Book review
Setting the table
Book : Setting the table The transforming power of hospitality in business Author : Danny Meyer Review by : Elvira Wood
“
I have always reviewed excellence as a journey rather than a destination .
- Danny Meyer
”
What is the one aspect of dining at a restaurant – especially an expensive one – that could “ make or break ” the experience ? If served food that is cold , tasteless and unappetising or worse , if it contains something that it should not , it would “ break ” the experience .
However , if this happened in a restaurant where service and hospitality were excellent , the staff managed to resolve the problem instantly and you were made to feel like a VIP , you will not regard the evening as a total disaster .
In essence , what “ makes or breaks ” an event / experience and what will make customers come back for more , regardless of what service / product a company “ serves ”, is their hospitality .
This is the core concept Danny Meyer , highly experience US restaurateur and CEO of Union
Square Hospitality Group , shares in his book Setting the table .
“ How do you get customers to come back for more ? That ’ s the question facing every business owner , whether the business is a bowling alley , computer company or tattoo parlour . There are two powers at work – trial and repeat . And it ’ s critically important to prevail in each of them ,” writes he .
Meyer uses various personal experiences from when he was a teen up to being the CEO of a company owning several highly regarded restaurants in New York , to explain this concept and how his restaurant experiences could also be applied to other types of businesses .
Meyer addresses various business concepts – from the importance of employing the correct people to ensure outstanding service , the impact of resolving a problem / crisis quickly to walking the extra mile of serving customers and keeping them happy .
For him it is about the “ story ” people will tell once they have interacted with any of his staff / visited any of his restaurants .
“ Our job is to give people a story worth telling .”
He points out that if one can manage to do that , not only will people come back for more , they will become “ your apostles ”.
As much as this book is an interesting read , one must bear with the author in the early part of the book where he recounts many personal experiences – which at first might not seem related to business in general – before he gets to the business lessons in the latter part of the book .
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