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Setting the Table: The Transforming Power of Hospitality in Business Hardcover – Unabridged, October 3, 2006

by Danny Meyer (Author)
4.6 4.6 out of 5 stars 3,016 ratings
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The bestselling business book from award-winning restauranteur Danny Meyer, of Union Square Cafe, Gramercy Tavern, and Shake Shack

Seventy-five percent of all new restaurant ventures fail, and of those that do stick around, only a few become icons. Danny Meyer started Union Square Cafe when he was 27, with a good idea and hopeful investors. He is now the co-owner of a restaurant empire. How did he do it? How did he beat the odds in one of the toughest trades around? In this landmark book, Danny shares the lessons he learned developing the dynamic philosophy he calls Enlightened Hospitality. The tenets of that philosophy, which emphasize strong in-house relationships as well as customer satisfaction, are applicable to anyone who works in any business. Whether you are a manager, an executive, or a waiter, Danny’s story and philosophy will help you become more effective and productive, while deepening your understanding and appreciation of a job well done. 

Setting the Table is landmark a motivational work from one of our era’s most gifted and insightful business leaders.

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  1. Print length
    336 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Publisher
    Harper
  4. Publication date
    October 3, 2006
  5. Dimensions
    6 x 1.18 x 9 inches
  6. ISBN-10
    0060742755
  7. ISBN-13
    978-0060742751
  8. See all details
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Customer reviews

4.6 out of 5 stars
3,016 global ratings

Customers say

Customers find the book educational, useful, and well-written. They describe it as a good, inspiring read with lessons on every page. Readers praise the story telling as exceptional, entertaining, and clear.

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EducationReadabilityStory tellingHeartfelt writing
157 customers mention "Education"157 positive0 negative

Customers find the book educational, saying it shares valuable insights and good things to think about. They also say it's useful and inspiring. Readers mention the author has an amazingly broad and deep appreciation for food and hospitality.

"...an important and well-written book that outlines an enlightened, customer-centric, at times counter-intuitive, but consistently effective approach..." Read more

"...This is an extremely powerful concept and is rooted in the integrity theme Meyer has throughout the book...." Read more

"...That said, this is a minor criticism of an otherwise very useful book that is easy reading." Read more

"...But, these restaurants have also perfected hospitality, and the book "Setting the Table" is the story of how that happened...." Read more

145 customers mention "Readability"143 positive2 negative

Customers find the book well-written, easy to read, and engaging. They say it's an incredible book of common sense for anyone running a business.

"...This is an important and well-written book that outlines an enlightened, customer-centric, at times counter-intuitive, but consistently effective..." Read more

"...this is a minor criticism of an otherwise very useful book that is easy reading." Read more

"I’m loving this book after reading Unreaonable Hospitality! Love the details!!" Read more

"..."Say please and thank you.""Setting the Table" is an easy read, and can be digested in several sittings without losing the plot or the..." Read more

26 customers mention "Story telling"26 positive0 negative

Customers find the story telling exceptional, entertaining, and educational. They say the author keeps them engaged with his stories and well-phrased rules. Readers also mention the action moves quickly, with flowing anecdotes interspersed with clear presentations of Meyer's philosophy. They describe the book as a great collection of industry stories and an incredible guidebook.

"Danny Meyer tells his story exceptionally well and runs his business the way the best of the best tell you to do it-execute your vision, pay..." Read more

"...The action moves quickly. The flowing anecdotes are interspersed with clear presentations of Meyer's philosophy for handling employees, guests, the..." Read more

"...information but that aside I do think he does a very fair job of portraying his story." Read more

"Mr. Meyer's entertaining and educational story of his life in the restaurant business serves as an instructional manual for anyone involved in..." Read more

11 customers mention "Heartfelt writing"11 positive0 negative

Customers find the writing in the book heartfelt, sincere, and human. They say it's informative and personal. Readers also appreciate the beautiful portrayal of the delicate relationship between Mr. Meyer and his wife.

