My Rating: 7 of 10
Setting the Table – Summary
Setting the Table: This book did a terrific job highlighting some of the paradigms shifts that made Danny Meyer so successful as a restauranteur (e.g. “moving the salt shaker back to the center”). He also talked a lot about the tactics that he used to execute so well across his many restaurants (Union Square Cafe, Gramercy Tavern, Blue Smoke, Shake Shake, etc.)
For example, during Restaurant Week he gave more value and also gave them gift certificates afterward.
However, all the stories are told through a rosy prism and so, therefore, it feels like you never really got to know the man much better. Unlike, for example, Anthony Bourdain’s Kitchen Confidential, where you feel like you got a real behind the scenes look at the restaurant scene in NYC.
Still, if you work in the restaurant industry or aspire to work in the restaurant industry, this is an important read.
Notes
How Danny Views Hospitality
I’ve learned how crucially important it is to put hospitality to work, first for the people who work for me and subsequently for all the other people and stakeholders who are in any way affected by our business—in descending order, our guests, community, suppliers, and investors.
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Union Square Cafe, Gramercy Tavern, Eleven Madison Park, Tabla, Blue Smoke, Jazz Standard, Shake Shack, The Modern, Cafe 2, and Terrace 5 (our cafés for visitors within the Museum of Modern Art), plus Hudson Yards Catering—were
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Sometimes, we’ve moved in the other direction, beginning with the casual atmosphere of a barbecue joint or a shakes-and-burgers stand, and then attempting to exceed expectations by employing a caring staff and using the finest ingredients. Our formula is a lot tougher to achieve than it sounds, but it can be applied successfully to virtually any business you can name.
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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.
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Danny’s Early History In Business
But this success wasn’t enough for my father. Having failed to learn some critical lessons from his earlier business failures in the 1960s and 1970s, he gambled the fortunes of his entire business on another new one, involving risky and questionable real estate and hotel deals back in St. Louis.
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I soon became Checkpoint’s top salesman, covering the New York metropolitan area and earning nearly $100,000 in commissions. I quickly got to know every branch of every family tree of every New York retailing family that owned drugstores, clothing stores, grocery stores, coat stores, and shoe stores. I was making cold calls, meeting people, and getting to know every obscure corner of New York. As I had learned during Anderson’s campaign, I was reaching out and building a constituency. This was another indispensable lesson that would serve me well as a restaurateur.
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I loved art and went to the Museum of Modern Art as often as possible taking advantage of my grandfather’s annual gift to me of a membership there. By attending opening parties at the museum, I also learned that New York’s social life consisted of more than Upper East Side bars. The joy I was experiencing each day by setting my own personal and professional agenda made it increasingly clear to me that I would never go to work for someone else.
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(I had learned from Pesca that a vibrant lunch service could help a restaurant to meet fixed costs, and furthermore that the kind of business clientele attracted by lunch could give the place an added identity.)
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It’s Not Just “Location”
Despite all the uninspiring spaces I was seeing, I continued to reject the prevailing maxim: “Location, location, location.” This is the idea that you somehow need an upscale address to be considered a great restaurant. But to afford an acceptably swank location, restaurants had to pass on their huge overhead to the guests, charging way too much money for lunch and dinner. Back then, an excellent restaurant was too often confused with an expensive restaurant.
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if I handicapped the location correctly, and could successfully play a role in transforming the neighborhood, my restaurant, with its long-term lease locked in at a low rent, could offer excellence and value.
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Training The Staff In Hospitality
Understanding the distinction between service and hospitality has been at the foundation of our success. Service is the technical delivery of a product. Hospitality is how the delivery of that product makes its recipient feel. Ser vice is a monologue—we decide how we want to do things and set our own standards for service. Hospitality, on the other hand, is a dialogue
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I don’t tell the staff precisely what to do or say in every scenario, though I do have some pet peeves that I don’t ever want to hear in our dining rooms.
I cringe when a waiter asks, “How is everything?” That’s an empty question that will get an empty response.
