Harvesters benefit from Harry's gag

Harry Hill has given a huge boost to Harvester restaurants after mentioning them on TV Burp – even in a tongue-in-cheek way.

The chain says the number of visitors to its website doubled after Hill’s gently mocking dig on last week’s show were seen by almost 7 million viewers

After showing a clip from reality TV show The Restaurant in which a contestant said, sarcastically: ‘My friends think a good restaurant is Harvester’, Hill said: What do they mean? Have they ever been to a Harvester?’

The comedian turned to another camera to cheekily plug the chain, saying: ‘I love the great value offered by the “early bird” deal. A great selection of freshly prepared favourites. All main meals come with free, unlimited, freshly prepared salads.

‘Or there’s the young guest menu. A selection of main menu items specially priced and portioned for the under-10s including an activity sheet and balloons. Think fresh, think Harvester.’

Alex Meyer, marketing manager for the chain, said: ‘It was quite a surprise to see Harry Hill talking about Harvester. His comments were very positive… albeit delivered in classic Harry Hill style.

‘The impact this had was amazing, with web traffic increasing by over 100 per cent.’

Last night Hill told the Sunday Express: ‘Let’s hope there’s a similar effect after this week’s mention of the Bible.’

Web tracking service Alexa shows that approximately 70 per cent more people visited the Harvester website in the past week compared to its usual three-month average.

Published: 8 Nov 2009