"...read, it was engaging, and especially the short but beautifully portrayed delicate relationship between Mr. Meyer and his father...." Read more

"...Danny Meyer is a wise, witty and charming man who has something valuable to add to the conversation on any topic...." Read more

"...success of his restaurants...and it's not great food... it's great care for people, a fundamental business concept that is sadly missing in the..." Read more

"...It was a book written in heart and soul and a book that make me feel touched and inspired. It was a great book, one of the best I have read in years." Read more

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Top reviews from the United States

F. Tyler B. Brown
5.0 out of 5 stars Not Just for Foodies
Reviewed in the United States on December 18, 2011
Verified Purchase
A friend of mine turned me on to this wonderful business book by James Beard award-winning Restaurateur Danny Meyer (of Union Square Cafe, Blue Smoke, Gramercy Tavern, Eleven Madison Park, Tabla, Shake Shack, The Modern, and Hudson Yards Catering fame).

My friend had mentioned to me that this was a book that his boss (an accomplished businessman and investor who I greatly admire) couldn't stop talking about. It wasn't far into this book that I too could see the reason behind the enthusiasm of my friend's boss. This is not a book for only foodies, restaurant owners, and food writers. It is a book for all people that are serious about business, leadership, and management.

Danny Meyer is a lucid thinker, whose business philosophies (of "enlightened hospitality") are proven, distilled, powerful, and timeless.

Frankly, reading this book has heightened my antenna to businesses that get customer service right, and unfortunately to the large majority that get it painfully wrong.

Whether it is teaching his people to be agents not gatekeepers, developing a new restaurant's real estate assets based on the concept of "context, context, context" instead of "location, location, location," making customers feel like the have a shared ownership, by hiring "51 percenters", collecting and connecting dots, expanding his business empire in a concerted way that doesn't overextend the business's resources- Danny Meyer demonstrates his prowess as not only a Restaurateur, but also an entrepreneur, writer, leader, manager, and visionary.

The Kindle addition of this book does suffer from sloppy editing, which is ironic given the meticulous nature of Meyer when it comes to his restaurant empire. For example, the temperature feels like "twenty five degress", service is "ser vice"; Meyer was "champing" not chomping at the bit, etc. These editorial oversights have the taste of a lamb chop cooked dry and served cold in an otherwise brilliant restaurant.

Despite these minor editorial shortcomings, Meyer in "Setting the Table" has written a lasting business book for not just food people. This is an important and well-written book that outlines an enlightened, customer-centric, at times counter-intuitive, but consistently effective approach to not only business, but also life.
8 people found this helpful
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Dr. James T. Brown
5.0 out of 5 stars Here are 10 Valuable Take-Aways from Setting the Table
Reviewed in the United States on September 21, 2008
Verified Purchase
Setting the Table by Danny Meyer provides lots of value for business leaders. I ranked this book five stars based on the value alone. The reader should be apprised that the book is written as a memoir of Mr. Meyer's experience in the restaurant business.

As a business leader you should study excellence in your industry and outside of your industry and there are numerous take-aways in Setting the Table that can be applied to any business. Here are ten excellent points I took away from Mr. Meyer's book.

1. The Excellence Reflex - "A natural reaction to fix something that isn't right, or to improve something that could be better." The excellent reflex is a natural reaction that some people have and cannot be taught. Meyer trains his leaders how hire those that have it.

2. Employees can be categorized as Overwhelmers, Whelmers, and Underwhelmers. It is easy to identify Underwhelmers and get rid of them. The most dangerous employees are the Whelmers because "they infuse an organization and its staff with mediocrity...and send a dangerous message to your staff and guests that "average" is acceptable."

3. Coaching is correcting with dignity.

4. You obtain valuable leadership skills while managing volunteers. It requires you to consistently motivate employees beyond their earnings.

5. Create a sense of "shared ownership" with your customers by taking an interest in them and making them feel important. They will view you as a partner instead of a provider.

6. ABCD - Always Be Collecting Dots. You should aggressively collect lots of little information about your customer (dots) as they interact with your product or service. Then make the connection between the dots as a mechanism to improve your product or service to all customers.

7. Customers may love your product or service but the relationship that they have with you or your employees is what builds loyalty. Therefore you should take every opportunity to exceed expectations to create a lasting relationship.

