Historical April 1992 article. Dates, prices, services and contacts describe the source period; current availability has not been established.
The TIMES received a copy of this letter written by a young resident of Skinker DeBaliviere to J. Kim Tucci of Pasta House, Inc.
She is offering constructive criticism and we are printing it as such.
Dear Mr. Tucci, My name is Alicia Webb. I’m eight years old and I am in second grade at St. Roch school.
I am in the Reading, Writing, and Ravioli Program. At first, I thought the coupons could be used two or three at a time and you could get three of the free meals and give two of them to your relatives.
I wanted to take my mom and my sister out to dinner.
But when I found out you couldn’t do that, I was so mad!! You have to use the coupons for onlythe person whose name is written on the coupon’ and you don’t have much time before they expire.
This means I have to go to the Pasta House pretty often if I want to use my coupons at all and that’s pretty expensive.
When I was in the program with Pizza Hut, I had to read a number of books and then I got certificates and could take more than just one person out to dinner.
I think your program needs to be changed to be more like the Pizza Hut one so I could use my three coupons to take my mom and sister and me out to dinner.
I think you’re not being fair because most of us read a lot of books and can’t take our parents out to dinner like we thought. we could.
Most of my friends are pretty mad, too.
I like your restaurant and I like reading but I don’t like your reading program when nobody told me what it was really about when I started it. Sincerely yours, Alicia Webb
Editor’s response:
I spoke with Mr. Tucci on March 19.
He said he had never received this letter. Pasta House is working with 1,300 teachers this semester to encourage students to read.
They are rewarding those who read books and prepare reports with a gift certificate for a spaghetti dinner with salad and a beverage.
This represents an investment of at least $26,000 in the program. That is why use of the certificates is limited to the students who earn them, and the rules are spelled out on the coupons.
He understood the concerns of the letter writer, but said that an accompanying adult could have just a beverage or partake of the $3.45 all-you-can-eat salad bar. Tucci offered to send the Webbs a special gift certificate for the Pasta House because of the unhappiness they had experienced. Editor
Originally published in The Times of Skinker-DeBaliviere, April 1992.
Read this article in the original newspaper issue.
Original source: SD_Times1992_04.pdf, printed page(s) 2; PDF page(s) 2.
