Virginia Chick-fil-A ends food-for-coins promo after 'overwhelming response'

A Virginia-based Chick-fil-A has ended its food-for-coins promotion after it received a surplus of coin rolls from the community.

The Chick-fil-A of Wards Road in the city of Lynchburg launched a coin drive on Saturday, which provided a free meal voucher and $10 in cash to customers who brought in coin rolls of equal value, some of whom used their exchanged money for chicken, fries and other treats. However, the promo was short-lived, lasting only five days thanks to the generosity of the city’s local residents and out-of-state Chick-fil-A fans.

Customers who brought in more than $10 in coins received a dollar-to-dollar match in paper money in addition to meal vouchers.

VIRGINIA CHICK-FIL-A OFFERS FREE FOOD FOR COINS AMID SHORTAGE

“Event is over!!! Because of the overwhelming response from the community we have received ALL the change we need and then some!! Wow,” the Lynchburg franchisee wrote in a Facebook post that showed its coin haul on Wednesday. “Thank you!! You guys are awesome!! Our event is now over.”

“We had such an overwhelming response on social media, it took off pretty quickly and even went viral with multiple media and networks,” said Carrie Wright, a director of strategic development at Chick-fil-A, in a phone call with FOX Business. “We got a ton of support from the community and we actually got people drive as far away as North Carolina, which was about a two-hour drive to our little city here in Lynchburg, Virginia.”

CORONAVIRUS COIN SHORTAGE HAS PEOPLE CASHING IN ON SPARE CHANGE

The Wards Road restaurant ended up having customers line up bright and early at 8 a.m. to give away their change. And by Wright’s estimate, between 350 and 400 people showed up to provide their monetary support through spare change.

“Within about 45 minutes, we met the goal that we were looking for, which was a couple thousand dollars and that would be a couple thousand dollars in rolled change that's going to really help sustain our business through probably I would say at least the next three or four weeks for our Wards Road location and then we also have a location inside the mall here locally as well. So that's to support two restaurants,” Wright explained. “So we felt like it was a really successful event, probably even more successful in the sense that I think the community has really turned out to say that they support and they love free food. So that was definitely a lot more than what we anticipated.”

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On a national level, there is a coin shortage due to supply chain disruption caused by the coronavirus pandemic, the Federal Reserve System wrote in a statement issued on Monday.

According to the government agency, there are enough coins in the U.S. but circulation has slowed down and reduced inventories since Americans are still limiting their trips outside.

“As the economy recovers and businesses reopen, more coins will flow back into retail and banking channels and eventually into the Federal Reserve, which should allow for the rebuilding of coin inventories,” the Federal Reserve’s statement reads.

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FOX Business' Sumner Park contributed to this report.