Setting the Table

The Transforming Power of Hospitality in

Business

By Danny Meyer

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.

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 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
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?

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.

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 concepts for and to
express 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Context, context, context, trumps the outdated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.

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.

Chapters
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.

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

Chapters
Constant, Gentle Pressure
10. The Road to Success is Paved
with Mistakes Well Handled
11. The Virtuous Cycled of
Enlightened Hospitality
12. Context, Context, Context.
13. The Art of Hospitality
9.

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

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

Chapters 2 & 3
In 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.

Chapters 4 & 5
Turning Over the Rocks
Who Ever Wrote the
Rule?

Who Ever Wrote the Rule?

What would you do different if you
had your own restaurant?

Chapters 6 & 7
No Turning Back
The 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?

Read Chapter *
Broadcasting the
Message

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

Read Chapter 9
Constant, Gentle
Pressure
Are you an effective leader?

Are you an effective leader?

Would Danny Meyer hire you?
H/R
Operations
Accounting & Finances
P/R & Marketing
IT
Business Development
Community investment

Chapter 10
The 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

Chapters 11 & 12
The Virtuous Cycled of
Enlightened
Hospitality,
Context, Context,
Context.
What are your
YES criteria for
New Ventures in your life/career

Chapter 13
The Art of Hospitality

Define The Art of Hospitality

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.

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
caf, Gramercy Tavern, Eleven
Madison Park, Tabla, Blue Smoky,
Jazz Standard, Shake Shack, The
Modern, Caf 2, and Terrace 5, and
Hudson Yards Catering in New York.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.