free thing, app-only, one day: how a chicken chain hit #1 on the app store
give every user one free thing, claimable only inside the app, on one announced day. the installs stack into a single window and the chart ranks you on that burst.
the play
Once a year Dave’s Hot Chicken gives every app user a free slider. You can only claim it inside the app, in a restaurant, on one day.
| Dave’s Day 2026 | |
|---|---|
| date | Tuesday, Oct 13, 2026 |
| reward | one free slider per customer, no purchase necessary |
| how to claim | download the app, scan the reward at a participating restaurant |
| run | fourth annual. the earlier runs were tied to Drake’s birthday. Drake invested in the chain in 2021 |
what happened
| run | result |
|---|---|
| 2024 | app downloads in the 4 weeks after the promo were 50% higher than the month before |
| 2025 | #1 overall on the US App Store, ending OpenAI’s Sora and its ~3 week run at the top |
| 2025 | 343,531 new accounts in one day. a normal week brings 20,000 to 25,000 loyalty sign-ups |
| 2025 | more than 10% added to the whole loyalty base in 24 hours |
| 2026 | #1 Top Free in the US, knocking Meta’s Muse out of #1 for the first time since it launched |
Do the maths on 2025. One day of sign-ups equalled roughly 14 to 17 normal weeks.
The team didn’t see the top spot coming. CTO Leon Davoyan said they expected to top Food & Drink, “but we never thought that we would be number one in the app store overall.”
In 2026 Zac Hall (@apollozac) posted the Muse news on Oct 14. Nikita Bier (@nikitabier) quoted it with a joke: since leaving X, he’d taken on a new challenge of making a chicken sandwich No. 1 on the App Store. “Well, guess what.”
why it works
| lever | what it does |
|---|---|
| chart rank rewards velocity | App Store charts mostly measure how fast downloads are coming in right now. a concentrated burst wins, and it doesn’t keep you there. Apple doesn’t publish the formula |
| one nationwide day | every install lands in the same 24 hours instead of spreading over a month |
| app-only redemption | no web or delivery workaround. want the slider, install the app |
| in-store, limited hours | in 2025 the window was 11am to 9pm local time. installs pile into a few hours |
| cheap reward | a slider costs a few dollars at cost, cheaper than paid installs, and it brings the user into the store |
| free PR | ”chicken beats AI” is a headline every tech and food outlet wants to write |
The loyalty database is the real prize. Every claim is a real account, with a phone, from someone who just walked into a store. Dave’s can message and retarget all of them without paying for that reach again. Davoyan said past runs led to second and third purchases after the free item.
cost vs payoff
| what | |
|---|---|
| cost | one slider per claim, limit one per customer |
| cost | a day of long lines. one customer says they waited an hour the year before |
| payoff | 343,531 new accounts in a day (2025) |
| payoff | 10%+ growth in the loyalty base in 24 hours (2025) |
| payoff | 50% more downloads over the following 4 weeks (2024) |
| payoff | #1 overall on the App Store, plus the press that comes with it |
| payoff | foot traffic into every participating store |
Each claim brings an account and a store visit along with the install.
how to steal it
The shape: a claim window for a reward people want, where claiming requires installing the app and creating an account, all on one announced day.
| crypto app | consumer app | |
|---|---|---|
| reward | a real or onchain reward: an NFT mint or a token claim | a free item or a month of premium |
| the gate | install the app and create the account or wallet inside it. no web claim page | install and sign up to claim. no web or partner route |
| the window | one announced day | one announced day |
| the hook | a cultural moment or a recognisable figure, e.g. a mainnet anniversary or a creator’s birthday | a holiday or a celebrity’s birthday |
| measure | day-one installs, chart rank, wallets created, 30-day retention | day-one installs, chart rank, accounts created, 30-day retention |
Run it like this:
- Pick a reward people actually want that costs you little per claim.
- Make the app the only door. Close every other route to the reward.
- Announce the date early so people install ahead. In 2025 Dave’s was #1 the day before the giveaway as well as on the day.
- Hang it on a moment people already talk about. Dave’s used Drake’s birthday for years.
- Have the second touch ready before the day, so every new account gets a reason to open the app again in week one.
watch-outs
| watch-out | what to do |
|---|---|
| the rank is temporary. in 2025 Sora and ChatGPT were back on top by Oct 24, the day after | treat #1 as a PR moment and plan the story around that day |
| freebie hunters churn | measure 30-day retention of the claim-day cohort against your normal cohorts |
| this is acquisition plus PR. it tells you nothing about product-market fit | judge it on what the cohort does after the free item |
| lines and outages | load-test the app and staff up. claims all land in the same few hours |
| farmers and sybils (crypto) | one claim per verified account or device. expect bots on day one |
sources
- Free chicken slider at Dave's Hot Chicken, October 13 (Slickdeals)
- Zac Hall (@apollozac) on X: Muse knocked out of the top App Store spot (Oct 14, 2026)
- Nikita Bier (@nikitabier) on X, quoting @apollozac's post (no link available)
- Free chicken topples OpenAI's Sora from App Store crown (TechBuzz)
- Here's why this restaurant chain became the top downloaded iPhone app (Nation's Restaurant News)
- Why Dave's Hot Chicken is beating Sora and ChatGPT in the App Store ranks (Inc., via Yahoo)