Also, I can’t stand the use of we to mean you, as in, “How are we doing so far?” I abhor the question, “Are you still working on the lamb?” If the guest has been working on the lamb, it probably wasn’t very tender or very good in the first place.
And if a guest says “Thank you” for something, the waiter should not answer, “No problem.” Since when is it necessary to deny that delivering excellent service is a “problem”? A genuine “You’re welcome” is always the appropriate response.
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The best way to do this is to first gather as much information as I can about our guests. I call this collecting dots. In fact, I urge our managers to ABCD—always be collecting dots.
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We also make sure to enter into “customer notes” any previous mistakes we made (“overcooked salmon on 7/16, spilled wine on purse 5/12”). We also indicate all “special requests” (“likes table 42; bring hot sauce with food; loves corner table;
NOTE: how come our restaurants don’t do this
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Context Is Everything
Context is everything. What has guided me most as an entrepreneur is the confluence of passion and opportunity (and sometimes serendipity) that leads to the right context for the right idea at the right time in the right place and for the right value. I have never relied on or been interested in market analysis to create a new business model. I am my own test market. I am far more intuitive than analytical. If I sense an opportunity to reframe something I’m passionately interested in, I give it my absolute best shot.
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I do not want to see a dish like tuna tartare (which became ubiquitous in New York during the 1990s) on any of our menus unless our chefs are doing something singularly excellent with it. That challenge led us to come up with an impressive signature dish for Eleven Madison Park: tuna tartare seared on one side. Served with sliced avocado and a radish salad, it looks and tastes different from any other version I’ve had in town, and—most important—it’s addictively delicious. “What makes ours different and special?” is the question we ask and try to answer every day, and not just with food.
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Danny’s Expansion
DESPITE THE CONTINUED SUCCESS of Union Square Cafe, for almost nine years I was firmly against opening a second restaurant. Owing, in large part, to my experience of my father’s tumultuous career and his two bankruptcies, I always thought of expansion as dancing on the edge of failure. It wasn’t until after my father died that I began to give myself the freedom to expand my business. It was almost as if my fear of repeating his defeats was softened by the fact that he wouldn’t be around to see the outcome. Another factor was that for years I had protected myself from the perils of growth by establishing three prerequisites that I knew would be almost impossible to meet. First, any new restaurant would have to be as excellent within its niche as Union Square Cafe. (In my mind, the success of Union Square Cafe had been a fluke, and I was fairly certain I’d never have a hit like that again.) Second, the opening of the new restaurant could in no way compromise or diminish the excellence of Union Square Cafe. (Restaurant sequels can diminish the original, perhaps because the management’s focus and capacity may be spread too thin.) Third, I would open another restaurant only when I was sure that I would also achieve more time for myself and Audrey. (That seemed unlikely, as I was already working up to fourteen hours a day.)
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But with each year of Union Square Cafe’s progress as a prominent restaurant, I found myself working harder and longer to exceed increasingly ratcheted expectations—the public’s and my own. We were intent on having kids, all the more so because each of us had lost a parent. I did a lot of soul-searching, asking myself whether taking on more business and more stress would be wise for me or my marriage, or even for my business. To her credit, Audrey left the decision to me.
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Invest in your community. A business that understands how powerful it is to create wealth for the community stands a much higher chance of creating wealth for its own investors. I have yet to see a house lose any of its value when a garden is planted in its front yard. And each time one householder plants a garden, chances are the neighbors will follow suit. In mid-1996, I attended my first
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He was concerned about whether it could be a safe financial bet for his own future. He didn’t see how the restaurant would ever be able to pay off its debt or its investors, and that made him nervous. When construction delays arose, he grew increasingly impatient and ill at ease. With just six weeks to go before opening Eleven Madison Park, we parted ways.
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We abandoned the box lunch program very quickly and ended up with a costly inventory of 3,000 unused boxes. The experience was a vitally important illustration of inappropriate brand extension, wrongheaded priorities, and inadequate focus on a core product. Fortunately, by working on the basics, our lunch business doubled within six months.
