Inside Story

Fans of college basketball are in hoops heaven now that the NCAA Tournaments for both men’s and women’s college hoops is in full swing. Many will have their eyes glued to the screen, whether it’s a TV, smartphone or table watching March Madness play out.

With all this basketball to watch, fans are likely to work up a hunger. Here are some March Madness specials and deals rustled up by USA Today. Remember to check your local establishments’ social media accounts for more deals near you.

Wendy’s

Wendy’s, which is the Official Hamburger of March Madness, has a deal running through April 13: Get a $1 Jr. Bacon Cheeseburger or a $1 Double Stack with purchase in the Wendy’s app. The deal is good each day in the app with a minimum purchase.

Those who can’t break away from the action can get a deal on delivery:

• DoorDash: Subscribers to the delivery service’s DashPash can get a free Son of Baconator sandwich on their order of $20 or more. Other DoorDash customers can get $5 off their Wendy’s order of $20 or more. Offers are good Saturday, March 22, to Friday, March 28, and then again April 4-8.
• GrubHub: Get a free Baconator sandwich with your purchase of $20 or more. Order subtotal must be at least $20 before tax, tip, and fees (not eligible on combos). Offer good from March 19 at 12:01 a.m. local time to Monday, March 24, at 11:59 p.m. local time, and again April 4-7, while supplies last.
• Uber Eats: Buy one, get one free Double Stack Biggie Bags through April 6.

KFC

Just in time for March Madness, KFC has added Mashed Potato Poppers – fried bits of mashed potatoes – to its menu. You can get them à la carte or in a Dunk It Bucket combo ($7), which comes with two Original Recipe Tenders, one individual size of Secret Recipe Fries, five Mashed Potato Poppers, and choice of three sauces, or the Double Dunk It Bucket ($25), which includes 10 Original Recipe Tenders, two individual sizes of Secret Recipe Fries, 10 Mashed Potato Poppers, four Biscuits and your choice of six sauces.

And you can score new KFC Dunk It Collection merchandise on KFCShop.com, including a mini basketball and hoop.

Dave & Buster’s

Gather for the beginning of March Madness at Dave & Buster’s and catch all the games on 30-plus TVs and play arcade games including NBA Superstars and other basketball-related games. You can get 20 wings for $20 and $5 draft beers on April 7.

Another deal: Get the Eat & Play Combo, which includes a $10 Power Card and a choice of entrées including BBQ Ribs and an All-American Smash Burger (starts at $19.99 per person with an option to upgrade to the new Unlimited Game Play upgrade option for 90 mins of unlimited game play, $59.99). Offer not good on after 5 p.m. on Fridays and Saturdays (some location restrictions may apply).

Buffalo Wild Wings

For a limited time, Buffalo Wild Wings has beer cheese cheesesteaks and chicken parm melt sandwiches on its menu, plus two new sauces: Buffalo Bleu and BBQ Ranch.

You can get 20 boneless wings, large fries, and four dips delivered to your house for about $17 when you order online and in the app. Also, March 28-31 is offering buy one, get one on wing orders of $25 or more on Grubhub.

Insomnia Cookies

Wear your college team’s apparel into an Insomnia Cookies and get a free Classic cookie with the purchase of one. The offer is good through April 7. Also, for a limited time, buy a dozen warm Classic cookies and get four more free.

Grubhub

Food delivery services Grubhub and Seamless, which merged with Grubhub back in 2013, have food deals throughout the men’s and women’s NCAA tournaments and the finals on April 6 (women) and April 7 (men). Amazon Prime subscribers who have Grubhub+ with their membership: Get $5 off your order of $20 or more with code HOOP5 (you can redeem this twice between now and April 7).

Yard House

The restaurant chain has an IPA Madness promotion running through April 7. For $15, you get a flight of four IPAs, then select a full pint of your favorite out of the four – the IPA quartet includes Oskar Blues Dale’s American IPA, Founders Mortal Bloom Hazy IPA, Boulevard Space Camper Juice Nova IPA and Sierra Nevada Torpedo Extra IPA. The most ordered IPA will join the beer menu for a year.

Also available: a $5 Pint Pass, which gets you a refill on any beer once per day with food purchase. New limited-time food items on the menu include Cheeseburger Pizza, Loaded Beer Cheese Fries and Crispy Szechuan Ribs.  The IPA Madness ends on National Beer Day (April 7); that day Yard House will have $10 half yards of select house beers offered at participating locations. 

P.F. Chang’s

P.F. Chang’s has a “Busted Bracket? Lettuce Help” promotion where, if your picks go bad and you bring in a copy of your printout, you can get free Lettuce Wraps with the purchase of any entrée. The offer is good March 20-April 7 at participating locations.

Outback Steakhouse

Get a free Bloomin’ Onion with the purchase of an adult entrée on your dine-in or online order (use the code BLOOM) March 28-30.

Raising Cane’s

This chicken finger empire, which has a yellow Lab named Cane as its mascot, is staying true to its brand with its Underdog Challenge. Through Monday, April 7, whenever an underdog wins a game, Raising Cane’s will gift 4,400 combo meals to diners who have registered here.

Shake Shack

Got burgers on the brain? Through Monday, April 7, you can nab a free Avocado Bacon Burger from Shake Shake with any order of $10 or more. The offer, which is limited to one burger per order, is available whether ordering online, in the in-store kiosk, or via the app; just use the promo code “SHOWDOWN” to take advantage.

More March Madness deals

• Applebee’s: Through Friday, you can get 50-cent Boneless Wings when you order from Applebees.com or the Applebee’s mobile app.
• Buffalo’s Cafe: Get 75 cent Boneless Wings, with a limit of a dozen, from April 4-7 at participating locations.
• California Tortilla: When you make a purchase from March 25 to April 7 you get to shoot a basketball in the restaurant with a chance to win a bounce-back prize: Free Chips & Queso (March 25-29); free order of Taquitos (March 30-April 30); free Burrito or Bowl (April 4-7). All prizes can be redeemed from April 8-30.
• Carvel: Get $5 off orders of $25 or more (excluding taxes and fees) from March 27-30 and again April 5-7 when ordering through DoorDash or UberEats from participating locations.
• Hurricane Grill & Wings: April 5-7, get 99-cent Boneless Wings, with a limit of 10, at participating locations.
• Through Monday, April 7, White Castle diners can save $5 on any Crave Case of 30 sliders by using the promo code “HOOPSCRAVE.”

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Photo Credit: Ken Wolter / Shutterstock.com