Free Eats on Tax Day

If Uncle Sam is taking a bite out of you this tax season, now's your chance to bite back. Chains like Chipotle (NYSE: CMG  ) and Denny's (Nasdaq: DENN  ) are getting in on the fun by providing free grub in tax-themed promotions.

Denny's will be offering free cups of its new Special Blend Coffee on April 17. The company claims to pour 2 million cups of coffee a week, so it's about time that it jumped on the premium-brew bandwagon. With the likes of 7-Eleven and Burger King (NYSE: BKC  ) already on board, Denny's joins a crowded club.

Tying free servings of a new product to the country's most taxing day is a good move. Denny's will also be aggressive, reaching out to non-Denny's customers by setting up camp in post offices and other high-traffic areas of several cities to pour samples.

Chipotle will be offering free burritos a day earlier, on April 16. Before you head out to fill your craving on Monday at the fast-growing quick-service eatery, keep in mind that there are strings attached. You actually have to purchase a burrito over the weekend first. If you buy a burrito on Saturday or Sunday, you'll get a humorous tax form that you'll need to bring back with your weekend receipt for the Monday freebie.

So you've got your burrito on Monday and coffee on Tuesday. What about dessert? Subway has offered free cookies on tax-filing days in the past, but if you've got a Ben & Jerry's scoop shop nearby, you may want to head out there. From noon until 8 p.m., participating stores will host Ben & Jerry's Annual Free Cone Day.

Chains like Krispy Kreme (NYSE: KKD  ) and McDonald's (NYSE: MCD  ) have had tax-related freebies or promotions in the past. It probably helps that Ray Kroc opened his first McDonald's store on April 15, 1955.

So don't fret your tax bill or the girth of your refund. If times are tight and your belly's rumbling, the handouts are everywhere on Tax Day. You just need to know where to look.

Chipotle has been one of the many fast-growing recommendations from the Motley Fool Rule Breakers newsletter service. The stock also got the nod from the Motley Fool Hidden Gems team. What makes Chipotle so special? You can dig into any of its burritos for a taste test, then give either newsletter a similar sampling with a 30-day free trial.

Longtime Fool contributor Rick Munarriz has taken advantage of the Ben & Jerry's free cone days in the past. He does not own shares in any of the stocks in this story. Rick is part of the Rule Breakers newsletter research team, seeking out tomorrow's ultimate growth stocks a day early. The Fool has a disclosure policy.