Danny Meyer

Restaurateur, entrepreneur, and bestselling author Danny Meyer reveals the secrets of his widely-admired leadership philosophy and the tools he uses to build an energized, cohesive, and motivated culture. In 2006, Danny Meyer owned eleven restaurants, was nurturing a single parkside burger kiosk called Shake Shack, and had just written a bestselling book, Setting the Table, about his company’s unique culture of Enlightened Hospitality. On the first page of that book, Danny proudly declared that in twenty-five years he had never closed a restaurant. But just a few years later, he shuttered his beloved Tabla, a decision that filled him with shame—but sparked a reckoning within him about what it means to be a leader. Danny realized that his fear of failure wasn’t just misguided: it was also an impediment to his innate entrepreneurial spirit, and that clinging to the past was holding his company back. In WHAT COULD POSSIBLY GO RIGHT, he takes the reader along on his journey to learn how he’s delivered a winning culture of excellence at scale. Businesses and organizations have long understood how to scale systems of production. But it's a much trickier challenge to scale uplifting human relationships, particularly in a fluid, growing organization – one that has now spawned 700 businesses spread across twenty-four countries. As Danny writes, 'Along the way, I’ve tripped and scraped my knee more times than I can count, and yet the general trajectory has been upward and to the right.' WHAT COULD POSSIBLY GO RIGHT offers fascinating, lively stories from the last twenty years of Danny’s career, along with plenty of his trademark mantras (D.F.S—Don’t F’ing Settle; Change Your Grip; and Think Like a Winemaker) and leadership concepts (the Hospitality Quotient; the Rule of Two; and the Four Gears of Leadership). Together, they offer an insightful, practical, and transformative roadmap for success, yes, but more important: for making things that matter and endure. Danny believes that culture is an aspiration, not a destination. When you get your culture on the right path in any field, your missteps end up mattering far less than the innumerable lives you’ll have changed for the better.

A beautifully written tribute to the people who teach us to cook and guide our hands in the kitchen, by a founding editor of Saveur.“[The book features] many of the culinary names [Kalins] worked with . . . like Colman Andrews, Marcella Hazan, Michael Anthony and Anita Lo. Through her eyes and lively prose, they provide [a] compelling common-sense approach to food that will easily resonate with experienced cooks and should bolster the confidence of novices.” — New York TimesThe cooking lessons that stick with us are rarely the ones we read in books or learn through blog posts or YouTube videos (depending on your generation); they’re the ones we pick up as we spend time with good cooks in the kitchen. Dorothy Kalins, founding editor of Savuer magazine, calls the people who pass on their cooking wisdom her Kitchen Whisperers. Consciously or not, they help make us the cooks we are—and help show the way to the kind of cooks we have the potential to become.Dorothy’s prolific career in food media means many of her Kitchen Whisperers are some of the best chefs around (though the lessons she’s learned from fellow home cooks are just as important). For Dorothy, a lifetime of exposure to incredible cooks and chefs means that she can’t enter her kitchen without hearing the voices of mentors and friends with whom she cooked over the years as they reveal their favorite techniques. Marcella Hazan warns her against valuing look over flavor. Christopher Hirsheimer advises that sometimes water is the best liquid to add to a dish rather than stock or wine. Her onetime Southern mother-in-law wisely knows that not everyone who asks for a biscuit is food hungry. Woven through the text are dozens of narrative recipes, from her mother’s meat loaf to David Tanis’s Swiss Chard Gratin.The Kitchen Whisperers will prompt older readers to identify and cherish the food mentors in their own lives, just as it will inspire younger readers to seek them out. Stories and recipes from Dorothy’s notable connections will inspire the creative food journeys of all.

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.

The bestselling business book from award-winning restauranteur Danny Meyer, of Union Square Cafe, Gramercy Tavern, and Shake ShackSeventy-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.

A renowned New York restaurateur shares behind-the-scenes anecdotes to trace his experiences as the co-owner of eleven establishments in one of the world's most competitive arenas, discussing the lessons he has learned throughout the past twenty years about such professional priorities as innovative business practices, team building, and customer service. 100,000 first printing.