Frugal Friday: How a Friendly Email Led to a Free Meal

I want to start this Frugal Friday post with a little disclaimer. I am not advocating using compliments for the sole intention of being rewarded. In the story I’m about to tell, I genuinely reached out to a great business. As a pleasantly surprising result, the wonderful people at b. good brought me a free meal! The lesson is that good service should be recognized. And let’s be honest, college kids always welcome free food. What's more frugal than a free burger and fries? ;-)

Over the summer, I had the opportunity to intern in Boston. Although I packed my lunch on most days, I was able to do some exploring of the nearby dining options. I had heard of b. good before, a locally owned, “healthy fast food” place.

Wait a second. Healthy fast food?

The founders of b. good are two childhood best friends, Anthony and Jon. As explained on the b. good website,  “We started a business together around a simple idea - make fast-food "real" by making it the way it should be… by people not factories. See, we loved fast-food but hated how it made us feel. So, we created a place where you can feel good about burgers and fries.”

Sound good? It was good. So good, in fact, that I decided to write the following email to the owners:

Jon & Anthony,

As I sit here staring at my crumpled, empty, (almost) grease-stain-free b.good to-go bag, I feel compelled to write you two an email. Well, my two empty bags, but we’ll get to that in a moment. 

Usually I quietly succumb to the “don’t-leave-your-desk-for-lunch-even-though-you-are-technically-alloted-a-half-hour-break” vibe that is emoted at my place of work (and by work I mean summer internship). However, today was different. Today the beautiful weather and the monotony of the office and the fast-approaching weekend inspired me to seize the day and venture out for a—gasp—lunch break! 

With a purposeful stride, I walked away from my desk, hopped into the elevator, and burst out the front door of my place of work. Like Edward Cullen (gag), the sunlight hit my vampire-pale skin (my summer tanning efforts have been rather fruitless this year, ok?) and my whole body glittered as it absorbed the great outdoors. I peered down the depths of my street and took in the sights: the tired old man selling browning roses, the woman pounding the ground with her too-white Adidas en route to Healthworks, the buttery clouds reflected in the Hancock Tower’s façade, the barely avoided collision between a cyclist and a game-faced taxi driver. I thought to myself, “It really is a beautiful day,” before my thoughts turned to my growling stomach.

Surely an exceptionally gorgeous day and a rare break from my cubicle deserved an extraordinary lunch. Rebecca’s Café? Eh. Au Bon Pain? Same ol’, same ol’. Cottonwood? Ha, I kid. Where to go with only 30 minutes to spare and a body desiring delicious yet healthy food? Suddenly a memory creeped up on me. Something that a fellow intern mentioned earlier this summer came to the forefront of my brain: “I’m so glad a b.good opened on Newbury Street. 

Perhaps it was the positive connotation of the restaurant name, perhaps it was the prospect of walking down ritzy Newbury Street, or perhaps it was my intense crush on my fellow intern (HA, I kid again), but the thought struck me as pursuit-worthy. I made a beeline through Copley Square and joined the lunchtime bustle on Newbury (“Whoa, does this mean there are people who eat food at places other than their work desks??” “Yes, Brain, yes it does.”). 

Fifteen minutes later, I had arrived. My flip flops clapped against the stairs as I passed under the b.good banner and entered the basement location. The charming setup and seemingly happy, served customers set things off on a good note. My eyes immediately began darting about the menu. My new vegetarian lifestyle (Today on Jenny’s Life network: “Week 3 of Being Meat Free”!) was a perfect match for this new place. I approached the cashier—a tanned young man with impressively gauged ears—and placed my order.

“A veggie burger please. West Side. I mean, with the West Side. Like, West side on the burger. A veggie burger made as West Side,” I finally said a little too loudly, taking a cue from the menu’s diction. A faint, amused smile spreading on his face, Gauged Ears Man punched some buttons on the register and accepted my wrinkled dollar bills. 

As I walked toward the pick-up counter, another customer—either a rude, nosy, eavesdropping know-it-all or my Lunch Break Guardian Angel, I hadn’t decided yet—spoke up. “No fries? Ya gotta try the sweet potato fries. They’re famous for their sweet potato fries.”

What the heck, might as well go all out. I turned back to Gauged Ears Man. Ignoring his “back already?” eyebrow raise, I asked if I could put in another order for a to-go bag of sweet potato fries. A few minutes later, a baseball-capped girl handed me two brown paper bags. Although my stomach was egging me on to taste the contents right then and there, my watch was telling me that I had been MIA from the office for a little too long. I gave a goodbye glance to my newfound friends—my biffle Gauged Ears Man, my Lunch Break Guardian Angel, my baseball-capped server—and emerged back onto Newbury.

The walk back to the office flew by, and before I knew it I was once again surrounded by the sounds of keyboards clicking and murmured conversations. I avoided the judgmental stare of my fellow intern, his derrière firmly planted in his swivel chair (if only he knew where I had gone for lunch!), and returned to my desk.

Now came the moment of truth. Not being able to quiet my stomach a moment longer, I ripped open the almost-unordered sweet potato fries. My first bite was hesitant but not met with disappointment. The fry was hot with a fresh, moist inside and a slightly crisp outside. The sweetness of the generously large sticks made me wonder why anyone ever bothers eating regular potato fries. The flavor filled my mouth and soothed my starved stomach. Only faintly noticing the absence of Fry Finger Syndrome (y’know, that layer of salty grease that makes your fry-handling fingers grossly shiny), fry after fry was devoured.

Suddenly, I remembered my veggie burger! I peeled away the sticker announcing “ALL NATURAL VEGGIE BURGER” and my eyes unwrapped the mouth-watering sandwich. Resting between the wheat bun was a dark veggie patty topped with avocado chunks, tomato slices, and a dripping salsa. The fries faced tough competition with this burger baby because the main dish turned out to be even more wonderful than the tasty side. I chomped through the layers of delicious vegetarian-goodness (hey, if being a vegetarian is always this yummy, I’m definitely all in!) until my satisfied tummy gave me a pat on the back (just go with it).

In summary, my first visit to b.good will not be my last one. The 45 minute office hiatus was worth the wonderful lunch, and my curiosity about this dining establishment led me to explore the b.good website. The delightful atmosphere of the restaurant carried over into the whimsical nature of the site. When I spotted the “Contact Us” button, I knew I wanted to share my first time story with the owners. Keep up the good work!

All the best from your long-winded new customer, Jenny

One hour and six minutes later, I received the following response:

Anthony & Jon

Holy sh*t, Jenny! Since you just sent the longest customer email ever recorded in b.good history, you better get back to work. 

Seriously, you have no idea how good it makes us feel to get an email like that. You definitely just made Anthony and my day (and the day of team Newbury Street... especially the gauged-ear guy. His name is Wilian and he's the man). 

Anyway, we absolutely have to show you some veggie-burger-and-sweet-potato-fry-love for the effort. Maybe we can run lunch over to you tomorrow? Where are you located? And do you mind eating a little later in the day or earlier? (Lunch time is kind of crazy on Fridays.)

Let me know and thanks again.

Jon

SO cool, huh? The next day, I was once again enjoying this meal:

Thank you so much b. good! And readers, if you're in the area, I definitely recommend checking this place out!

Have you ever been given a free meal from a restaurant?

Today's Recommended Read: Is Dark Chocolate Really Good For You? (Delish.com)