…unless you want 10% of your check to be donated to the National Autism Association, which has declared in a statement to Congress that vaccines cause autism, and supports the activities of notorious antivax groups like NVIC and Age of Autism.
There are saner and more responsible autism groups deserving of contributions (not to mention far better restaurants featuring Mexican/Tex-Mex food).
For what it’s worth, I have contacted Chili’s, suggesting that if they want to atone for this blunder, they should donate 10% of a future day’s receipts to PKIDS or another group promoting immunization for children.
Chili’s P.R. dept. has been scrambling to minimize the damage caused by their support of the National Autism Association, claiming that they don’t want to “take sides” and explaining that all of the money raised will go to a particular NAA activity that doesn’t involve slamming vaccines.
The bottom line though is that Chili’s is giving attention, support and money to a group that acts against an important facet of public health.
“The NAA regularly invites discredited medical professionals to speak at its annual conferences, including Mr. Andrew Wakesfield, whose fraudulent 1998 Lancet article caused vaccination rates to plummet in Europe and the US. Another speaker was Dr. Anju Usman who, in 2006, referred a five-year-old autistic boy to a chelationist, Dr. Roy Kerry. The boy later died in Kerry’s care, as the boy’s mother helplessly watched.”
The idea of donating 10% of receipts to the NAA apparently arose after a “heroic” Chili’s server repaired a “broken” cheeseburger for an autistic child, resulting in favorable publicity for the chain.
Now Chili’s can get to work repairing a corporate image broken by its foolish support of the NAA.
Amen. I ate there by mistake a few years ago (for some reason I thought I was being invited to lunch at Chevy’s). Yuck. It was some of the worst food I’ve ever had.
Chevy’s isn’t great, but it’s pretty damn good for a chain.
Well, they’re definitely a “for” on the topic of ptomaine poisoning. I’m not sure where their stand on other diseases is but it would be nice if it was consistent. However, I’m not seeing fertile ground for a John le Carré-esque conspiracy thriller with humanitarian overtones, so I think I’ll just follow my standard practice of not eating at Chili’s, period, except when forced to by company functions.
I will continue my boycott of Chile’s. Nothing changing, mind, but I won’t be going back on that one anytime soon.
I personally put them on “Ignore” list after going there and trying to find something - anything - on their menu that actually had a chile in it. Or maybe banana peppers. Or, something which might in some former life have approximated spice.
I don’t honestly know why they call is Chile’s and use a Chile pepper for their logo. Their menu is shockingly bland. The menu itself isn’t a bad lineup, per se - but it’s basically all a pack of frozen lard. Also, it’s rather random.
A really dedicated person would travel out of town to not eat at the Chili’s in those cities.
Boycotting restaurant chains becomes easier when you don’t like them much anyway. It would take something pretty grievous for me to stop going to City Barbecue. They could publicly endorse kicking puppies* and I’d find some way to forgive them.
Ahhh… There’s are two “I’s” in the name of the restaurant.
And I wouldn’t eat at many restaurants on Monday because most are using up the leftover weekend food on that day. Tuesday is always the first day of the week to eat at a restaurant.
So even if they weren’t giving money to a group of anti-vaxxer morons, I still wouldn’t eat there on a Monday.
Chile = (a) a hot pepper, or a SW USA/Mexican dish prepared with it; (b) a country in South America
Chili = (a) a Texan dish based upon meat and chiles; (b) an Anglophone transliteration of “chile” as in the pepper
Chili’s = a lame restaurant chain
And so, while riding the feelgood wave of that favorable publicity, nobody at corporate PR could be arsed to do due diligence when picking which of many autism advocacy groups to support… No, does not surprise me at all.
If you find a local indie or local chain that has a day where some of the proceeds go towards a charity, usually the charity is the local or regional branch of a national one or a.local charity period. That and you will likely get a better meal.
No good deed goes unpunished. Okay, Chili’s fucked up by selecting a charity that supports anti-vaccine causes. I’m willing to give them the benefit of the doubt that they simply thought they selected a controversy free charity devoted to helping people with autism. Should they have examined the charity a bit closer? Sure. But this isn’t why Chili’s sucks. It’s their food.
Yeah, no. Last time I checked, Chili’s is a teensy bit larger than a mom n pop restaurant or super-local chain with <10 locations.
A chain large enough to have a corporate HQ should damn well know it’s a good idea to spend 30 seconds googling a potential charity selection to be aware of (read: likely avoid) any controversial issues.
I doubt that caution applies at Chili’s. The one time I ate there, I got the impression that every meal was nuked individually. No real cooking took place–thus, no leftovers.
Their poor selection of a charity likely indicates stupidity–not some kind of conspiracy. But I won’t be eating at Chili’s because there are so many better places to eat. Heck, I even cook…
