The Samy Way: Creating Connection "Little by Little”

February 26, 2025 6 Comments

Welcome to the first edition of Luke's Letter, a quarterly reflection where I'll be sharing the heart and soul behind our grocery store. You might be wondering why it took me fifteen years to write this? Bear with me as I go from never writing to writing 1000 words, because there's a story here that I think will remind all of us of the power of connection. We see it in the chocolate chip cookies at the counter, friends gathering at the coffee window, and in the children painting cards at our store events. But mostly, it's in the people who make our stores feel inviting.

For the first letter I interviewed Samy, our Cole Valley Deli Shift Lead. You probably know Samy. He's the one crafting those sandwiches you line up for and the one who recently won our store's Service & Hospitality award. But what interested me most was his stubborn, beautiful insistence on being human in a world racing toward automation and efficiency. His approach to life isn't about morning routines—it's about understanding what sustains us. "I take care of my sleep," he told me, "because it's not the same when you sleep versus when you rest." Each day begins with quiet reflection: "I sit down and start thinking what I'm doing good, what I'm not doing good."

Then he shared something that helped me appreciate the shared connection that comes from good service: "When you treat people really good, they open up. It's wild right? I'm a customer sometimes, you know, sometimes I'm shy. And if people are nice and smiling, all of a sudden I'm not shy." It's this understanding—that we're all customers somewhere, all shy sometimes—that makes his warmth so authentic.

"When I interact with people, I learn so much," he told me, eyes bright with conviction. "You gotta feel every single person, you know what I'm saying?" In fact, before each shift, Samy has a ritual: "I always go to the mirror and I say 'hey, Samy,' and sometimes people will be open to talk, sometimes not be open. That's nothing bad. You're good, you're doing the right thing. I prepare my brain before I go outside to the real world."

His philosophy is deceptively simple: "It's not bad people. It's situations. You don't know what kind of situation the people are going through. That's why every time when people come here, even if they seem closed, I try to make everything nice and warm and open for us."

I find my interactions with Samy often sit with me for days. Writing this has challenged me to understand why. He always seems to catch me right at the moment when I've veered off track - when I'm caught up in back-to-back meetings and running between locations and tasks. As he hands me the sandwich I forgot I ordered, he looks me straight in the eye and says, "enjoy boss." As intentional as I try to be, I still find myself wired to move through my day getting as much done as possible. In that moment, he's not just delivering lunch—he's delivering a gentle reminder that we all need to pause, to nourish ourselves, to make these small moments matter.

As a grocery business, we can do all the right things—perfect the location, curate the products, refine the design. But what Samy understands, what I see now more clearly each day, is that belonging moves in all directions. When he remembers exactly how a regular likes their sandwich, he's showing us how ordinary interactions become extraordinary connections. This is not something you can get from ordering delivery to your doorstep. Thanks to Samy I feel even more compelled to bring back the traditions of the past - when your kids wandered down to pick out candy after school and when you could always count on a friendly face to brighten your day. "Little by little," as Samy would say, these moments add up to something bigger than ourselves.

Share:

6 Responses

Leave a comment

Name *

Email *

Comment *

---

Also in Luke's Local Blog