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 -- Constant, gentle pressure -- The road to success is paved with mistakes well handled -- The virtuous cycle of enlightened hospitality -- Context, context, context -- The art of hospitality
Summary:
In October 1985, at age twenty-seven, the author, 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, he 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 book, he 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 he considers it the foundation of every success that he and his restaurants have achieved.