8. Enlightened Hospitality - "We would define our successes and our failures in terms of the degree to which we had championed, first, one another and then our guests, community, suppliers and investors." This is an extremely powerful concept and is rooted in the integrity theme Meyer has throughout the book. You can't expect employees that don't treat each other with respect, who can't be hospitable with one another to then turn around and treat the customer with respect and high levels of hospitality a customer deserves. Poor relationships internal to the organization migrate to poor relationships external to the organization. Ultimately being last on the list benefits the investor by long term organizational success.

9. Judge your staff on 51 percent emotional job performance and 49 percent technical job performance. You can always teach technical while emotional is much harder if not impossible to develop. Lack of emotional job performance skills destroys teams and alienates customers.

10. "The road to success is paved with mistakes well handled" and "the worst mistake is not to figure out some way to end up in a better place after having made a mistake."

The ten points above are obviously more powerful in the context of the book when illustrated with Mr. Meyer's stories and experiences.

Dr. James T. Brown PMP PE CSP
Author, The Handbook of Program Management
122 people found this helpful
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david s. guzick
4.0 out of 5 stars It's about leadership
Reviewed in the United States on March 10, 2013
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This book is no doubt of general interest, but in my opinion it will be especially helpful to those in leadership positions in industries that have hospitality functions other than the restaurant business. I run a large health system in South, and found that I could translate many of the challenges that Mr. Meyer describes, and the strategies that he has developed to address them, to the challenges of running hospitals and medical schools. Hospital and hospitality have the same latin root, and the needs of patients and restaurant guests overlap. I downloaded the book on a plane thinking I would be interested in it because I grew up in NYC, am a bit of a foodie and have enjoyed dining in Danny Meyer restaurants. I enjoyed learning about the restaurant business, but I learned much more about leadership strategies from an angle that I would not normally encounter. Mr. Meyer writes well and can be quite pithy. I deleted one star only because I found his extensive description of his privileged upbringing, and his frequent name-dropping, to be a distraction (at least for me). That said, this is a minor criticism of an otherwise very useful book that is easy reading.
7 people found this helpful
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Amazon Customer
5.0 out of 5 stars Great read thus far!
Reviewed in the United States on September 25, 2024
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I’m loving this book after reading Unreaonable Hospitality! Love the details!!
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Top reviews from other countries

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Luiz Gustavo M C Manso
5.0 out of 5 stars classic!
Reviewed in Brazil on February 21, 2024
Verified Purchase
a must read for anyone in the hospitality business
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karen gutz
5.0 out of 5 stars excelente
Reviewed in Mexico on September 20, 2023
Verified Purchase
Uno de los mejores libros de negocios que he leído. 100% recomendado!
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Amazon Customer
5.0 out of 5 stars Harnessing the Transformative Power of Hospitality in Business"
Reviewed in India on July 4, 2023
Verified Purchase
Transformative Power of Hospitality: "Setting the Table" explores how hospitality can be a transformative force in the business world, creating meaningful connections and driving success.

Enlightening Perspectives: The book offers enlightening perspectives on the role of hospitality in shaping customer experiences, fostering loyalty, and differentiating businesses.

Personal Stories: Through personal anecdotes and experiences, the author shares valuable insights and lessons learned from the hospitality industry.

Attention to Detail: "Setting the Table" emphasizes the importance of attention to detail, exceptional service, and creating memorable moments for customers.

Practical Applications: Readers will find practical strategies and principles that can be applied to various industries to enhance customer satisfaction and drive business growth.

Inspirational Read: The book serves as an inspirational read, showcasing how a hospitality mindset can positively impact organizations and individuals in the business world.
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Miguelpessoajorge
5.0 out of 5 stars Grande libro
Reviewed in Spain on June 9, 2020
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Lo recomiendo
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Chris
5.0 out of 5 stars Thoroughly enjoyed and highly recommended.
Reviewed in Canada on April 6, 2018
Verified Purchase
You do not need to be in the hospitality industry to appreciate what this book has to offer.
It was one of the first "self improvement" books I read. I found it captivating and full of great information in addition to being well written and engaging. I highly recommend this to anyone interested in starting a buisness or is in the hospitality industry.

Furthermore, it shipped extremely quickly and the sellers customer service was fantastic.
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