One of New York City’s greatest restaurateurs shares his winning recipe for “enlightened hospitality.”
Danny Meyer has built a restaurant dynasty in New York City. Starting in 1985 with the opening of his flagship restaurant, Union Square Cafe, he’s since gone on to open another 25 famous locations. His best-known restaurants include Gramercy Tavern, Blue Smoke, The Modern, Maialino and Shake Shack.
Arguably the most competitive city in the world for the restaurant business, New York is an unforgiving marketplace for those that aren’t up to snuff. To ensure excellence in operations, Meyer has developed a culture of what he likes to call “enlightened hospitality.”
Meyer even wrote a book about his approach to business called “Setting the Table: The Transforming Power of Hospitality in Business.” In it he talks about how they cultivate enlightened hospitality at Union Square Hospitality Group:
- Service is expected. Hospitality surprises you.
- Hospitality is present when something happens for you. It is absent when something happens to you. These two simple concepts — for and to — express it all.
- Err on the side of generosity: You get more by first giving more.
Here’s how Meyer explains the value of hospitality in any business:
Hospitality is a sustainable competitive advantage. While others try to copy your products, no one can replicate the hospitality experience you create for your stakeholders. Apply a hospitality strategy in your business to differentiate your offering from the competition, even in a saturated market.
It’s not a terribly complex formula: Be nice to people, pay attention to the details, and make people feel good about their experience. It’s a great reminder for any of us in any business.
Inc. magazine has a series of video interviews with Meyer that you can check out by clicking here.
Best wishes for a successful week.
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