March Madness deals: Score specials at spots from Arby’s to Wendy’s and more

March Madness is kicking into fast break mode with non-stop action in the men’s and women’s NCAA basketball tournaments. It’s a great time to gather with friends and watch – and get a deal on food.

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Fans of college basketball are in hoops heaven this week. Many will have their eyes glued to the screen, whether it’s a TV, smartphone or table watching March Madness play out.

The men’s 2025 NCAA Tournament’s round of 64 begins Thursday, March 20, with half of the games and the other half on Friday, March 21. Games played to reach the Sweet Sixteen are contested on Saturday, March 22, and Sunday, March 23.

The women’s 2025 NCAA Tournament round of 64 kicks off Friday – there’s a First Four game Thursday – with the first two rounds played through Monday, March 24.

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

Wendy’s has a run of March Madness deals during tournament run

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.

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KFC dishes out new Dunk It Bucket

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: Watch March Madness, eat and play hoops

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. To kick off the action, on Thursday and Friday you can get 20 wings for $20 and $5 draft beers (the deal is good again 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).

Grubhub: March Madness food delivery deals

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).

Here’s some of other Grubhub deals (no code or Grubhub+ subscription required):

• Wawa: Get 30% off your order of $25 (maximum discount of $11; good through Friday).
• Little Caesars: Free Italian Cheese Bread with your order of $25 or more (offer good through March 24).
• Chili’s: Get $8 off your order of $40 or more (offer good through March 24).
• 7-Eleven: 25% off your order of $25 (March 22 – March 25).
• Starbucks: Get $4 off your order of $20 or more (March 26 – March 31).
• Popeyes: Get a free Chicken Sandwich on orders of $15 or more during the Sweet Sixteen and Elite Eight (March 27-31).
• Taco Bell: Get $5 off your order of $15, which includes a Cantina Caliente Chicken Soft Taco (March 27 – March 30).
• Buffalo Wild Wings: Buy one, get one free Chicken Wings with orders of $25 or more (March 28-31).
• Jimmy John’s: BOGO Regular Favorite sandwiches on orders of $20 or more (April 4-17).

Yard House IPA Madness

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. 

Arby’s March Madness upset alert deals

Whenever there’s an upset in the men’s tournament during the opening weekend, the following day you can get a free sandwich with a purchase of $15 or more.

The offer is good Thursday, March 20, to Monday, March 24, on online orders or on the Arby’s app.

P.F. Chang’s busted bracket deal

If your March Madness picks go awry, bring a copy of your printout to P.F. Chang’s.

The restaurant chain has a “Busted Bracket? Lettuce Help” promotion so you can score free Lettuce Wraps with the purchase of any entrée. The offer is good March 20-April 7 at participating locations.

Great Clips: March Madness $10 off deal

March Madness deals aren’t just about food. You can get $10 off a haircut at Great Clips through April 4. If you’re watching basketball action over the coming days, you’ll likely see a television commercial with actor/comedian Mikey Day (“Saturday Night Live”) and University of Kansas center Hunter Dickinson.

Other players involved in the promotional campaign include University of Iowa guard Lucy Olsen and BYU guard Amari Whiting. To get the $10 off, go to the Great Clips website.

March Madness TV ad: Get $10 off haircuts at Great Clips

Great Clips has a March Madness $10 off haircut promotion including a TV commercial with Mikey Day and University of Kansas center Hunter Dickinson.

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.
• Buffalo Wild Wings: Buy one, get one free boneless wings on Thursday, March 20; offer good for dine-in, takeout or delivery. Also get a $16.99 Wing Bundle with 20 boneless wings, large fries and four sauces (offer good for takeout delivery in the BWW app and website).
• 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.
• McAlister’s Deli: Members of the free McAlister’s Rewards loyalty program get $5 off delivery orders of $25 or more Thursday-Sunday. And you can also get $15 off catering orders of $100 or more through April 7 with code SPRING25.
• Moe’s Southwest Grill: Members of the free Moe Rewards loyalty program get $5 off their order of $20 or more Thursday through Sunday (order must be placed on the Moe’s app or online; good for pick-up or delivery).
• 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) from March 28-30.
• Potbelly: Members of the free Potbelly Perks loyalty program can buy one Original or Big sandwich through Friday, March 21, and get a free one on the next visit. New members are eligible, too.
• QDOBA: Join the free QDOBA Rewards loyalty program and order three times through March 31 to get a Championship Reward: a free order of chips and dip – Gold status reward members will get 14 days of free chips and dip.
• Round Table Pizza: Get 15% off dine-in and carry-out orders with code RTP978 through Thursday. Then Friday to Sunday, get $5 off your dine-in, carry-out or delivery order of $35 or more (with code RTP989). For next week’s action (March 27-31), get 16% off any dine-in, carry-out and delivery order (use code RTP613).
• Schlotzsky’s: Catering orders of $200 or more get $20 off with code BREAKFAST20 through April 30.
• Shake Shack: Get a free Avocado Bacon Burger with your order of $10 or more through April 7 (offer good in-store, online, the Shack App and delivery or pickup; use code SHOWDOWN. Limit one free burger per order).
• Wing Snob: During March Madness, you can get the Ultimate Party Pack ($38.99), which includes 10 Traditional Wings, 10 Boneless Wings, five Chicken Tenders and two orders of Large Fries.

Follow Mike Snider on Threads, Bluesky and X: mikegsnider  &  @mikegsnider.bsky.social  &  @mikesnider.

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