Setting the Table The Transforming Power of Hospitality in Business

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Setting the TableThe Transforming Power of
Hospitality in Business

• By Danny Meyer

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Danny Meyer

• Danny Meyer is the President of Union Square
  Hospitality Group, which includes Union Square
  Cafe, Gramercy Tavern, Eleven Madison Park,
  Tabla, Blue Smoke, Jazz Standard, Shake Shack,
  The Modern, Cafe 2 and Terrace 5 at New York
  City's Museum of Modern Art, and Hudson Yards
  Catering.
• Danny, his restaurants and chefs have earned an
  unprecedented 17 James Beard Awards.
• In October, 2006, HarperCollins released Danny's
  latest book, Setting the Table, examining the
  power of hospitality in restaurants, business,
  and life.
• An active national leader in the fight against
  hunger, Danny has long served on the boards of
  Share Our Strength and City Harvest.
• He is equally active in civic affairs, serving on
  the executive committees of NYC Co, Union
  Square Partnership, and the Madison Square Park
  Conservancy.

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Description

• In October 1985, at age twenty-seven, Danny
  Meyer, with a good idea and scant experience,
  opened what would become one of New York City's
  most revered restaurantsUnion Square Cafe.
• Little more than twenty years later, Danny is the
  CEO of one of the world's most dynamic restaurant
  organizations, which includes eleven unique
  dining establishments, each at the top of its
  game. How has he done it? How has he consistently
  beaten the odds and set the competitive bar in
  one of the toughest trades around?

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• In this landmark book, Danny shares the lessons
  he's learned while developing the winning recipe
  for doing the business he calls "enlightened
  hospitality."
• This innovative philosophy emphasizes putting the
  power of hospitality to work in a new and
  counterintuitive way The first and most
  important application of hospitality is to the
  people who work for you, and then, in descending
  order of priority, to the guests, the community,
  the suppliers, and the investors.
• This way of prioritizing stands the more
  traditional business models on their heads, but
  Danny considers it the foundation of every
  success that he and his restaurants have
  achieved.

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Some of Danny's other insights

• Hospitality is present when something happens for
  you. It is absent when something happens to you.
  These two simple conceptsfor and toexpress it
  all.
• Context, context, context, trumps the outdated
  location, location, location.
• Shared ownership develops when guests talk about
  a restaurant as if it's theirs. That sense of
  affiliation builds trust and invariably leads to
  repeat business.
• Err on the side of generosity You get more by
  first giving more.
• Wherever your center lies, know it, name it,
  believe in it. When you cede your core values to
  someone else, it's time to quit.

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Setting the Table

• Full of behind-the-scenes history on the creation
  of Danny's most famous restaurants and the
  anecdotes, advice, and lessons he has accumulated
  on his long and ecstatic journey to the top of
  the American restaurant scene, Setting the Table
  is a treasure trove of innovative insights that
  are applicable to any business or organization.

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Chapters

• The First Course
• In Business
• The Restaurant Takes Root
• Turning Over the Rocks
• Who Ever Wrote the Rule?
• No Turning Back
• The 51 Percent Solution
• Broadcasting the Message, Tuning in the Feedback

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Chapters

• Constant, Gentle Pressure
• The Road to Success is Paved with Mistakes Well
  Handled
• The Virtuous Cycled of Enlightened Hospitality
• Context, Context, Context.
• The Art of Hospitality

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Blue Book

• Please write a 1 pager for the following chapters
• You should be able to use quite a bit from this
  information in HRT383
• Both in person and in the reports

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Chapter 1 -The First Course

• Please rewrite this chapter pretending you have
  made it big in the Industry.
• Please thank all the people that have/will
  made/make a difference in your life

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Chapters 2 3In Business The Restaurant
Takes Root

• Please reflect on the things that went wrong the
  first week in the RKR and compare these to Danny
  Meyers experience.

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Chapters 4 5Turning Over the RocksWho Ever
Wrote the Rule?

• Who Ever Wrote the Rule?
• What would you do different if you had your own
  restaurant?

