Loyalty

Loyalty used to have more weight than it currently does in society. Companies would sacrifice a bit of profit for long term loyalty and commitment from a customer or guest. No longer it seems. Loyalty appears to be a relic of a time gone by. Not if we have anything to do with it.

We have numerous loyal guests already. Some have visited us four times and counting, and there is no dearth of guests who have visited Sassafras more than once, already with plans to join us again. I’d hate to assume, but I’m pretty sure that means that we are doing something right. Particularly for a restaurant in this price category and service style.

I have served, I will be of service.

Paul and I discuss this notion often, that there is a humbling truth in being of service to your fellow human, and to remove the ego from it. Then, and only then, does hospitality reach its truest form.

It’s not about me. It’s not about us. It’s about you. It’s about the products, the farmers, the land and the seas.

I, genuinely, love what I do. Sassafras has reignited the smoldering embers inside me that initially sparked my love for food and this industry. It’s a rewarding feeling to see our guests’ face light up, knowing their synapses are firing and working in concert with each other to elicit a childhood memory of food, perhaps a nostalgia for their mother’s cooking, perhaps even new neural pathways and connections that may not have existed before. I’ve seen that same look that I had. A crystallizing moment. A realization of something greater than the sum of its parts. Inspiration. It’s beautiful.

Food is powerful. The reactions we see are a delicious nugget of instant gratification, akin to a brief injection of energy straight to the aorta. The transfer of energy from us to the guest and back is a winding road. We work with passion and love to expend our own energy, to respectfully transform the ingredients with honor and loyalty. Our energy output goes directly to the service, as we transfer that energy for our guests to enjoy and receive energy in return in kind. Round and round we go as the cycle repeats.

We are generous in the service of our guests. Sure, we are running a business, and profit is necessary to continue. However, I’d much prefer to sacrifice a bit of profit to give someone an experience that I hope is truly memorable. Maybe a little loyalty follows. What’s a quarter ounce of gin worth? Quite literally, a few cents. But a few cents here and there to change someone’s neural pathways? To give them the opportunity to see food and beverage through the same lens that we do? That seems well worth it to me.

I have served, and I will continue to be of service.

I want to serve. I want to serve my community, my fellow humans. With honor, loyalty, respect, humility.

Fidelity.

Thanks for reading.

Eat, drink, and be merry. Until next time.

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