Newmarket ,on - 14 July, 2005 -

Go big or go home! That's the motto of a local restaurant that plans to feed an entire town to celebrate its 25th anniversary. From Thursday July 21-Saturday July 23 Chinese food chain Manchu WOK will be giving away free meals for over 12 hours a day in their Newmarket location. "We turned 25 this year and wanted to find a way to celebrate our success and thank our customers for their support," said Mike Craig, CEO and President of Manchu WOK. "We thought about a lot of options and decided to do what we do best – let our great food speak for itself. We expect to serve over 4,000 people during the event and that once the word spreads we'll have people from all over Ontario showing up. We hope that everyone in the community will come out to celebrate with us." The three day "Chow Down for Free" campaign will run from 10:30 am to 11:00 pm and customers will be treated to a two-item meal and a regular fountain drink of their choice. All they have to do is show up in person at the Newmarket store, located at 18195 Yonge Street on the corner of Green Lane. People can choose to eat just once or go through the line as many times as they like. Manchu WOK expects the event to draw large crowds so they are urging people to come early to secure their place in line. They are also bringing in additional staff, extra seating, security, and parking attendants to help manage the traffic. "This is the biggest event in our company's history, and to our knowledge no other restaurant has done anything like this," said Craig. "We are Canada's biggest fast food Chinese chain so it makes sense that our celebration be just as big." The event will also serve as an awareness and fundraising event for the Boys & Girls Club of Ontario. Manchu WOK has invited 25 children from the York Region chapter to be the first to receive free meals. The company will also be placing donation boxes in the store and encouraging patrons to donate $1 for their food. "We understand the importance of giving back to the community and are hoping that every person at the store will donate just one dollar to help kids in need," said Craig. Newmarket is the site of Manchu WOK's first stand-alone store which opened just over two years ago and included the first ever Chinese food drive-thru in Canada. The company is North America's largest Chinese Food Franchise. It was started in Peterborough, Ontario in 1980 and currently serves over 27 million meals a year at over 200 locations in North America. The expanding and evolving menu includes Cantonese, Szechwan, Hunan and Mandarin cuisine.

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