Setting the Table: The Transforming Power of Hospitality in Business [Paperback]

Danny Meyer (Author)

Book Description

Release date: January 29, 2008

A landmark, bestselling business book and a fascinating behind-the-scenes history of the creation of Danny's most famous eating establishments, Setting the Table is a treasure trove of valuable, innovative insights applicable to any business or organization.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Book Description
In October 1985, at age 27, Danny Meyer, with a good idea and scant experience, opened what would become one of New York City's most revered restaurants--Union Square Cafe. Little more than twenty years later, Danny is the CEO of one of the world's most dynamic restaurant organizations, which includes 11 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?

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.

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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Service with a Smile: Dishing with Danny Meyer
Is the customer always right? According to Danny Meyer, one of America's leading restauranteurs, the answer is no--but "they must always feel heard." Named one of the most influential New Yorkers of 2006 by New York magazine, Meyer, the founder and co-owner of 11 of Manhattan's most influential restaurants, including Union Square Cafe, Gramercy Tavern, Tabla, The Modern, Blue Smoke, and Shake Shack, has penned Setting the Table: The Transforming Power of Hospitality, a business book that reads like food lit and equal part personal memoir. Amazon.com senior editor Brad Thomas Parsons took some time from his daily long-distance day-dreaming of Shake Shack and caught up with the ever-gracious Danny Meyer over e-mail to ask about his new book, the Food Network, his favorite cookbooks, insider tips on dining out, and much more.

Read our Amazon.com interview with Danny Meyer

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More from Danny Meyer

Union Square Cafe Cookbook

Setting the Table [Audio CD]

Second Helpings from Union Square Cafe

--This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

From Publishers Weekly

With the same grace and generosity displayed in his dining rooms, Meyer's instructive how-we-did-it account shares lessons learned on his way to becoming CEO of Union Square Hospitality Group. Meyer opened Union Square Cafe in 1985 when he was 27 years old. It hit its stride three years later when he hired chef Michael Romano, and Meyer charts its evolution from a neighborhood to international institution. Initially cautious about expansion, he opened Gramercy Tavern with chef Tom Colicchio three years later, eventually broadening his New York City restaurant empire to 11 establishments including Eleven Madison Park, Tabla, Blue Smoke, Shake Shack and the Modern. Meyer makes a distinction between service ("the technical delivery of a product") and the "Enlightened Hospitality" at the core of his business strategy—both necessary for restaurant success. He notes that hospitality "is how the delivery of that product makes its recipient feel" and shares tips like hiring "51 percenters," or staff with "skills divided 51-49 between emotional hospitality and technical excellence," and the "Five As" for addressing mistakes: awareness, acknowledge, apologize, act, additional generosity. This honest, modest book will appeal most to foodies and aspiring restaurateurs but also offers insight for entrepreneurs in any industry.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 336 pages
• Publisher: Harper Perennial; Reprint edition (January 29, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0060742763
• ISBN-13: 978-0060742768
• Product Dimensions: 8 x 5.3 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (97 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,027 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #3 in Books > Business & Investing > Industries & Professions > Hospitality, Travel & Tourism

More About the Author

Union Square Hospitality Group (USHG) was founded by Danny Meyer and includes some of New York City's most acclaimed restaurants: Union Square Café, Gramercy Tavern, Eleven Madison Park, Tabla, Blue Smoke, Jazz Standard, Shake Shack, and The Modern, as well as Hudson Yards Catering and Hudson Yards Sports and Entertainment. Danny, his restaurants, and his chefs have earned an unprecedented nineteen James Beard Awards. All five of USHG's fine dining restaurants have earned three stars from the New York Times, and for the past decade, Union Square Café and Gramercy Tavern have vied for #1 and #2 among Zagat Survey's Most Popular Restaurants in New York. Danny Meyer's book "Setting the Table" (HarperCollins, 2006) was a "New York Times" bestseller, and he has coauthored two cookbooks, including the "Union Square Café Cookbook" (HarperCollins, 1994), with his business partner chef Michael Romano.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

131 of 136 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Smart about restaurants, brilliant about life October 3, 2006

By Jesse Kornbluth TOP 500 REVIEWER

Format:Hardcover

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. Liebling's postgraduate adventures in Between Meals. But almost every story has a psychological twist; this is a man who has learned a lot by eating and a lot more by listening and watching.

What he's concluded is obvious to those who have been to his restaurants: It's not about the food. It's about the people. It's about the way you feel when you're there --- about the way the staff makes you feel. In a word, it's about hospitality. What is hospitality? It starts with a belief: "The other person is on your side." And then the belief becomes behavior: "Hospitality is present when something happens for you."