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leaders. We searched high and low for the rare employees who love teaching, know how to set priorities, work with a sense of urgency, and—most important—are comfortable with holding people accountable to high standards while letting them hold onto their own dignity.
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The 51% Solution
(something we have never administered), his or her potential for technical excellence would count for 49 percent, and innate emotional skills for hospitality would count for 51 percent. I first learned this concept of “51 percent” from the dynamic restaurateur Rich Melman of Chicago, when I visited him in the late 1980s.
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No one can possibly be upbeat and happy all the time. But personal mastery demands that team members be aware of their moods and keep them in check. If a staff member is having personal trouble, and wakes up angry, nervous, depressed, or anxious, he or she needs to recognize and deal with the mood. It does not serve anyone’s purposes to project that mind-set into the work environment or onto one’s colleagues.
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It’s the “whelming” candidate you must avoid at all costs, because that’s the one who can and will do your organization the most long-lasting harm. Overwhelmers earn you raves. Underwhelmers either leave on their own or are terminated. Whelmers, sadly, are like a stubborn stain you can’t get out of the carpet. They infuse an organization and its staff with mediocrity; they’re comfortable, and so they never leave; and, frustratingly, they never do anything that rises to the level of getting them promoted or sinks to the level of getting them fired.
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Opening of Blue Smoke
turned pale as I saw the headline, “Smoke Blows It.” The critic declared, “I know barbecue and this ain’t it.” There wasn’t much in that criticism we could use to improve our performance. I could only feel bad, and I did.
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Blue Smoke, the article noted, had already attracted more than sixty postings on one site, many of them scathing. A barrage of negative, often hostile reviews followed, creating the impression that by its very existence, Blue Smoke was committing a capital offense—and that it would probably not survive. The subtext of a lot of the press was: “Who the hell is Danny Meyer to be opening a barbecue restaurant? What could he know about it? See? Aha! Blue Smoke will be his Waterloo!”
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“People will say a lot of great things about your business, and a lot of nasty things as well. Just remember: you’re never as good as the best things they’ll say, and never as bad as the negative ones. Just keep centered, know what you stand for, strive for new goals, and always be decent.
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Your Job Is To Move Things Back To Center
I slid it back. Then he explained his point. “Listen, luvah. Your staff and your guests are always moving your saltshaker off center. That’s their job. It is the job of life. It’s the law of entropy! Until you understand that, you’re going to get pissed off every time someone moves the saltshaker off center. It is not your job to get upset. You just need to understand: that’s what they do.
Your job is just to move the shaker back each time and let them know exactly what you stand for. Let them know what excellence looks like to you. And if you’re ever willing to let them decide where the center is, then I want you to give them the keys to the store. Just give away the fuckin’ restaurant!”
Wherever your center lies, know it, name it, stick to it, and believe in it. Everyone who works with you will know what matters to you and will respect and appreciate your unwavering values. Your inner beliefs about business will guide you through the tough times.
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Every time that happens, I’m going to move everything right back to the way it should be. And so should you! That’s the constant aspect. I’ll never recenter the saltshaker in a way that denies you your dignity. That’s the gentle aspect. But standards are standards, and I’m constantly watching every table and pushing back on every saltshaker that’s moved, because excellent performance is paramount. That’s the pressure.
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We asked him a lot of questions about how he managed his time with so many businesses to run, how he delegated, and to whom. After sharing a number of valuable insights, he said, “There are some things I could learn from you guys as well.
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with context as it does content. That’s called setting the table. Understanding who needs to know what, when people need to know it, and why, and then presenting that information in an entirely comprehensible way is a sine qua non of great leadership. Clear, timely communication is the key to applying constant, gentle pressure. To illustrate the point, I teach our managers about the “lily pad” theory.
