Fun group bonding activities NYC

For almost as long as I can remember, I’ve gone to Sammy’s Roumanian Steakhouse on the Lower East Side of Manhattan. For those of you not familiar, Sammy’s isn’t just a steakhouse – it’s an experience. First of all, it’s not really “Roumanian” – it’s actually a Jewish steakhouse, if you can believe it. Walking into Sammy’s is like being in a time warp: you enter by descending a short staircase, and immediately you feel like you’re in a basement, because you are.

It’s basically a party from start to finish. There’s a hilarious guy playing keyboard, the atmosphere is loud and raucous, the servers are rude, but that’s all just part of the “shtick” of the place. The food is incredible, by the way – it’s as if your grandmother is in the kitchen, churning out old-world favorites. Meanwhile, everyone – I mean EVERYONE – is slugging down glasses of chilled vodka, kept cold on the table by being frozen in blocks of ice.

The place is just special, and like I said, I’ve had a history with Sammy’s almost as long as I can remember. My dad took our family there when I was a little kid, and since then I’ve returned every few years for special occasions: birthdays, anniversaries, graduations, bachelor parties, guy’s nights. I had my 30^th birthday there, and my wife and I chose Sammy’s for our wedding rehearsal dinner. I even hosted a corporate trivia night in Manhattan there, if you can believe it! (Follow this link for more about those).

During one of my special outings to Sammy’s, I saw the owner of the place – a young guy, not much older than me, I think his name is David also. He runs the place with his family (if memory serves, his father actually won the restaurant in a poker game in 1975). I’d been there a few times in a row over the past year or so, and he recognized me and came over to say hi. I’d had a few of the aforementioned chilled vodkas, and as my grandfather would have said, I was “feeling no pain.” So I did something completely out of character for both myself, as well as for the festive environs.

No, don’t get excited I didn’t take my shirt off or anything. I started asking him about business.

Specifically, I asked him (and don’t ask me how I remember this, I was seriously having a lot of fun by that point in the night): “This place is always filled, every night of the week, year in, year out. How do you do it?”

The other David smiled broadly, and proclaimed, “It’s a schmaltzy good time!” The schmaltz he was referring to is an old-world delicacy: rendered chicken fat. They actually keep it right on the table for you to smother your food in, if you’re so inclined.

But I pressed on, unsatisfied in my quest for knowledge and enlightenment. “Yes, I know but what is it that Sammy’s has that makes it unique? Like, really at the heart of your mission?”

David’s eyebrows went up, his forehead wrinkled up in confusion, looking at me like I’d just asked him when he was going to ever add sushi to the menu. Finally he said, “Uh…it’s a schmaltzy good time?” with his arms out, hands upturned.

“But…what’s your long-term business strategy?” I asked, in one final attempt at I don’t even know what exactly.

“You’re looking at it,” he said, pointing to the people around him eating and laughing and enjoying themselves.

It was as simple as that.

There’s a reason I bring up this particular story, and I’ve actually meant to write about it here on my blog for a while now. Us business people, particularly entrepreneurs and other professional who plan New York City team building activities and the like, we can sometimes get stuck in macro-vision. It’s not necessarily a bad thing; in fact, I think it’s good to constantly be thinking strategically and big-picture, versus being focused only on what’s directly in front of you. Trying to spot and capitalize on trends, to change and adapt to what the consumer wants, to basically be business people.

And yet, look what’s going on at Sammy’s. They’ve been serving the same food, the same shtick, since 1975. Have they updated or modernized at all? No. In fact, it’s the fact that they’ve stayed exactly the same, that the experience hasn’t changed at all, that makes it special. They’ve struck gold because they’ve discovered a formula which generates a truly unique yet repeatable experience, which genuinely produces enjoyment among those who dine there. And you know what? You really can’t improve upon that. Not with strategic analysis, not with technology, not with anything. The world will likely be a completely different place in 20 years, with changes and new realities we can’t possibly even fathom – and yet, Sammy’s will still be serving chopped liver and skirt steak, and people will still find it endlessly enjoyable.

Here’s my point, bringing it all back to employee team building and group bonding for the office, as I always somehow manage to do. I’ve always said that the key to any corporate group activity is to create a positive shared experience for the entire room to enjoy. You can come prepared with all of your goals and objectives, your detailed analyses, your breakdown of the entire audience into all 16 Myers-Briggs personality types. But in the end, what’s really going to matter, what’s ACTUALLY going to make a lasting impact, is whether or not those people have a great time together. If they do, then your event is a success, and I all but guarantee you will see results back at the workplace. If not, I don’t care how much thought and effort you committed, because in the end a lousy experience is just that: lousy.

I haven’t been back to Sammy’s in a long time, especially now that I’ve relocated to Southern California to establish my company’s presence on the West Coast. But I do think about it often, especially when I’m working hard on an upcoming event, and perhaps over-thinking something. And I remind myself: don’t worry if it’s not absolutely 100% perfect – just make sure it’s a schmaltzy good time.

For further reading, visit https://trivworks.com/2016/05/fun-team-building-activities-nyc/