Dine for America

[jaysonsmom]

I know this might be too late for some of you, but if you like to eat out, this is the day to do it. A lot of restaurants are participating, and some giving 100% of earnings to Hurricane relief.

We''re going to Chili''s because they are donating 100%.

http://www.dineforamerica.org/

 

[MelissaSue]

My restaurant is taking part in this. I''m kind of sad, because I originally thought I needed the night off, so I took it off, but I actually would have liked to have worked, to be part of it, you know? And FI is at work tonight, so dining out is not in the cards for me.

 

[MelissaSue]

Oh.. and I don''t mean to be a downer, but Chili''s is donating 100% of PROFIT, not 100% of what you spend..

For instance, my restaurant is donating 10% of SALES, which is probably not that much less than 100% of profit, but at least you know what you''re contributing then.... I really dont know..

Some of the restaurants are doing things that don''t seem like they''d contribute that much..
For instance one of the local restaurants here says :
"WE WILL DONATE THE FULL PROCEEDS FROM THE SALE OF THE FIVE FOLLOWING WINES AT BOTH OUR LOCATIONS: LE FAUX FROG CHARDONNY, WAGNER SEMI DRY REISLING, MIRASSOU PINOT NOIR, FAT BASTERD SHIRAZ AND BLAKSTONE SYRAH "
WHICH.. would be a lot, if it was a wine place.. but its not.. Its a pizza place that does a lot of specialty beers.

 

[Mara]

We had lunch at Willow Street Pizza today (yummy BBQ chicken pizza!) and I saw the Dine for America sign so I guess they are part of it too. Der I just noticed that it's just for today. So I guess we did our part.

 

[oneofus]

I got an email on this. Perfect time to use my Olive Garden gift card! They also donate 100% of their profit.

 

[MINE!!]

I hate to be a downer here but personally, I think this is a disgusting marketing technique used by resturants to profit from the hurricane.. It''s disgusting. OF course people are going to come dine there if they think they are helping... but have no doubts, the resturants is profiting quite a bit as well... disgusting.

 

[movie zombie]

but what if you were already planning to dine out that night, Mine? perhaps you''d consider eating at a place that was making a donation in an attempt to make your $$$ go further: not only would you get to eat out [and not have to do dishes!] but someone else would get some help by your doing so.

in this part of california people eat out all the time and think nothing of it. and as a ''regular'' at a particular restaurant which shall remain nameless, i like knowing that the place is participated even if i didn''t dine there that night. its a sense of belonging to a community and knowing that community is compasionate.

right after katrina, the little town of boulder creek did its usual informal fund raiser: the firefighters [mostly volunteers] stood in town in the middle of the road at the one and only intersection with stop signs. their mission was to get their firefighter boots filled with $$$ to send to help the katrina victims [the $$$, not the boots!]. while this is not the same as eating out and making a donation, it certainly is another example of ''community''.

peace, movie zombie

 

[MelissaSue]

MINE - I don''t completely disagree with you. However, I also don''t think that its a total ploy. Here''s why


Restaurants can choose to donate whatever percent of the profits they want. if some are donating 100% of thier profits, HOW IS THAT BENEFITING THEM? They aren''t making any money off the night. Granted, not all restaurants are doing that.. but thats their choice

My father is the General Manager of my restaurant. He is the one who decided to do this. I KNOW my father, and I know his intentions. We actually do another charity event for the NICU at a local hospital once a year, and while it is a HUGE event and probably we get the most people in there of any time of the whole year, the restaurant does NOT make any extra money off it. While no business owner/ manager is blind to the fact that hosting an event like this will bring publicity/business to their establishment, I severely doubt that most of them are participating primarily for this reason. There IS a strong desire to help. Why can''t businesses have that same desire to help?

 

[MINE!!]

I see what you mean. perhaps some privately owned resturants do this... however, I think many of the ''chain'' resturants are offering only selected items and food. For example.. you order a glass of wine.. these resturants donate profits from this wine... yet resturant owners know that you are not going to just buy a glass or bottle of wine, instead you are going to buy a meal with that wine. Other places offer appetizers, while others offer desserts. Should a resturant offer 100% of all profits on all foods.. that is fine... but would it not be better to have people donate money as opposed to benefiting from a tradegy. I understand that people want to help, but I also understand that human nature makes us want something out of it for ourselves, I think when it comes to this ''dining out'' program, more resturants are benefiting than helping...imo.

BTW.. I think that it is wonderful that your father is doing this.

 

[movie zombie]

Mine, i rec''d this morning from plump jacks''s in san francisco:

"THANK YOU FOR YOUR SUPPORT
A huge thank you to everyone that participated in the September 15th Hurricane Katrina relief events. Due to your generosity, we were able to donate over $35,000 to organizations, such as Save the Children, that are lending aid to families across the gulf states. For more information, or to make a donation, please visit www.savethechildren.org or contact Sarah McLoughlin at [email protected] "

peace, movie zombie

 

[MINE!!]

Well.. that is so special MZ... be sure to mail them back and ask them what their profit was as well.

 

[MINE!!]

I''m sorry MZ.. I do not feel there is a comparison between Firefighters and resturants. My daughter''s school raised about 7000$ to donate to the victims of Katrina. The pride I feel for those kids are immesurable... that is a sense of community.. the only thing that they benefited from it was knowing that they were helping someone else.. not that their sales would rise.

As you MAY have read, I said that perhaps some did this out of good intentions, but, as it seems that many who hate big business states, they are in it for themselves.. they knew that they would profit from it... and from that .... I feel disgusted. Not only that they would use this as a ploy to make more money... but that others would jump on it and say it is sucha good thing, not seeing how they have lined the pockets of people that benefited from it.(the resturants)