Restaurant manager Dennis Butterfield relishes big game spotlight

Dennis Butterfield remembers the last time the Atlanta Falcons were in the Super Bowl. It was 1998 and he was a manager at the Applebee’s Neighborhood Grill and Bar in Columbus, working with the staff to serve the masses chicken wings and beer.

That didn’t go down so well, with Georgia’s “hometown” team taking it on the chin via the Denver Broncos in its first and only Super Bowl until this year. This edition of the Falcons play the New England Patriots on Sunday night in Houston.

“I’m hoping that we have a lot to cheer about,” Butterfield said. “In the last Super Bowl, (Broncos quarterback) John Elway used us as a walking mat. It wasn’t a very good game.”

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There has been plenty of draft beer through the collective keg taps since then, of course, and Butterfield, 55, knows that any Super Bowl is a major event that will bring out passionate fans. As the general manager of the Wild Wing Cafe on Whittlesey Boulevard at Columbus Park Crossing, he expects the usual this year with the Falcons and their fans hoping to “rise up” to the occasion. It will be loud and crazy, he said.

“This will definitely be a different atmosphere and a different feeling, because we haven’t had a chance to root our own team on for a long time,” Butterfield said. “People are going to get up early and they’re going to stay up late, and they’re going to take off on Monday with the game over at 10 or 10:30. They’ll probably either call out sick or go ahead and request Monday off.”

Having landed his first manager’s job at the old Simon Malone’s restaurant and bar on Warm Springs Road at age 20, Butterfield is more than ready for the challenge of what his staff faces Sunday as the game approaches and kickoff takes place. Aside from Malone’s and Applebee’s, he also has worked at Ruby Tuesday and operated his own chicken-fingers business called Butterfingers for a decade.

The Ledger-Enquirer visited with the Columbus native recently at Wild Wing Cafe, discussing his job, the challenges it brings and what it takes to please people even when things don’t always going right. This interview is edited a bit for length and clarity.

Q. How did you decide on a restaurant career that led to management?

A. I found out that you really don’t have to be the smartest person in the room to be a manager in this business. You just have to understand what people are looking for and then you have to prepare the people that work for you and figure out what’s the right fit for each person. Because it’s not analytical. It’s basically a learned job.

Q. You didn’t know everything out of the gate?

A. Not at all ... You remember Simon Malone’s? That’s where I really cut my teeth in this thing. That was in ’81, and I was a server there, and they basically forced me to be a manager or they were going to let me go … I had it made. I’d come in after the managers got there and leave way before they did and I was making as much money (as a server) as they were.

Q. You were working hard?

A. I was working hard. But they said ‘we need a manager and we feel like you can do it for us, and we can teach you and train you how we’d like for you to do it, or you can find another job.’ I was 20.

Q. Is that early to become a manager?

A. Not anymore. You don’t have to go through four years of college to be a manager, so you don’t have to wait. It is a job where you have to pay attention. You have to understand what you’re looking at. And that’s what takes time. You can train people to do certain things, but they may not see (the light) until time goes by. They just don’t read it and get it.

Q. You have to be a people person and able to fix things when they go awry?

A. Yes. if you’re going to be in this business, you have to understand why people are coming here and that your role is to make sure they come back. That’s your job is recognize that, hey, we missed the boat here. I’m going to fix it for you, because I want you to come back. But you have to talk to them, because taking care of somebody’s meal doesn’t mean that they’re going to come back. Some people will say I’m not going to come back because I don’t feel comfortable here.

Q. Some managers may not be personable and keep their distance with customers?

A. They won’t even go out and talk to them. People don’t want you to buy their food all the time (to compensate for mistakes). They want you to come out and talk to them (about an issue), and listen to them, really. They don’t want you to do all the talking. They want to talk and you to listen.

Q. So a good general manager knows how to mingle?

A. Yes, and you’ve got to know who your regulars are. We have developed a great deal of regulars here in a short period of time because they’ve felt comfortable here. They like the prices here. They love the food here. The food will always keep people with you. Things will come and go, but if the food is fantastic, that’s why we may not need a billboard on every road. If we can execute it right, that’s the best advertising you can get, is when people leave and they go, man, that was good.

Q. There are restaurants and there are sports bars, and this is a blend of sorts?

A. We have the environment of a sports bar, but this is a family restaurant. Certainly as it gets a little later, on Friday or Saturday night around 10:30 or 11 o’clock, it is a sports bar, with a band, and it is more of a party. This is entertainment. But when you say sports bar, sometimes people think fighting (and getting rowdy from alcohol) … We want to create an environment that is fun, lively, with people having a good time. Hey, look, enjoy what you’re doing, but don’t over-enjoy, because we have an obligation to everyone in here.

Q. Your role as GM also is to mentor staff and assistant managers?

A. Certainly. But I think I learn more from them sometimes, because you’re never too smart. Man, if you can get a group together, they’re the smartest group. I’m only one person. But if we share the things that we know are good, we all benefit from it.

Q. It sounds like you’re far from a dictator?

A. I believe that if everybody has a say-so in it and they have a part in it, then they have a responsibility to it. If it’s just me doing it myself, then why should they care if things don’t go the right way?

Q. What is the biggest challenge for you on the job?

A. Just trying to get the right people — hiring and getting people to buy into what we’re doing. You know, nothing’s easy about this job, other than the fact that you care about what you do, you care about the people you work with, you care about the people (customers) you take care of. And you can’t teach people to care. They either do or they don’t. The ones that don’t care usually don’t work here very long. The ones that care, if they’re deficient in a certain area, I’ll work with them.

Q. As a manager, if you find good talent you try to hang onto them?

A. Believe me, we do. We look to attract and retain as many of those people as possible.

Q. What’s the most rewarding aspect of your job?

A. Seeing people grow. I know I’ve gotten them to that (proper) level when they can teach people what I’ve taught them. That’s how I know it’s working is when I see people teaching people what I’ve taught them. That’s the biggest reward.

Again, it’s not an easy job. This job is not for everybody. I always say these are not normal jobs and they’re not normal people. If they were, we would work 9 to 5 and we’d be off on the weekends. That’s what ‘normal’ people do. But if everyone was that way, there would be no one to take care of people that are off on the weekends. So there’s the balance of trying to find the ones that are like, hey, I really like this business ... Certainly, there are some people I can tell that they’re not going to make it very far, and I’m like, are you sure you want to do this? So it’s very rewarding. It can be very rewarding financially. That’s part of it.

Q. The financial rewards come as you move up in the ranks?

A. Yes. that’s the catch about restaurants is you are held to a higher level, but you get paid for it. We have assistant general managers, and we have kitchen managers and assistant kitchen managers, and as they work their way up the ladder, that’s how they make more money.

This story was originally published February 4, 2017 at 9:00 AM with the headline "Restaurant manager Dennis Butterfield relishes big game spotlight."