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our undeniable business growth had at last butted
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up against my skittishness and inertia. Standing in place had become unacceptable and risky. I had to figure out some way to have both smart restaurants and a smart organization. Finally, I listened to my partners, and bit the bullet. Taking the lead, David Swinghamer persuaded me to join him in searching our neighborhood for office space. We looked throughout a long, hot summer, and eventually we found a bare-basics office overlooking Union Square, which had been vacated by a failed dot.com.
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Human resources—making sure we get the best (and right) people on our team, training them to succeed, and ensuring the kind of healthy culture and environment in which they can thrive. Operations—making sure that people and things work as excellently as possible and that we are executing to our fullest potential. Accounting and finance—making sure we have a constant stream of timely, accurate information that reflects our past performance, and helping us make good, informed choices about our future through a culture of planning, budgeting, and analysis. Public relations and marketing—making sure we are telling the stories about our business and its employees that will keep our restaurants on the tip of people’s tongues, whether they be journalists, prospective guests, or employees; and building relationships with other like-minded companies with whom we can forge the kind of business partnerships where 1+1=3. Information technology (IT)—making sure we have the most effective software and hardware to allow us to communicate internally and externally, and to assess and improve our performance as a company. Business development—making sure we’re not leaving money on the table with existing businesses, and analyzing and negotiating potential new business ideas to keep our employees and company vital and moving forward. Community investment—making sure our company and its employees are finding and taking ample opportunities to play an active role in helping our communities fulfill their greatest potential.
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Some restaurants, unfortunately, offer inexpensive fare and propose very limited menu options as a way to manage costs and do a bit better than break even on a three-course meal. We take the opposite approach. I am convinced that if you’re going to offer a gift, it’s important to give it graciously. We approach Restaurant Week by offering a generous number of choices for the appetizer, main course, and dessert, representing considerably more than $20 worth of food and quality. The point is to make people feel a sense of abundance and value. In several of our restaurants, we go a step further. As the already-low check is dropped, each guest at the table is presented with a thank-you note as well as a gift certificate to welcome him or her back for lunch at another time. (In 2005, for example, we presented each guest with a “come back” lunch certificate for $20.05.) At this point, guests are thinking, “They’ve already offered an outstanding lunch for $20.05, and now they’re giving me a $20.05 gift certificate to return!” And return they do.
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Stanley set his martini down, looked me in the eye, and said, “So you made a mistake. You need to understand something important. And listen to me carefully: The road to success is paved with mistakes well handled.”
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3. Always write a great last chapter. People love to share stories of adversity.
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Are you in it for keeps? It’s almost always worth bearing a higher short-term cost if you want to win in the long run. I’m convinced that you get what you give, and you get more by first giving more. Generosity of spirit and a gracious approach to problem solving are, with few exceptions, the most effective way I know to earn lasting goodwill for your business.
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n every business, there are employees who are the first point of contact with the customers (attendants at airport gates, receptionists at doctors’ offices, bank tellers, executive assistants). Those people can come across either as agents or as gatekeepers. An agent makes things happen for others. A gatekeeper sets up barriers to keep people out. We’re looking for agents, and our staff members are responsible for monitoring their own performance: In
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It is in any company’s self-interest to take what it does best and apply that core strength to an appropriate form of outreach beyond its own four walls. For those of us who make a living by nourishing and nurturing guests in our restaurants, there’s a logical connection to feeding people in our community who don’t have enough.
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Every Tuesday and Wednesday night, one of our restaurants prepares about twenty dinners for the hospice unit, and volunteers from that restaurant’s staff bring the food to Beth Israel, serving the meals to the hospice patients and their families as well as to the unit’s nurses and attendants.
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Whenever our employees take a leadership role and collect pledges from colleagues in order to participate in an event like the Avon Breast Cancer Walk or the Northeast AIDS Ride, their restaurant matches the money they’ve collected from their colleagues.
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I suppose if I had all the money in the world, I might choose to own 100 percent of the risk and the financial returns. But I’ve learned over time that while the child in me may want the pie all to myself, the wisest thing I can do in my own self-interest is to share pieces of that pie with others. By selling or even giving away some pieces, I’ve never given up having control in preparing the recipe, but I have always ended up with a bigger, better-tasting pie. For that reason, in each of my businesses I have chosen
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There is much to learn by understanding what goes into a “no” decision, and there’s an art to analyzing the deals you don’t make.
