Michelle prompts TGI Friday’s to ditch straws!
Huge Victory
City to Sea’s Creative Director Michelle Cassar was the first to speak to the CEO of TGI Friday’s about their plastic straw usage. That conversation helped prompt their actions to remove plastic straws at Friday’s UK.
With over 80 restaurants, serving literally thousands of people on a daily basis, this is a huge victory for preventing plastic pollution – at source!
Starting the conversation
So, why was Michelle working in TGI Friday’s, a huge high street chain? When we were starting out at City to Sea it was all hands on deck, but we didn’t have much in the way of budget coming in. So after 15 years Michelle, our in-house photographer video-maker went back to waiting tables. Which was a shock to the system, she remembered it being easy?!
From the first meeting TGIs knew Michelle was preventing plastic pollution, they welcomed her to the team and gave her all the flexibility she needed to work on City to Sea. It also gave her the opportunity to encourage change, on a massive scale. So when Karen Forrester, the CEO was paying a store visit Michelle made sure she was there to chat with her. She then followed up that conversation with her manager, area manager and the right people at HQ.
There’s always more large restaurants can do, but this is a fantastic start and may prompt other large chains to follow, and TGI Friday’s across the globe … How can they not?!
It’s a good example of how conversations, with the right people really can inspire massive change. Aim high, and watch as plastic pollution prevention ripples out …