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By Mayar Zokaei | [email protected]

 

When legendary NFL veteran Peyton Manning became a free agent in early March, more than a dozen teams were clamoring to sign the former University of Tennessee star quarterback to a contract, including the Tennessee Titan. The future Hall-of-Famer eventually signed with the Denver Broncos earlier this month.

And it was only inevitable that an Iranian entrepreneur would figure out a way to capitalize on the opportunity to use the recruitment of the 36-year-old Manning to promote his own business.

David Davoudpour, CEO of Shoney’s – a popular restaurant chain headquartered in Nashville, Tennessee that boasts 230-plus locations in the Southeast, Midwest and Mid-Atlantic states – bought a full-page ad in the Friday, March 16 edition of the Tennessee Tennessean newspaper to offer Manning a free stack of pancakes every day through his career if he signed with the Titans.

“The offer is legit,” Shoney’s director of marketing Damon Davoudpour told The Tennesseean. “It’s a fun way to show our interest in getting Peyton Manning here and a fun way to get people of Nashville and the state of Tennessee excited about the possibility. This is huge. There is Peyton mania all over the place.’”

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Manning might have 1st-hand knowledge of Shoney’s pancakes since his old college stomping grounds in Knoxville, TX is proliferated with more than 20 Shoney’s locations.

David Davoudpour, an Atlanta resident, has a history of spearheading creative and sometimes over-the-edge advertisements. His likeness is plastered all over Shoney’s web site, including the presence of a statement and clips of the company’s television ads, which frequently feature the CEO.

Besides Davoudpour’s aforementioned brother, the Shoney’s website lists another Iranian-American, Kamran Habeeb, as being associated with the company, serving in the capacity of President and COO for Shoney’s and Church’s Chicken. Davoudpour’s Royal Capitol Corporation purchased the 283-unit Church’s chain in last January.

Check out this clip of David Davoudpour in a commercial for Shoney’s.