By Mike Schoby
During trade show season it is no secret the Field Ethos crew likes to cut loose—eating, drinking and generally having a good time. So, at Dallas Safari Club and Safari Club International annual shows it has become a tradition for the Gunderson’s Jewelry crew, a few of Gunderson’s clients/friends and a couple of Field Ethos mouth breathers get together for a dinner.
The company’s CEO, Brian Gunderson, likes to entertain, and he does it well. It doesn’t hurt that he has impeccable taste in restaurants and always has an inside track (if not a personal relationship with the owner) on the best restaurants in any city around the world.
This particular dinner happened two years ago during our annual pilgrimage to Dallas Safari Club. Normally we would eat at Nick & Sams in Dallas, but this was DSC’s first year of a temporary relocation to Atlanta. Unfortunately, for both DSC and our crew, the snowstorm of the century hit the southeast at the exact same time.
The day the storm was to really hit, bringing “a little house on the prairie experience” to Georgia, Brian swung by our booth and confirmed he had reservations at one of Atlanta’s finest restaurant and had saved a couple slots for us.
“Hopefully they won’t close the restaurant because of this storm.” He remarked.
Living in Montana that was the farthest thing from my mind.
“You’re not serious, are you?” I laughed.
“Oh yeah, down here if they even get a few inches of snow this whole town will shut down.”
It wasn’t an hour later, and Brian popped back by.
“Yup, they just called and cancelled. The restaurant is shut down in anticipation of the storm. No worries though, I know of another great restaurant, and I got us reservation there.”
Another hour went by, and Brian again stopped by.
“Bad news. They just called and informed me they are also going to shut down. But I did manage to get us another reservation—it’s at a seafood place. I have no idea if it is good or bad, but the way this storm is shaping up, I think we are lucky to have a reservation at all.”
Snowpocalypse Survival
At 6 p.m. we all met at the restaurant. A few inches of fresh snow blanketed the ground and was still coming down hard, but luckily the restaurant was lit up and open. We walked in and all seemed normal. A hostess seated us and gave us menus but then threw us a curve ball by tossing an order pad on the table and said, “Just write down what y’all want and give it to cook Charlie in the back—we are the only two who showed up fo’ work tonight.”
We looked at each other and noticed several groups of people coming through the front door. The word had got out that this was the only place in town to eat.
“If we want any food at all, let’s get our orders in asap.” Brian said.
Jotting everything down, Bre, the President and COO of Gunderson’s and Brian’s right-hand person, ran the order to Charlie, a large, bald, black man and playfully said, “Order Up!”
We didn’t know how prophetic this comment would be.
Luckily, since we were early, we were served quickly, and honestly the food was damn good. While we were eating, we all observed and commented on what an apocalyptic scene Atlanta had become with what us damn Yankees would consider a “dusting” of snow. Group after group were coming through the door, brushing off snow from whatever light jacket served as a winter parka with frantic, panicked eyes that looked like they were survivors of the Donner party.
The crowd quickly overwhelmed the overworked duo. The hostess was trying to seat people, take orders, serve plates, bus tables and occasionally make a drink at the bar which was now packed with dozens of people getting more impatient and surly by the minute.
As she passed us in a rush, Brian said, “Looks like you could use some help.”
“You’re telling me. This is nuts!”
“We could help.” Brian suggested and looked at us. Without saying another word, we all stood up and took positions.
One lady that worked for Bre went to the bar and started making drinks. Bre took the note pad and started taking orders from waiting diners; Brian and his CFO bussed tables. I went to the podium and greeted incoming diners, seated them, handing them menus, all while informing them of the specials, which I made up from whole cloth on the spot.
Dinner with Schmucks
All and all we worked for a couple of hours. We probably seated, took orders and delivered a couple of dozen dinners and made hundreds of drinks. All was running like clockwork until Chef Charlie pulled me aside and said, “We had better quit taking any more orders. We are out of food.”
“Oh shit this is going to get ugly” I thought as I looked to the lobby and could see even more people streaming in.
I needed to find Brian and extract our crew. Looking all around he was nowhere to be seen. Prowling a bit deeper into the recces of the kitchen, I found him in the back, where he and Gunderson’s CFO were buried, Rolex’s deep in hot, soapy water washing dishes.
“Brian, we got to get out of here. They are out of food and this place is going to turn into a riot.” Not wanting to abandon ship, but also not wanting to go down with the ship, we decided discretion was the better part of valor, paid our tab with a generous tip, wished the duo good luck and grabbed the only available cab back to our hotel.
Several times during the remainder of the show, Brian would apologize to me about the “awful dinner where we all had to work.”
“Are you kidding me? Of the thousands of business dinners I have had, this one by far was the most memorable and honestly enjoyable. It was people being people, helping where they could and coming together as humans. I wouldn’t trade the memory for anything.”
Nor would Brian and the rest of the Gunderson’s crew … that is the kind of people they are.
Deciding who to do business with, hinges often on the character of the person behind the business.
We take that seriously at Field Ethos.
There have been more than a few companies we don’t work with because they don’t share our values, and frankly we don’t share theirs. Conversely, there are other businesses we work with in part because we are so impressed with the owner and their team. Gunderson’s is that kind of company. First and foremost they are a fantastic jeweler and the FE official Rolex AD, but our relationship is more than that. It is the people behind the brand that makes Gunderson’s special.