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When To Say Yes to New Ventures
THE “YES” CRITERIA FOR NEW VENTURES The opportunity fits and enhances our company’s overall strategic goals and objectives. The opportunity represents a chance to create a business venture that is perceived as groundbreaking, trailblazing, and fresh. The timing is right for our company’s capacity to grow with excellence, especially in terms of our having enough key employees who are themselves interested and ready to grow. We believe we have the capacity to be category leaders within whatever niche we are pursuing. We believe our existing businesses will benefit and improve by virtue of or notwithstanding our pursuing this new opportunity. We feel excited and passionate about this idea. Pursuing it will be an opportunity to learn, grow, and have fun! We are excited about doing business in this community. The context is the right fit. Our restaurant and our style of doing business will be in harmony with its location. An in-depth pro forma analysis convinces us that it is a wise and safe investment.
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“yes.” For instance, the underlying premise of Las Vegas—the world’s most successful marketer of illusion and fantasy—makes it an improbable context for an authentic restaurant possessing soul. Since we have built our company’s long-term success in New York on a foundation of a genuine sense of place, rather than by selling illusion, those options didn’t feel like the proper context. This has been particularly true of our restaurants named and created explicitly for their locations. Union Square Cafe, Gramercy Tavern, and Eleven Madison Park are not concepts. They are restaurants of, by, and for their communities. It’s important for me to understand that and act accordingly.
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I meet with this “kitchen cabinet” for ninety minutes every Tuesday morning to discuss and debate the strategic direction of our company. We also include our chief adviser and “wisdom keeper,” Richard Goldberg, a penetrating thinker and brilliant teacher who assumed that role for us after his retirement as a partner at the law firm Pros-kauer Rose.
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Even after all the business aspects of a prospective new deal are discussed, dissected, and examined, I always call on Audrey, who, as my “secretary of life balance,” generally has an opinion as to whether a presumably good business decision is or isn’t a good thing for me and our family. Audrey is the first to notice when I’m out of balance, and call me on it. She knows that I tend to approach a new opportunity the way mountain climbers assess another mountain.
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For example, JetBlue Airways approached us to get into the business of airport food kiosks. It was worth listening just for the opportunity to learn more about an engaging company whose culture of excellence and employees-first hospitality seemed so closely aligned with ours. The JetBlue officials explained that the opportunity had enormous growth potential, given the significant amount of “dwell time” travelers now spend in airports because of the increased security after 9/11, and because the airline does not serve passenger meals. The sales potential appeared quite large. “We love your restaurants,” their people told us. “We love the way you do business. It feels consistent with our culture. We want to be on the cutting edge of this business and we’d like to talk to you about it.
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Timing is everything. There is an important art not only to determining whether one should or should not go into a deal, but to knowing whether one might want to go into such a deal somewhere down the road.
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Context, context, context! For years I had heard the business mantra, “Location, location, location”—an ironclad principle that the key to the success for any retail establishment was picking the right address to set up shop. My own experience indicates that a far more significant contributor to success is context. A powerful example is Tiffany’s famous blue box.
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(For several nights leading up to the opening, I had uncomfortable visions of museum trustees and executives peering at us with disapproval, wondering
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The courage to grow demands the courage to let go. Whenever you expand in business—not just the restaurant business—the process is incredibly challenging, especially for leaders who first rose to the top because of their tendency to want to control all the details. You have to let go. You have to surround yourself with ambassadors—people who know how to accomplish goals and make decisions, while treating people the way you would.
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This project was so huge and so far beyond any fantasies I may have had about actually being in control that it forced me let go. It made me do what I’d always known I needed to do—surround myself with very talented people; give them clear direction, goals, and feedback; and not try to be everywhere at once.
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“Setting the Table”