Food is the quickest way to my heart, not my head....

I don't like the term "foodie," but I do love food, so I'm not sure where that leaves me in terms of a title. However, I know where that leaves me when I'm hungry: at some restaurant or alternative source of food (home-cooking!) with mouth-watering food that never fails to "hit the spot." I'm very open-minded when it comes to this category, including various foods (ranging from mac and cheese to filet mignon) and settings (Taco Cabana to Ruth Chris'). One of my favorite fast food restaurants is Chick-fil-A. I think the chain has mastered:

• Delicious, high quality food
• Simple menu
• Innovative ways to be more efficient, particularly in handling large lunch crowds
• Employee training for optimal customer service
• The best milkshake on the fast food market

Despite all of its excellent characteristics, the company recently came under fire for its owner's opposition to the LGBT movement. Instead of restraining criticism to the individual, the public caused a major company crises by denouncing the company for its leader's ideas and acting independently from his beliefs. As this topic is relatively recent, pertains to PR, and involves food, my partner and I have chosen it as the subjext of our class research paper on image repair.

As my partner, Brenna Middleton, and I discussed the incident and our approach to using it for this paper, we realized that there were several pieces of information that we needed to analyze:

• What is the extended background on the incident.]?
• Did the company ever apologize?
• Cyber identity impersonation 
• Was this ordeal positive or negative, overall.

What we already have found, however, is that most people did not heed the negative press and continued eating there as they had before. This demonstrates that, like myself, the quickest way to a public's heart is through its stomach, not it's brain.

The Choices That Are All Around Us....

There was a study conducted several years ago that asked participants if they'd rather go to an ice cream parlor with 99 flavors or with only 3 flavors. The majority of people chose the latter option, because they felt it wouldn't be as overwhelming. I've grown up in a society that emphasizes the value of variety - the whole "everyone is like a snowflake" mentality - but the truth is, the less options I have, the happier I tend to be.

Yo Dreams' customers have many choices
when selecting the perfect froyo garnishes. 

Choices. I've had to make a lot of those at school. Which major, which class, which professor, which time, which seat.... Even with my work at Yo Dreams Frozen Yogurt, my team and I have had to make decisions. We decided that we wanted the business to come away with a strong online presence and a thriving customer base of students and Waco citizens. At the same time, we team members decided we wanted to finish with more than just class credit or something to add to our portfolio; we ultimately wanted to help Yo Dreams succeed in what they're doing today, tomorrow, next week, and 10 years from now.

It's not always pleasant having to make choices, but having free will is something for which to be grateful.