Great Recipes and Great Food

In an attempt to appear more eco-friendly, McDonald’s are changing their classic logo in stores across Europe. After many years of a red background with their classic golden arch, many stores across Europe will be making the change to a green background.

Over the past few years, McDonald’s have faced criticism for their eco-unfriendly practices. However, to fight back, McDonald’s have come up with a series of eco-friendly practices which they are rolling out across their various stores around the world.

The change in logo colour is the eco-friendly approach that is being made in Europe. This new logo change has already taken effect in a number of stores around France and the United Kingdom. The country making the largest change is Germany where over 100 stores will be making the change to the green logo by this Christmas. Whether more stores in more countries will also make this change is not known.

You might be thinking, how can such a simple change in the logo have an effect for their green image. However, the change in logo will help the public understand that they actually are trying to make a difference.

Sony Ericsson did some similar to this earlier on in the year. Although they were only trying to freshen up the brand and not send a message, instead of creating a brand new logo, they simple created their current logo but it a variety of colours. This shows that if your business has the right logo, only small changes need to be made for it to have a big effect.

There’s no reason why this couldn’t work for your company’s logo. If you were a food based business, changing the colours to make a series of food and drink logos you could use would give your business a fresh image. The same little changes could be made for any logo really, whether you make clothing logo examples or church logos.

Folks eat at restaurants.  Some dine out almost every day, while for others it’s a less frequent treat.  Restaurant lunches are common in the working world.  Dinner out is common for some working families and in some industries where constant schmoozing happens.  People can often walk into a restaurant to find a table and a meal.  But sometimes a dinner reservation is needed in order to be seated. Those without the dinner reservation can be left on the outside looking in, or at least going to a fast food place for their meal.

Many restaurants take reservations, usually in the evenings and especially on weekends. Fancy places require dinner reservations months in advance. And some are so exclusive that it’s a miraculous event to acquire reservations. Is food that important that people will fight for coveted spots at the table? That’s for the individuals to decide.

Some good habits to get into when making reservations include calling well in advance of the planned meal and only reserving space for the people you know will attend and eat.  Some restaurants are pretty exclusive.  Don’t wait too long or you risk missing out on an evening.  You may also have to invite fewer people because only a small table is available.  Wasted spaces often result from reserving too early.  Restaurants don’t like this.  Bad service could result from an unhappy restaurant staff or manager.

Restaurants may sometimes have trouble with diners who reserve tables. On the flip side some restaurants aren’t so good at respecting these plans. People make plans to eat at 8PM, call in the reservation for 8PM, show up at 7:30 to enjoy a cocktail before dinner, then wait three hours before being seated. Restaurants that do this too often find themselves losing customers. However, it’s expected at some higher end or exclusive places. The arrogance of making people wait, even when they called months in advance to make plans, is part of the atmosphere of such establishments. For some reason some people like being treated poorly.

Some companies have sprung up that manage dinner reservations for a number of restaurants. These are often booked online, and people have reported excellent experiences.  One customer related making reservations for her husband’s birthday.  Upon arrival she found the host looking up the reservation on a computer.  To this patron’s surprise the restaurant had done some planning for the birthday meal, providing extras and even a free slice of cake.

When it’s time for a good meal, dinner reservations can feel special. That is if the restaurant honors them. If they don’t, then teach them a lesson. Don’t return, and let your friends know not to patronize that establishment.