Property Point

One of Mackay’s most famous entertainment venues is The Dispensary, an outstanding spot for a meal or a drink and a place to catch up with friends.
Its business model was a bit different a few years ago, when it included a seriously “high-end” restaurant that offered dishes that many customers had not experienced in Mackay.
For diners who were accustomed to dishes like “crumbed steak” and “chicken parmy”, it was akin to entering a new world with terms like “degustation”, “confit” and “jus”.
Anyway, I was at the restaurant with my wife and a group of friends this night some years ago. We had examined the menus and the waiter came along to take our orders.
The first person he went to was my mate Lawrie, a builder who is more at home shooting feral pigs than sampling succulent pork belly at a flash restaurant with subdued lighting.
Don’t get me wrong, Lawrie’s no dill. He’s an intelligent bloke in his early 60s who loves and plays music and has an insightful understanding of politics. We share a protective love of the freedoms of Western democracies such as Australia and often chat about such things over a quiet beer.
But, when he looked at the menu at The Dispensary that night, it was like a foreign language. When the young waiter asked him what he wanted, Lawrie said: “Can I get a carpetbag steak?”
There was silence as we all stopped, mouths slightly open, waiting for the waiter’s response. Lawrie had gone rogue and ordered a dish from the 1970s that definitely didn’t have a place on The Dispensary’s menu.
The waiter said: “That should be fine sir, I’ll just confirm that with the chef.”
He returned a couple of minutes later and said: “Yes sir. The chef said he would be happy to do the carpetbag steak. Would you like a side-dish with that?”
Lawrie was happy and thoroughly enjoyed his carpetbag steak. (For those who don’t know, it is a piece of steak stuffed with oysters.) I was impressed with the service and the culinary pivot to accommodate something that wasn’t on the menu.
At the end of the night I thanked the waiter for arranging the carpetbag steak.
He said: “I didn’t even know what it was. I’d never heard of a carpetbag steak but the chef knew what it was and was happy to do it.”
I thought then, as I do now, that the “carpetbag incident” was a great example for people in business, and certainly in real estate, of how to treat your customers and clients.
We get caught up in what’s on our menu, on what we want to provide, rather than focusing on what the customer or client wants.
The response by the waiter and the chef at The Dispensary that night did several things: It created a happy customer who was not made to feel uncomfortable, it confirmed in my mind and the minds of my fellow diners that The Dispensary was a class act with the customer at the centre of everything they do and it showed that they have staff who are nimble, accommodating and unpretentious.
There are some things you can’t do, can’t accommodate, in business and real estate. If Lawrie had asked for a piece of moose rump, done medium rare … well, sorry they just can’t do that.
If you have a 2mx3m garden shed out the back and you want me to advertise it as a “granny flat” … well, sorry I just can’t do that.
But in restaurants and real estate it’s important to listen to what the customer wants and, like the waiter at The Dispensary, do everything you can to accommodate it.

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