A North American newspaper publisher has joined forces with a nation-wide fried chicken chain to provide free access to online content during April.

Canada’s Postmedia group announced they were dropping their paywall to online content for readers during the nation’s lockdown due to the Covid-19 virus emergency in a link-up with restaurant chain Mary Brown’s Chicken and Taters.

The 170-outlet eatery will cover the cost of the free content for residents in cities where Postmedia publish, including the Vancouver Sun, Calgary Herald, Saskatoon Star, Toronto Sun and Ottawa Citizen.

The deal covers 15-days of content.

Postmedia had already announced it would drop its paywalls on Covid-19 related articles from mid-March until further notice. The deal with Mary Brown’s means all content will be free to access for a limited period.

“We’re pleased and gratified by this generous vote of confidence in our journalism,” commented Lucinda Chodan, senior vice president of editorial at the National Post newspaper.

The food chain, known as the Home of the Tater Poutine – a dish made from potatoes, gravy, and cheese curds – said that as well as the partnership to drop the paywall Mary Brown’s had also agreed an advertising campaign with Postmedia.

“People now want news more than any other time in our recent history. That was the whole insight behind doing this with a news organisation,” commented Jeff Barlow, vice president for marketing at the restaurant chain.

No details of how much the partnership has cost have been released.