Setting the Table: The Transforming Power of Hospitality in Business Author: | Language: English | ISBN:
B000JCE38O | Format: EPUB
Setting the Table: The Transforming Power of Hospitality in Business Description
Danny Meyer started Union Square Cafe when he was 27, with a good idea and scant experience. He is now the CEO of one of the world's most dynamic restaurant organizations, one that includes 11 unique dining establishments, each at the top of its game. How did he do it? How has he consistently beaten the odds in one of the toughest trades around?
In this landmark book, Danny shares the lessons he learned while developing the winning recipe for his way of doing business � what he calls "Enlightened Hospitality". This innovative business philosophy emphasizes putting the power of hospitality to work in a new and counterintuitive way: the first and most important recipients of hospitality are the people who work for you. In descending order of priority, the next most important receivers of hospitality are guests, the community, suppliers, and investors. This way of setting priorities stands more traditional business models on their heads, but Danny considers it the foundation of every success he and his restaurants have had.
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, Setting the Table is a treasure trove of innovative insights applicable to any business or organization.
- Audible Audio Edition
- Listening Length: 5 hours and 33 minutes
- Program Type: Audiobook
- Version: Abridged
- Publisher: HarperAudio
- Audible.com Release Date: September 28, 2006
- Language: English
- ASIN: B000JCE38O
The 2006 Zagat Survey lists Gramercy Tavern as New York's most popular restaurant. (It was also #1 last year.)
Union Square Café came in second. (As it did last year.)
Eleven Madison Park ranked fourteen. (Down one from 2005.)
Tabla was eighteen. (Up one from 2005.)
Blue Smoke --- unranked in 2005 --- was the 36th most popular restaurant.
These Manhattan restaurants were all conceived by one man: Danny Meyer, who has also created the restaurants at The Museum of Modern Art and an outdoor joint called Shake Shack. Most restaurants fail, and quickly; these restaurants have, most of them, been around long enough to qualify as "institutions." If you have ever had the good fortune to sample Danny Meyer's food, you know they are likely to remain so deep into the future.
Now Danny Meyer has written a book. It is nominally a memoir about his life in restaurants. But although there are mouth-watering descriptions of great meals, it will be a great tragedy if this book becomes "food porn," devoured by foodies and unknown to the general public. This is a bigger book, and a better book, than that. (Not that there's anything wrong with food porn.) For one thing, it is a business book that should be read --- like: today! --- by anyone whose livelihood involves face-to-face encounters with customers. For another, it is a hands-on, real-world book of practical philosophy that could knock a great deal of sense into those who believe that nice guys finish last and the only way to get to the top is to kick others off the ladder as you claw your way up.
This book obeys the form of memoir, especially in the young Meyer's culinary education --- his writing will remind some readers of A.J.
This book will be of great interest and even greater value if one or more of the following is relevant to you:
1. You have direct and frequent contact with customers.
2. You train and/or supervise those who do.
3. You need to improve your "people skills" in your business and personal relationships.
4. Your organization has problems attracting, hiring, and then keeping the people it needs to prosper.
5. Your organization has problems with others who, for whatever reasons, consistently under-perform.
It is no coincidence that many of those on Fortune magazine's annual list of most admired companies reappear on its annual list of most profitable companies. Moreover, both customers and employees rank "feeling appreciated" among the three most important attributes of satisfaction. Now consider the total cost of a mis-hire or the departure of a peak performer: Estimates vary from six to 18 times the annual salary, including hours and dollars required by the replacement process.
Until now, I have said nothing about Danny Meyer nor about the restaurant industry so as to reassure those who read this brief commentary that, although Setting the Table does indeed provide interesting information about him and his background, the book's greater value derives (in my opinion) from the lessons he has learned from his successes and failures thus far, both within and beyond the kitchen.
One of the most important concepts in this book is hospitality. Here's what Meyer has to say about it: "hospitality is the foundation of my business philosophy. Virtually nothing else is as important as how one is made to feel in any business transaction. Hospitality exists when you believe the other person is on your side.
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