommend this to anyone trying to get the most bang for your buck!

Starbucks:

While this fan favorite provides delicious coffee to the common folk, its reward system fails to impress most people. That is unless you are equipped with the right skills and hacks to manipulate the system. As many of you know, Starbucks’ rewards system involves stars which you receive after each dollar spent (1 star = $1). To use these you must acquire at least 200 to get a free drink off of the menu. In our opinion, this is absurdly unreasonable. This means for every $200 you spend you get one measly little drink that is usually only worth $5. This is why you MUST know the hacks to survive this war. The first hack is loading money onto a Starbucks gift card because, for every dollar you spend on a gift card, you get 2 stars instead of one. The next vital hack is customizing your own drink from scratch instead of making the “handcrafted” Starbucks one and receiving it for 100 stars instead of 200. This way you can get free drinks more often while also having complete control over your coffee creativity. Along with these the app also provides deals each day such as buying items over and over again, double star day, and 50% off any drink days. Taking advantage of these days can help save money and gain points while spending less. Finally, an important aspect of the app is when winter rolls around the corner and they have games available to earn rewards, and it’s as easy as playing an online game for 2 minutes! Usually, these holiday rewards allow you to collect prizes once each day, and depending on your luck they can be highly rewarding. Moreover, while this program has its drawbacks, equipping yourself with the right tools can help you make the most out of your money!

Dunkin’ Donuts:

There is a LOT to say about Dunkin’. To start, the coffees do not fail to taste different every time you order. Second, the service sometimes is very very very slow. But, if neither of these things bother you or if you are an avid dunker then this reward system is perfect for you! For every dollar you spend the app gives you ten points and the the rewards are as low as 150 points. Along with the point system, having the Dunkin’ app gives you access to offers that seem too good to be true. A recent new deal ( member exclusive) is the $6 meal Deal which comes with a medium coffee; a Bacon, Egg & Cheese; and hash brown. Dunkin also frequently advertises their medium drink and a donut for as low as $3 and even if you aren’t feeling a donut they also offer the $2 medium-sized drink. To sum up our experiences, we also offer a personal anecdote about our interaction with the workers at the Dunkin’ in North Charleston. After ordering coffees and a box of 5 munchkins, one of the workers came to ask Sousa how many munchkins she had ordered. After Sousa responded with “I forgot,” they gave us a whopping 15 munchkins! However, the outcome of this situation depended on the worker who was there that day, it’s safe to say it put a smile on our faces before a stressful day of school.

Zaxby’s:

We were put onto this rewards program by Elizabeth Hample (senior) and Caroline Uram (AMHS Class of 2024 alumn). At first, we had our doubts about the program as we had yet to hear about its benefits. However, our first experience with it was absolutely outstanding. When you download the Zaxby’s app and join the Zax Rewardz program, you immediately receive a coupon for a free Big Zax Snak®. If you are unfamiliar with

the Big Zax Snak®, it consists of three hand-breaded Chicken Tenderz™, seasoned crinkle fries, a piece of Texas toast, a small drink, and one Zax Sauce®. And you get all of that for free! What a bargain! Within the app, you earn 10 points for every $1 that you spend. For less than 500 points, you can get things like a large drink or a large side of fries, which is a pretty decent deal. Not only is there a point system, but there are also lots of time-sensitive deals that appear in the app for you to take advantage of. These deals include $5 off of a $20 purchase, a FREE five Fingerz with a $5 purchase, buy one get one, and so many more!  Overall, this rewards app receives a 10/10 from us.

Although these are our favorite rewards programs, the truth is that most of the programs out there have valuable benefits. Even if the dollar-to-point ratio is relatively poor, any reward is good and can get you at least a little more for your money. We recommend that you download and sign up for any rewards programs of restaurants that you frequently visit (if you have enough storage on your phone) and we highly encourage you to give the ones listed above a try! Finally, we hope this article leaves you saving money and enjoying lots of delicious food!