Red & White

I used to work at Friday's. We had to wear red and white striped shirts and got scolded if we didnt have enough "flair". Flair was what they called stupid buttons and advert pins to make us stand out, to celebrate our individualism. Which was complete and utter bullshit because no matter how much you did to those stupid shirts you could still plainly see they were red and white striped and we were all exactly the same. Just like the menu. No matter where you go every Friday's you pop into will have the exact same menu, and be running the exact same disgusting frozen drink specials. They call it consistancy, I call it "The End of the World".

Last Saturday I was at a party in the new Wolfgangus Puck restaurant at the Borgata. I couldnt stop thinking about Friday's. It had a better decor, the staff was better, and it is nice to have food so close to a poker table, but Friday's stuck in my head. The place was mobbed. The food was just fine (you have to expect to pay out the wazoo as soon as you give the casino valet your car keys) and the wine list was the same you'd get absolutely anywhere else (only at a 200% mark-up instead of 100%). But it was a TGI Friday's, without the stripes.

I dont have a solution. I'm not even sure it it's a problem. And good for old Wolfie Baby, a good chef with a whole bunch of charisma and now he's an international franchise (ahum... Friday's.. cough cough>. There's something to be said for cranking out a product people seem to want, or think they want, or thought they wanted?