10 years of loyalty and memories thrown away…read more
When I moved to Dallas 10 years ago I was amazed to find there was randomly a Duff's in the area. Growing up in Buffalo, it was like having a little slice of home. Whenever my family came to town, we'd take them to Duff's. Friends from home... Duff's. Bump into a random Bills fan at HEB...tell them about Duff's. It became a tradition when we'd visit Grapevine for Christmas. And of course, it's the place I've watched more Bills games than anywhere else (besides my couch).
That's why it was so disappointing to show up there yesterday and basically be told we aren't welcome anymore...unless it's sitting on the segregated patio with two small TV's. To add insult to injury - there was a Cowboys game also at noon and at 11:45 they still had plenty of empty tables inside. To turn people away when you aren't even busy sounds like a great business model.
Over the years, I've told other Bills fans and WNY transplants about Duff's - It started with one friend and then his friend from college, who brought his cousin, who told a friend from work and so on and so on. Over time we all started having kids and Sunday's at Duff's became our gathering place. From Oak Cliff to Frisco, we all drove 45 minutes to an hour out of our way, with babies and toddlers in tow, just to meet at Duff's. The Bills games were great but it was about the friends and family time together. Duff's has been a part of our story for a decade and that loyalty has been completely dismissed with this new deplorable "policy."
People from Buffalo are the most loyal salt of the earth ilk you will ever find. We travel thousands of miles and take over other team's stadiums. We pool our resources to donate hundreds of thousands of dollars to support other team's player's charities when they are in need, we invite strangers to sit at our tables at bar's even if you are rooting for the other team, because that's what good neighbors do. That loyalty makes us the kind of customers you want - the kind that drive 45 minutes out their way, the kind that spread the word about how great you are and get more people to join them every time they come, the kind that have watched their kids, and their friend's kids grow up with your location as a backdrop for countless memories. It also makes us the kind of customers you probably shouldn't piss off. Because loyalty is earned, not given - and ya'll just completely lost my family's, my friends, and their family's, and their cousin's, and their friend from work, and that random Bills fan's at HEB.
But as the great Pepper Brooks once said, "It's a bold strategy Cotton, let's see if it pays off for 'em."