Meyer came to this business philosophy young. In 1985, when he was 27 and opening his first restaurant, Union Square Café, he had job applicants answer unusual questions: "Has your sense of humor been useful to you in your service career?" and "What was so wrong about your last job?" and "Do you prefer Hellmann's or Miracle Whip?" In this way, he hired "genuine, happy, optimistic" people. They shared their good feelings with customers. And customers felt liked and valued. They became regulars --- and if the secret of a successful long-term enterprise is not Repeat Business, what is it?

Make no mistake: this kind of hospitality requires work. Not just when the customer walks through the door, but before and after. If Meyer knows a couple is coming to celebrate a birthday or anniversary, he's not above picking up a phone and telling them how much he's looking forward to their visit. Then there was the dishwasher who took extra care with dirty dishes; soon, he'd cut knife-and-fork loss by 50%. His manager told Meyer. And Meyer went to the dishwasher to thank him. Or the time a woman left her wallet and cell phone in a taxi. The restaurant manager began calling her phone, reached the cab driver, and --- without saying a word to her --- he sent a staffer in a taxi to pick up her stuff while she was having lunch. Cost: $31. The customer's response: Overwhelmed. Benefit: "I'd be surprised if this woman hasn't already given Table 100 times that value in positive word-of-mouth."

Mistakes? Of course Meyer has made them. But he listened very hard to the advice he got from legendary retailer Stanley Marcus --- "The road to success is paved with mistakes well handled" --- and figured out how to turn a mistake into what he calls "a great last chapter." He learned about power and how best to use it. He grasped that his first customers are his workers. And he appreciated that, as Dylan says, "you gotta serve somebody" --- to his great credit, he serves both local causes and a remarkable anti-hunger charity called Share Our Strength.

None of this is original; these are lessons many people know. What is dazzling and inspiring about Danny Meyer is that he operates on what he believes. Sure, there's self-interest --- the more you give, the more you get --- but more to the point, there's a sense of a life well-lived. Of a business well-run. Of employees who feel trusted and respected. And, finally, of guests who can't wait to come back. This is the very definition of a "virtuous circle."

I once heard a guru say: "When you aim for the highest things, only the highest things happen." Danny Meyer is proof that this is so. Many would scoff. They cut corners and do well in the short run. They have power for the thrill of pushing people around. Their word is not their bond. But we are talking about the span of a life here, and the worth of your work. "Setting the Table" makes you hungry for the better life just in front of you ---and fills you with confidence that it's attainable. Eat this book.

40 of 40 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars The Nature and Value of Authentic Hospitality October 26, 2006

By Robert Morris HALL OF FAMETOP 100 REVIEWERVINE™ VOICE

Format:Hardcover

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. The converse is just as true. Hospitality is present when something happens [begin italics] for [end italics] you. It is absent when something happens [begin italics] to [end italics] you. These two simple propositions - for and to - express it all." According to Meyer, service is the technical delivery of a product. Hospitality is how the delivery of that product makes its recipient feel about the transaction. This is precisely what Leonard Berry has in mind when explaining what he calls "the soul of service."

Another of the most important concepts in this book is "connecting the dots" which Meyer views as a process by which information accumulated "can make meaningful connections that can make other people feel good and give you an edge in business. Using whatever information I've collected to gather guests together in a shared experience is what I call connecting the dots."

Of special interest to me are those whom Meyer characterizes as mentors to whom he has turned for sound (albeit candid) advice. For example, on one occasion he enthusiastically "showed off" to Pat Cetta (co-owner of Sparks Steakhouse) a new dish just added to the Union Street Café menu: Fried oyster Caesar salad. Cetta's response? "This dish is nothing more than mental masturbation. You're clearly doing it just to get noticed by Florence Fabricant [in the New York Times]. And the bad news is that she won't even like it. I guarantee you that shit is coming off your menu within two months - and if I were you, I'd take it off in two minutes. You know better than that, luvah!" Meyer agreed and quickly retired the dish.

As indicated earlier, I think the lessons which Meyer generously shares in this book, especially those learned from errors of judgment ("the road to success is paved with mistakes well handled") are of substantial value to managers in all organizations, regardless of size or nature. If there were a rating higher than Five Stars, I would give it to this thoughtful, eloquent, and entertaining book.

26 of 26 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars A "Must Read" for all involved in customer care November 2, 2006

By bjhpicks

Format:Hardcover

Although this book reads a bit slow in chapters 1-3 - the author really gets cooking in chapter 4 when he begins to provide his story of "turning over the rocks" to learn more about customer experiences, their patterns, and all of the elements that may go into their decision to or not to choose your brand/company etc.

Chapters five through 12 just sing, and would make anyone passionate about making customer service better, and engaging the right people for the right type of work within an experience-driven work role, very pleased to have read.

(This is my first review - please forgive the rudimentary nature of my opinion on this book - I think you'll find the book a little hard to put down.)