LIHUE — Anthony Florick, general manager of Kmart, was busy juggling cold drink cups, arranging to have extra cashiers on hand, and keeping an eye on the line of customers that popped up at 11:30 a.m. Monday at the Little Caesars.
“I wasn’t too sure,” a customer in line said. “I came and there weren’t that many cars in the parking lot. I thought for sure there would be a lot of kids. But this is all good.”
Florick said he felt the rain would keep people away, despite the row of shopping carts filled with prepared boxes for the lunch combo, lining the perimeter of the restaurant inside the Kmart store.
But the people came to cash in on Little Caesars losing its March Madness bet when the No. 16 seeded University of Maryland, Baltimore County beat the No. 1 seeded Virginia Cavaliers on March 16.
“It’s a good day for lunch,” said Rosita Ikehara. “I know some people who work here, and they told us about it. It’s very windy and rainy in Puhi so no can work.”
The Little Caesars opened its offer promptly at 11:30 a.m. and continued serving until the 1 p.m. cutoff with diners having the opting of dining in, or taking the lunch to go.
“We plan on having at least 350 meals,” Florick said. “But we can’t make it up too far in advance because customers complain that it gets soggy. I understand the mainland stores are doing very well with this.”
The Zieber family, enjoying their spring break from school in Canada, was in the store shopping when they were told about the free lunch.
“Who can pass up free pizza,” said Bennett Zieber who lost little time diving into his deep dish pizza, and ready for anyone who had extra slices to spare.
A pair of workers from the state building escaped to make the 11:30 start time.
“I thought they’d be a lot more people,” the crew said. “But it went pretty fast — and, they didn’t run out.”
The free offer was available at participating Little Caesars throughout the 50 states, and Washington, D.C.
