I didn't remember what we'd ordered for dinner on our wedding night.
A year had passed, life happened, and the details of that meal at The Metropolitan Grill in Seattle, Washington, had faded into a warm, yet somewhat distant memory.
When Peter and I walked into "The Met" again for the first time in a year to celebrate our first anniversary, our waiter from that magical evening was waiting at the door to welcome us back.
And, while Peter and I remembered our waiter's face, he remembered a lot more.
Our names.
The table we'd sat at.
The main courses, the sides, and the wine.
My filet? Rare, with a pepper crust and blue cheese on the side. Peter's ribeye? Medium rare. The succulent sautéed garlic mushrooms, and the perfectly crispy Brussels sprouts. Even the side of mayonnaise Peter requested for his fries.
Every single detail from that single interaction.
Where The Met goes above and beyond, and where we're doing the same at ENRG, is going beyond "replicating" experiences. They're elevating them.
Our waiter didn't just remember the items themselves that we'd ordered. Any system could log and store that.
He recalled how much I'd loved those Brussels sprouts, not simply that I'd ordered them last time. He remembered that the reason Peter requested mayonnaise for his fries is because he's Dutch and that's how they typically eat them.
He used the memory of me repeatedly reaching across the table for more of those delicious mushrooms to let me know that they now offered a wild mushroom risotto that he was sure I'd also love.
He reminded us of how much we talked about and savored every sip of that 2005 Bordeaux from Pichon Longueville, and said, "You know, we have a 2009 Pichon Longueville you might love even more than the '05."
And, that's when it hit me. This is what exceptional service looks like. Not simply striving to replicate a past experience, no matter how amazing it was, but using all of that valuable information and human heart to make the next experience even better than the last.
When Peter and I looked at each other across that table and realized what they'd done, that moment cemented an annual anniversary-night loyalty to The Met that's lasted more than a decade.
The System Behind the Soul
There's no way our waiter remembered every detail from our wedding night a year earlier. That's not a knock against him. It would be impossible to recall that level of detail about every single guest.
He didn't have a photographic memory. He had a system.
Somewhere between our first visit and our anniversary dinner, someone at The Met wrote things down. They logged preferences. They tracked what made our eyes light up. They built a highly personal record of who we were.
But here's what made it magical. They used that system to create something that felt completely human and spontaneous, not something creepy or prying.
There are no tablets at the tables at The Met. There aren't waiters frantically checking notes, nor awkward pauses while they look through mountains of hastily scribbled down, disorganized info. There isn't a robotic recitation of data points. Just warm greetings, natural conversations, and personally curated recommendations.
Technology isn't the enemy of personalization. It's the enabler of it.
— Erinn Nobel
The Met figured out what most businesses either don't, or don't even think to try. When used correctly, systems don't make experiences feel robotic or creepy; they enable boutique service at scale.
And now? AI is making this even more powerful. Not as a replacement for human connection (no offense to the tools that help us), but as an amplifier.
AI can help us spot patterns we might miss, and remind us of important, easy-to-forget details, that, when leveraged at just the right time, elevate experiences to levels otherwise impossible to reach.
It's another tool in the service of something beautifully human: making people feel known.
It's also important to remember what AI can't do.
It can't care.
It can't feel the weight of someone taking a risk to join you.
It can't recognize the vulnerability in a voice when someone's having a hard day.
It can't celebrate with genuine joy when someone wins.
But it can help humans do all of that better.
The Metropolitan Grill has served hundreds of thousands of guests over decades. They can't possibly remember everyone. But they've intentionally chosen to track what matters, then train their team to use that information effectively.
That's not fake. It's sophisticated.
And it's the same philosophy we live by and are building at ENRG.
Because boutique-level service that stays true and heartfelt over the course of years, and in any industry and at any scale aren't "magic." They're systems with soul.
The Painful Irony in Real Estate
You, too, are in the service business, and you strive to create "Met-like" moments for your clients every day. You remember their kids' names. You know which properties they're drawn to before they do. You anticipate needs, solve problems before they surface, and create moments that make people cry happy tears at closing.
You pour everything into your clients, your community, and your craft. You're the one creating the white-glove experience, adding the boutique touch, and the personal attention that turn real estate transactions into memorable moments.
But who's doing that for you?
Maybe you only get a call from your broker when your numbers dip.
Maybe interactions with your "support team" are limited to help desk tickets.
Recognition comes in the form of mass, automated emails with your name inserted via a merge tag. That is, if there's any recognition at all.
You didn't get into real estate to feel this empty.
You got into real estate because you love people.
And the reality is that you've deserved the same level of personalization and care that you give to everyone else.
You deserve to be seen. To be known. And, to matter beyond your production numbers.
Excellence isn't expensive. It's intentional.
The Met didn't implement technology to replace their waitstaff. They implemented it to give their team a superpower: the ability to remember everything while staying completely present and able to deliver an unparalleled experience.
They use systems in service of human connection, not instead of it.
That's what we're building at ENRG. Technology that gives our team superpowers. Not to automate relationships, but to make boutique-level support possible for every agent, every day.
Because when your team can access what matters without losing the human touch, that's when extraordinary becomes scalable.
That approach, that philosophy, is what creates decades of loyalty, hundreds of referrals, and stories people tell thousands of times.
We're proving this at ENRG. Not with expensive programs or complicated systems. With intentional attention. With genuine care toward always knowing what delights you in order to elevate your experience, so that you can do the same for your clients.
With the courage to remember what delights you and use that knowledge to elevate your experience, not just replicate it.
Welcome to Your Favorite Table
We are building a boutique brokerage at virtual scale, one intentional moment at a time. ENRG is where your craft is honored. Where your humanity is seen, and where your story is remembered.
We're doing this by doing for you what you do for your clients every single day: listening, remembering, and using that knowledge to create something exceptional. Something elevated.
You already know this works. You've built your business on it.
Now it's time to work with a brokerage that knows it, too.