One summer day many, many years ago the wife and I were driving up the east coast coming back from a vacation in North Carolina. It was some nameless highway in Maryland or Delaware or something. On the side of the road was a little hand painted sign with 3 words… “BBQ! now open”. It was a tiny, little room in a kind of shabby shack that sat maybe 20 people. There was a dad out back working the pit and his son working the front. And apparently, they had only opened a few days earlier. Still, to this day, those were the best ribs I’ve ever had. It’s been so long that I don’t really remember the specifics, but I remember being happy, I remember being impressed, and I remember how proud they were of everything they made. We chatted with the owners for about 15 minutes and they couldn’t stop talking about how much they loved their food and how great it was to finally have a place to show off what they could cook. I have no idea what the name of the place was or if it still exists, but I do remember how proud they were, how good the food was, and how great the atmosphere was because of their enthusiasm.

Business owners can be like that. Proud. When you put so much time and effort into something you tend to want to share it with anyone who will listen. I know I do. Anyone who even pretends to be a little bit interested in the shop will have to deal with me spewing a diatribe of gibberish to them about the prices of beef, or my plans for the shop, what new flavors of bacons or sausages were making, or any number of mundane details that no one should get excited about except me. Like our method to reduce waste and trim when preparing the jerky, or a new supplier that help us control prices better and stall any price changes for a little longer. Or maybe how one employee is settling into their role really well and now we have the ability to try out all sorts of new ideas. Personally, I have moved from being a butcher who owns the shop to being an owner who occasionally butches… that’s not right, butcherseseses… who cuts meat. I tend to look at things from a different perspective than I used to. My priorities now include helping my employees set goals and reach them, or finding ways to make the shop run smoother and more efficiently. But everything I do is geared toward delivering the best possible product to you. Because I’ve always been incredibly proud to serve the best meat in the city and now I get to be proud about how I build the business so my employees can have fulfilling lives outside of work. One of my operating concepts is that if I take care of my employees then they’ll take care of you, then my business will grow. So I’m finding new ways to challenge myself so I can have new things to be proud about.

I’m not really unique here either. One of the things that makes Fort Collins so special is the thriving small business community. There are so many places where the owners put so much pride into everything they do. Restaurants, breweries, all the little retail shops, and really just any business owned by someone who lives in our community. I’m taking a long time to get to my point, which is that it’s nicer to buy something from someone who takes pride in their work.

When my wife and I moved out here we drove through, well, everything between here and NYC. And once you get outside of the tendrils of New York, everything is the same. There are the same stores and the same gas stations, the same restaurants and the same car dealerships. I grew up in Ohio, so I knew this already, but it shocked my wife a little because she grew up within reach of the city and, because it’s one of the largest ports for immigrants to enter the US, it tends to promote unique and different cultures and the unique businesses that support those communities. But in the Midwest, it’s all Best Buys and Denny’s as far as the eye can see, which is about 12 feet off the interstate before you’re blocked by a 7/11 sign. And those businesses exist because they’ve mastered a formula for selling you a shopping experience. Every time you enter a chain store they’ve decided everything about how that experience will go for you. From how you’re greeted to how they say goodbye. They do everything they can to make sure nothing happens that could possibly offend or ostracize a customer, which is why you’ll start hearing “All I want for Christmas is you” in about 2 weeks. And there’s nothing inherently wrong with that, just that it’s so sanitized that you never feel any enthusiasm from anyone. Every time I’m in one of those stores it always make me feel melancholy.

Maybe that’s just me. I know from personal experience that I don’t like feeling like just another cog in a machine. That’s part of the reason I opened my own business, because I don’t fit in with the standard corporate systems. And shopping in corporate stores means that I’m missing a more unique experience with someone who cares about what they do and takes pride in their work. And for me, the community I want to build is a little less polished and corporate and more personal and exclusive.

So that’s it this month. Really, these newsletters are not supposed to be dour tirades about the circumstances of life, but rather an insight into my thoughts and ideas on how I plan to “Be the change I want to see in the world”. So take this all with a grain of salt, and use it to season your steak. Then go out and find that nameless BBQ joint, because they’re gonna have better food than any chain ever will.

Cheers,

Friendly Nick