Convenience store retailers drive traffic and bakery case sampling with free donut offers.

Friday, June 5 marked National Donut Day, and many c-store retailers joined in the fun by offering free donuts to customers for the occasion.

Different chains had different rules around the promotion, such as whether customers had to purchase a beverage or present a coupon or arrive at specific stores or during certain hours.

National Donut Day is celebrated on the first Friday of June each year. It was established in 1938 to pay tribute to the women who, as part of the Salvation Army, served donuts to soldiers during World War I and helped raise funds necessary during the Great Depression. In 2009, both independent donut shops and large national franchises began offering free donuts in the U.S.

Entenmann’s Bakery, a division of Bimbo Bakeries USA and producer of over 100 sweet baked goods, partnered for the fifth year in a row with The Salvation Army for the annual National Donut Day holiday. At an event at New York’s Madison Square Park, consumers enjoy 40,000 free Entenmann’s donuts and coffee.

But costumers didn’t have to be in New York to partake in free donut festivities, and in many cases they only had to look as far as their local c-store retailer. Following are how a handful of convenience store retailers participated in the festivities.

Sheetz celebrated the day by offering free donuts to loyalty card holders, at all 500+ locations throughout Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Maryland, Virginia, Ohio and North Carolina, while supplies lasted. Sheetz noted in a press release that it was proud to participate in National Donut Day to honor its rich history and also to celebrate the tremendous growth of the Shweetz Bakery line in the past few years. The line includes a variety of donuts, muffins, and other baked goods, freshly made and delivered to stores daily. Sheetz serves many kinds of glazed, frosted, and filled donuts, including our new seasonal donut, the Orange Dreamsicle.

At Qik n EZ, which has 12 locations in central Illinois, customers were treated to a free donut if they bought any size coffee, hot chocolate or cappuccino.

Cumberland Farms customers who visited any newly remodeled store had the chance to score a free donut between 5 a.m. and 10 a.m. Friday, with the purchase of a hot or iced coffee or “chill zone” beverage.

Dunkin’ Donuts was offering free donuts all day with the purchase of a beverage in participating restaurants around the world.

Thorntons, with 182 stores in six states, invited customers via social media to stop by a store to try its new Lemon Iced Blueberry Donut on National Donut Day. If customers used their Refreshing Rewards card they could buy any one donut and get one free.

Family Express, with 62 locations in Indiana, was offering its famous square donuts free with that week’s mobile app coupon.

The holiday offers c-store retailers with bakery programs a prime opportunity to drive sampling and convince customers to come back again for more.