Unreasonable Hospitality – 9781529146820

Description

THE NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER

The inspiring, bestselling guide to the essential lessons in service and leadership from the former co-owner of legendary restaurant Eleven Madison Park.

Will Guidara was twenty-six when he took the helm of Eleven Madison Park, a struggling New York City two-star brasserie that had never quite lived up to its majestic room. Eleven years later, EMP was named the best restaurant in the world.

How did Guidara pull off this unprecedented transformation?

Radical reinvention, a true partnership between the kitchen and the dining room – and memorable, over-the-top, bespoke hospitality.

Guidara’s team surprised a family who had never seen snow with a magical sledding trip to Central Park after their dinner; they filled a private dining room with sand, complete with mai-tais and beach chairs, to console a couple with a cancelled vacation.

His hospitality extended beyond those dining at the restaurant – his own team reaped the benefits of his leadership and lessons, learning:

• To deliver praise and criticism with intention,
• Why the answer to some of the most pernicious business dilemmas is to give more – not less, and
• That the magic that can happen when a busser starts thinking like an owner.

Now in Unreasonable Hospitality, Guidara shows us that every business can choose to be a hospitality business – and how we can all transform ordinary transactions into extraordinary experiences.

Featuring sparkling stories of his journey through restaurants, with the industry’s most famous players like Daniel Boulud and Danny Meyer, Guidara urges us all to find the magic in what we do – for ourselves, the people we work with, and the people we serve.