Where Everybody Knows Your Name

Sometimes you want to go

Where everybody knows your name
And they’re always glad you came 
(Excerpt from Cheers theme song)

Over the past few months, we’ve had some truly awful customer service experiences with some fairly large purchases.  One was a new vehicle for Laurel, and the other was new flooring in our home.  In each case, the treatment we received was almost comical, we had to laugh at times, because it was so incredibly bad.

I planned to write a blog post about each incident, probably titled “Customer DISservice”, and I believe I need to write them as a form of catharsis, to release the anger and irritation we experienced, and also to inform the public about the horrible service we received from these two companies.  But, as those of you who read my blog know (Laurel and my Mom), I love to write about great customer service, which brings me to Standardized Brewing.

For several years when we lived in Georgia, Laurel and I would frequent Slow Pour Brewing Company.  It started with Sundays, we would go to church, go to yoga, and then finish off the day at Slow Pour.  Soon, we started going on Friday also.  When I started taking Laurel there on Saturdays, she said, “We can’t come here all weekend!”, to which I replied, “Why not?”

We moved to Ohio a little less than five years ago, and we’ve tried various breweries in the area, but none of them quite captured us like Slow Pour did.  Then, I think a little over a year ago, we discovered Standardized Brewing.  The beer is great, but many breweries can make that claim.  What captured me initially was they had hot pretzels, which may take me back to my days going to baseball games and getting a hot pretzel at the game.  Whatever the reason, we started going to Standardized every Friday evening.

We then discovered their coffee.  As many of you know I’ve had an insane obsession with Starbucks for many years.  I have a Starbucks gold card, dated 2008, which I still use, and I oftentimes would go to Starbucks at least once a day, sometimes twice.  Thankfully, I’ve cut back on my coffee drinking, but we now go to Standardized at least each Saturday for our coffee, and also for whatever donuts they are serving that day.  They have a standard coffee menu, but they also have a special coffee selection that rotates periodically.  Their coffee is really good, and their personnel put a lot of time and love into each cup of coffee.  I can’t remember the last time I’ve been to Starbucks….

 

It All Started With Caroline

To be honest, though, it’s so much more than beer, coffee, pretzels and donuts.  Most of you aren’t nearly as old as me, but the excerpt from the Cheers theme song above is from a comedy show that ran mostly in the 1990’s (or as my students say, the 1900’s).  It was about a bar where people regularly frequented, and part of the appeal was, you knew everyone, and everyone knew you.  The running theme each show would be Norm coming in the front door, and everyone yelling “Norm!” when he entered the bar.  OK, no one yells “Steve!” when I come in the door, but it’s pretty close.

After we had been coming every Friday to Standardized, one evening, Caroline asked us our names.  We told her, and we learned her name.  She gave us both a big hug.  Do you know how that felt?  In most cases, especially as we get older, people really don’t notice you or care about you, I sometimes think I’m wearing Harry Potter’s invisibility cloak, but Caroline wanted to know our names, she asked about our family, she was genuinely interested in us.

And it didn’t end there.  There are various people who work there, but because of our religious Friday nights at Standardized, we are most often seeing Caroline, Tim and TJ.  They have our routine down pat, although we’ve been switching it up periodically with them, getting different beers or different snacks.  They always ask how our week has been, and they even notice if we’ve missed a week or if we’re in on an “odd” night.  A couple weeks ago, we were out of town on the weekend, and the next time in, Tim said, “Were you guys here on Friday?”  I still can’t believe he noticed.

The same holds true on Saturday mornings.  Most of the time, we see Wes, Emma and Melissa.  We

receive the same type of greetings, the same friendliness, the same great customer service.  They’ve grown to know our routines, and similarly, they notice us.  The one day I was in there, Melissa looked at me, and said, “Didn’t I just see you yesterday?”  As a matter of fact, yes.  And the one Friday when we were sitting having a beer, Wes just happened to be sitting at the bar, he looked over at us with a big smile and waved to us.

Built by neighbors for the community we love

While I believe that friendliness and a caring nature are inherent in each of these people, I also believe the attitude and great customer service always starts at the top.  Oftentimes, we will see Mark and Jason, the founders of Standardized, hanging out or working when we’re there.  They are always friendly and acknowledge us and several times have let us sample something that they’ve newly developed.  I pulled the line above from their website, it’s obvious that they live this in their business.

You can tell that community is at the center of Standardized, anytime we are in there, there are families, and children of all ages everywhere.  For me, that’s a huge part of the appeal, community has been lost virtually everywhere these days, but community has been created, and thrives, here.  I love to see all of the families gathered and enjoying time together, and the range of children laughing and playing, it’s non-stop activity.  And even the little ones notice us, as the toddlers go waddling  by, we’ll get a smile and a wave, and the parents appreciate that we acknowledge their children.  Laurel and I are probably not “officially” in the community that Standardized serves, we live about 10-15 minutes away, but we’re more than happy to share in what that community offers.  Great beer, great coffee, and outstanding customer service, not sure how we could go wrong.

Take it from a brewery connoisseur, you will love it there.  We sure do.