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Chapters 6 7No Turning BackThe 51 Percent
Solution

• Danny Meyer opened 2 restaurant concepts in one
  location 11 Madison Park - French Bistro Tabla
  Indian
• What 2 concepts would you use?

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Read Chapter Broadcasting the Message

• Press
• Food Critics in NY
• Fixing Problems
• Complaint Letters
• P/R
• Who are the Food Critics in LA?

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Read Chapter 9 Constant, Gentle Pressure

• Are you an effective leader?
• Would Danny Meyer hire you?
• H/R
• Operations
• Accounting Finances
• P/R Marketing
• IT
• Business Development
• Community investment

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Chapter 10The Road to Success is Paved with
Mistakes Well Handled

• Please give an example of an error in the RKR and
  how is was and/or should have been solved

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Chapters 11 12The Virtuous Cycled of
Enlightened Hospitality,Context, Context,
Context.

• What are your YES criteria for New Ventures in
  your life/career

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Chapter 13The Art of Hospitality

• Define The Art of Hospitality

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Statistics indicate that about two-third of
restaurants fail within three years of opening.

• A number of new restaurants tend to fail within
  the first year of their opening.
• If you like to know why certain restaurants have
  been so successful compared to other restaurants,
  this is the book that I recommend that you read.
  Setting the Table The Transforming Power of
  Hospitality in Business is written by Danny
  Myer, the most successful and innovative
  restaurant entrepreneur in New York.

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Win in the Competitive Restaurant Industry

• The author answers how a restaurant owner has
  been able to win in the competitive restaurant
  industry.
• Myer has operated Union Square café, Gramercy
  Tavern, Eleven Madison Park, Tabla, Blue Smoky,
  Jazz Standard, Shake Shack, The Modern, Café 2,
  and Terrace 5, and Hudson Yards Catering in New
  York.

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Offering Hospitality

• In this book, the author highlights the
  significance of hospitality as the basis of all
  his restaurants successes.
• He emphasizes that offering hospitality is far
  different from simply offering service.

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Moment of Truth

• According to the author, hospitality occurs when
  there is a certain degree of human interaction
  between service providers and customers.
• For example, when a hostess greets customers in a
  restaurant, customers usually note immediately
  whether the hostess greets them sincerely by
  evaluating the hostesss smile, gesture, and eye
  contact.

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Hospitality as a Dialogue

• Furthermore, the author views hospitality as a
  dialogue between a service provider and
  customers he considers service as a monologue
  which t focuses on technical delivery of a
  service product.
• Thus, true hospitality only exists when there is
  mutual communication between service provider and
  customers.

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Who Provides True Hospitality?

• According to the author, only true, optimistic
  and team-oriented people have the potential to
  provide true hospitality to customers this is
  not something that one can obtain or improve by
  simply training ones employees.

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Emotion vs. Technique

• The author contends that he has been able to
  provide consistent hospitality to his customers
  because of his restaurants rigid employee
  recruitment policies.
• More specifically, the author pinpoints five
  emotional skills-- optimistic warmth,
  intelligence, work ethnic, empathy, and
  self-awareness, and integrity-- which he expects
  his employees to possess.
• In Meyers view, these emotional skills are more
  important than technical skills in providing
  hospitality service.

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Customers Personal Information

• Danny Myer ALSO describes in detail his
  innovative and competitive service strategy
  throughout the book.
• For example, He uses customers personal
  information strategically in providing
  hospitality.
• He obtains customers personal information
  tactfully, using a reservation book or online
  reservation system.

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Use of OpenTable

• As a result, his restaurants staffs and managers
  are able to call customers by their last names
  when the staff greets customers initially, even
  though the customers are not regular patrons.
• In addition to the use of customers information,
  the author offers a free dessert wine or a house
  dessert as a token of hospitality to customers
  who have to wait a long time to be seated.

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Please Read

• This book is easy and enjoyable to read. Meyer
  explains the multifaceted value of hospitality
  humorously, relying upon his diverse restaurant
  operation experiences. This book sheds some value
  light on the area of service management.