The Hospitality Bible: A Must-Read for Anyone in Business
The Hospitality Bible: A Must-Read for Anyone in Business
My restaurant Ginny's Supper Club
The restaurant business is a particularly difficult one, with so much money,
time and effort (and even more money) going into just getting an eating establishment off the ground. And even after all that,
there's no guarantee. Approximately 2 out of 3 restaurants fail within the first
year of opening (this statistic has many iterations, but 60% seems to get the
most consensus) and my first restaurant, Merkato 55, went this way.
With all my
experience in the kitchen and with opening my current restaurant Red Rooster, I am
incredibly impressed by the work of Danny Meyer and Union Square Hospitality. Each
one of their many restaurants is at the top of their game and consistently rated
amongst the most popular and best restaurants in New York City. And in a
metropolis where everyone is a self proclaimed foodie, that's no small feat.More than just admiration, almost everyone in hospitality has long wondered how Danny Meyer did it. Thankfully for us, in 2008 he wrote a book about it, Setting the Table: The Transformative Power of Hospitality in Business. Even though I read it when it first came out, I still think often about its lessons and advice about navigating the restaurant world. I won't give away any secrets, because the book in and of itself is a good read, but within its pages one of the giants in hospitality explains his philosophy on hospitality. It gives valuable lessons about service, about learning the intricacies of a business, about creating and maintaining brand strategies, and, most importantly, about picking your advisors strategically.
For anyone in hospitality, thinking about opening a restaurant, or even just in business in general, this book is my summer must-read.
For 50+ more summer favorites from Influencers, check out the full Influencer Summer Guide here.
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