Last week I wrote about problems in retail, specifically staff not being customer oriented. This is the other side of the story.

Mike and I were in High Point, NC last weekend staying over in route back from a visit to Alabama. I wanted to go to a fabric store there, and we spent the night to make that possible. We were given a list of restaurants in the area by our hotel. We selected J Butler’s Bar and Grill on Main Street, thinking it would be a casual place to get some decent food. It turned out to be even more than that, although it didn’t start off that way. 

When we went in, we were told to sit wherever we wanted, and we chose a booth. Almost immediately, we both realized that it was cold, and considered leaving at that point. Instead, we asked the server if she could adjust the temperature to make it warmer. Her reply was, “I will ask the manager.” We then were asked for our drink order. I ordered my usual, half-and-half iced tea. Mike asked for a non-alcoholic beer. He was told that they did not have non-alcoholic beer, but that she would ask to make sure. She came back soon with the news that indeed, they did not have non-alcoholic beer. Mike ordered a Diet Pepsi.

Since we noticed that it was warmer than it had been, we decided to stay and order. We ordered a burger with fried okra and split it. Our food was very good, and my tea was perfect. (I judge a restaurant by the quality of their iced tea!) We enjoyed our meal and then asked for the check.

Mike noticed that we had not been charged for either of our beverages. Mike always lets a restaurant know if something has been left off of our bill. When the server came back to our table, Mike mentioned that we had not been charged for our drinks. She replied, “I know, I did not charge you. You wanted a non-alcoholic beer, and we did not have it. So, I did not charge you for either drink. We want to take care of our customers.” We thanked her and added some money to her tip for her graciousness.

As we were leaving the restaurant, another staff person thanked us for coming in, asked how our visit was, and said, “We want our customers to be happy!” We replied that our food was great and that it was obvious that they take good care of their customers.

J Butler’s Bar and Grill in High Point, NC has a culture of service. We never met the owner or the manager, and we did not need to. The staff took good care of us, and that culture of service starts at the top. We met the manager and owner through the behavior of the staff.