A 17-cent meal deal at Wimpy Hamburgers to mark the eatery`s 20th anniversary in South Africa caused near riots nationwide.
Wimpy`s offered a hamburger, French fries and a Coke at the 1967 price of 17 cents Tuesday. The same meal at Wimpy`s costs $2.50 these days, so hundreds crowded shops in major cities to take advantage of the special.
Police were called out in Durban to control a crowd that gathered hours before the shops opened and depleted supplies long before lunchtime. ”We supplied our 170 stores countrywide with about 5,000 burgers each,” regional manager David Claven said.
”We anticipated that stocks would last all day, but all our stores in Durban and Johannesburg were sold out by lunchtime. We had to close,” he said.
Lines formed as early as 5 a.m., as busloads of schoolchildren arrived, army trucks packed with soldiers pulled up and contingents of high school and college students flocked to the stores.
