There's no such thing as free cheesecake

See Cheesecake Factory's free cheesecake promotion goes awry, one person arrested by Sarah Whitten of CNBC. Excerpts:

• Cheesecake Factory celebrated its 40th anniversary with a free cheesecake promotion with DoorDash.
• The promotion brought crowds of delivery drivers to stores.
• Police were called to one Cheesecake Factory restaurant after a fight broke out while drivers were picking up orders.
• One person is arrested on disorderly conduct charges.

"A free cheesecake promotion celebrating Cheesecake Factory's 40th anniversary turned ugly as orders and DoorDash delivery drivers flooded restaurants. A brawl broke out at one location, and one person was arrested.

The nationwide promotion, which kicked off at 11:30 a.m. local time Wednesday, offered 40,000 free slices of cheesecake to customers who ordered through the DoorDash app. The promotion comes at a time when more restaurants are adding delivery and digital ordering capabilities to meet growing consumer demand for fast and convenient access to food.

Within two hours, all free slices had been ordered, leading some disappointed respondents to complain on social media that they were not able to get their hands on a piece of cheesecake, or if they did, it arrived hours after it was ordered."

"The promotion brought crowds of DoorDash delivery drivers to restaurants, disrupting business. Some locations saw drivers double parking their vehicles so they could enter the restaurant and pick up their orders.

In one instance, police were called to a Cheesecake Factory in Arlington County, Virginia, after a fight broke out while drivers were picking up orders."

Here is the definition of a scarce good I use in my classes:

Scarce-A good or resource is scarce when the amount available is less than the amount people would want if it were given away free of charge.

Related posts about problems when thing are given away for free:

Chaos ensues when stuffed bears are given away (almost) free of charge.

Domino's & T-Mobile discover there is no such thing as free pizza. Too many took advantage of offer. They ran out.

What happens if you give electricity away for free? (Tesla post)

Taco Bell Gives Away "Free" Tacos, Problems Arise.

IHOP Gives Away Free Pancakes And Gets Slammed.

There Is No Such Thing As Free Salt (Or Sand) .

Trees Are Scarce In San Antonio!

Free Can Be Deadly. (give aways lead to stampedes)

More Free Give Aways Lead to Trouble. (A shopping mall in California gave away free gift certificates)

Josh Hamilton’s grand slam causes a flooring and countertop shortage