Reality Check

This story has a point if you hang in there.

Part of the culture of our company includes community involvement. We participate in fundraisers and charitable events throughout the year. I won't list what we do in detail but they range from our annual Thanksgiving Dinner for 500 people at the Boys and Girls Club, to fundraisers for the Maricopa County animal shelter, which bizarrely culminates with 100 people having lunch with their dog on Iguana Mack's patio. One of our Managers, Laura Arias volunteers for every event and brainstormed a new one that was unveiled Thursday night. It was a fundraiser for the Breast Cancer Foundation and in simplest terms it consisted of volunteers from our staff dressing up as "celebrities" and ultimately donating all of their tips to the charity. RigaTony's would kick in 10% of any sales we would do that night. To be honest I now admit that I had trouble wrapping my head around this one right up until the time the doors opened. It seemed a little half-baked, a little silly and I was doubtful that our guests would figure it out or have fun with it.

It can be disturbing when I realize how wrong I can be. My first realization was when I got there at about 6:oo pm, couldn't find a parking space and had to park on the street. The place was packed. We're talking about a mid-July, random Thursday night in the middle of a financial melt-down, and we're on a wait. My next clue was the TV crew that arrived from channel 10 to cover the "event". I picked up a tray and started busing tables and thus was able to overhear comments by the staff and customers. Sarah Palin (aka Stephanie - our GM) was explaining to a table that it took a while to get them their butter because she had to go to Russia to get it. Could they have another glass of wine? "You Betcha!" People were laughing, engaging, pointing and grossly over-tipping. The entire building was filled with a Mayberry vibe and suddenly I felt like Barny Fife.

As I walked around our cheesy little restaurant I questioned myself about what makes this restaurant feel like this. What are the elements that give this business this small town feel, this feeling of community, this ability to communicate so personally with our guests. Is it the vintage linoleum floor tile, the random table types, the hand made curtains with fabric from Wal-mart, the postage-stamp-sized lobby? Whatever it is, nights like this make me realize more than ever that I have to be able to identify it, pack it up carefully, and seamlessly reproduce it 5 miles down the road. I don't think I have felt any more pressure to be carefully creative than I did Thursday night.

At any rate Laura's event was a huge success. She (AKA Dora the Explorer) was grinning from ear to ear all night as she ripped around the restaurant. At the end of the night we inked a check to the Breast Cancer Foundation for $1,998.