When times are hard, it’s so nice when local businesses take the opportunity to help those who are in need. Right now, many of the large, corporate owned, chain restaurants are helping people by giving away coupons. These coupons are usually of the “buy one, get one free” type. Yes, this does give a person who doesn’t have much cash a little more food for the money they would spend, if they happen to want two “value meals” instead of one, or an extra cheeseburger at that moment. I have found these type of coupons work pretty well if you are trying to feed two people, and you want to split the fries or the drink.
Make no mistake though, these coupons from the big chain restaurants are not actually there to help people who need food. One must come in and spend money before you can get the free item they offer. The hope of the big corporations is that you will use this coupon, buy the food item they are offering, get the free item, and then spend some additional money to buy more stuff.
For example: If a coupon says something like “get a free cheeseburger if you buy a value meal”, and you are trying to feed two people, you most likely end up buying the value meal, and an extra order of fries, and an extra drink…. which might cost more than if you just bought two value meals. It certainly costs more than the “buy a value meal and get a free cheeseburger” that you came in for. Big chain restaurants don’t want to help you, the unemployed or underemployed person with limited funds, unless, of course, they can do it in a way that tricks you into giving them more of those limited funds. They care that you don’t give your money to the next fast food place on the block, but they don’t give a damn about people. It’s all about helping themselves reach their “sales plan”.
Chain restaurants who offer a coupon for a “free appetizer” are hoping you will come in for the free item, and then order an entree, and some drinks, and maybe another appetizer. Oh, and hopefully you will bring somebody else with you, who can also order their own entree, drinks, and appetizers. They are making you think they are helping you, when they are really helping you give them more of your money. It’s about helping themselves stay “in the black”. It may provide a little help to people with very little cash, yes, but, mostly, it’s a way to claim that they are doing something to help, while selfishly grabbing all the cash they can, from people who can least afford to give it.
One would think that the largest restaurant chains would be able to afford to offer some real help to people right now, but that isn’t what I see. It’s the little restaurants, the “mom and pop” type places, that are actually stepping in and giving real help to people in need.
Check out this article, titled : Comfort, joy and a free buffet. This was from the Northwest Herald, a newspaper that serves McHenry County, Illinois, and it was published December 26, 2009.
Mandile’s Restaurant, in Algonquin, is owned and run by the Mandile family. They opened up their buffet on Christmas Day, for free, for anyone who arrived, and was “economically challenged”. No proof was asked for, or needed. They simply asked people when they were coming, and how many people would be in their party. Nearly 200 hungry people were fed by volunteers that day, (seventeen of whom were members of the Mandile’s own family).
Why did the good people of Mandile’s Restaurant do this? Here’s some quotes from the article:
* The family’s patriarch, Carmine Mandile, said that as his family celebrated Thanksgiving this year, they reflected on the high unemployment rate and the lives that the sluggish economy was changing.
* “We got thinking about the people hit by the economy and what we could do,” he said.
So they decided to open their restaurant on Christmas Day, and feed 200 people in need. For free. Without asking for anything at all in return from them. Hungry people “enjoyed a feast of ham, turkey and all the trimmings, as well as a table full of homemade desserts.” That’s the right way to help people!
Now, if a small, family owned restaurant can give so much, at their own expense, to help people who might otherwise be starving on Christmas….. why can’t these big corporate owned chain restaurants do it too? It’s obvious that these huge chains can afford to do so, or at least would be better prepared to do so than one family who runs their own little restaurant. I guess the old saying is true: “Those who can give the most are the ones who have the least”.
If you happen to live near Algonquin, Illinois, and are looking for somewhere good to eat, I suggest stopping by Mandile’s restaurant. It’s time to support the smaller businesses who actually put in the time, effort, and expense to give something back to their communities. If you are going out to eat anyway, drive past one of the big chain restaurants that only cares about the money you carry in your wallets, and spend your hard earned cash in the “mom and pop” shops who see you as an actual person, instead.